It's not cool to be square, but it is fun! (Nintendo GameCube)

Member Name: crispy

Product:	Nintendo GameCube
Date:	25/07/03 (1378 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great games, cheap

Disadvantages: no extras, kiddie image - unfair though it is!

Wow, I've just noticed I've only written one opinion in the last year. A lot has been going on this year for me though, so it's kind of understandable. I've been in work pretty consistently for the whole year, plus I've moved in with my girlfriend, so I've had a whole lot less time on my hands. I've had ups and downs with both of the jobs I've had in that time, and I just haven't really felt much like writing. But, about a year ago, I also got me a Game Cube. And, having just found the motivation to finally put pen to paper again (well, fingers to keyboard), I thought it would make a pretty good subject for a first review.

First of all, I've not really got me a Game Cube, I've got my girlfriend a Game Cube. It was her birthday present last year, and before you accuse me of being a crap boyfriend, she did actually want it and was excited about getting it. Of course, I was quite keen on getting a next-generation console, but I was rather more interested in Microsoft's X-Box at the time. Nicky, though, being a long-term Super Mario fan, much preferred the Game Cube, so that's what we got.

Not sure where to start with this opinion to be honest. You may have noticed I've rather drifted off the subject matter already! What I don't want to do is bore you rigid with the technical specifications. They aren't really useful as any sort of comparison, as each of the current consoles available have such different architectures that it's impossible to compare them directly based on processor speed or memory and so on. If you want to look at the Game Cube specs, you can find them at http://www.nintendo.com/systems/gcn/specifications .jsp. I think, on paper at least, the Game Cube is somewhere between the X-Box (highest) and the PS2 (lowest) in terms of sheer processing grunt, but I could be wrong.

Without worrying too much about specifications, it all runs very nicely. Graphics are shar
p and clean, and games in general seem to run very well with few slow-down problems. Sound is also excellent, with crisp sound effects and rich musical scores.

What I will say, though, is that out of the three consoles, the Game Cube is the purest of purpose. It won't play music, it won't play DVDs. It's no all-in-one entertainment centre, it just plays games. This means that Nintendo have been able to make the Game Cube the best damn console they could, without having to include any other bits of hardware or operating system that could potentially decrease the performance and increase the price. Speaking of which, the Game Cube is very reasonably priced. I got mine for £130 about a year ago, and I believe the price has come down since then. When the new model of the Game Boy Advance was released, they were giving away vouchers with it to get £50 off of the price of a Game Cube. Coincidentally, at the same time Argos were offering their Game Cubes for £80. So, if I'd bought it at the right time, I could have actually got my Game Cube for £30... B*gger...

So, anyhow, I've got my Game Cube, and I imagine you're all keen to know what it's like. Well, first of all, it's small. The main box of the console is about 6 inches square, and only 4 inches tall. It's tiny! There are four controller ports on the front, and two memory card slots. The game discs (also small! It uses custom 8cm optical disks with a 1.5 gigabyte capacity) load in to the top of the box, and there are the standard buttons to turn it on and off, reset it, and open the disc drive. The console itself is available in several different colours - when first launched it came in black (which looks rather cool and sleek ? mine, erm, I mean Nicky's, is black) and purple (which is quite funky, but does give the console a certain Fisher-Price look, and has probably helped it get a reputation as a kiddie console). There is also now a limited edition Legend
Of
Zelda Platinum Pak, which includes a silver console. There may be more...

The Game Cube official controller is excellent, no two ways about it. It features:

- Two analogue control sticks. The left one is usually used for controlling movement of whatever it is you're controlling in the game, and the right one is usually used for moving the camera around in 3D games.

- A D-pad. This is a standard, functional, cross-shaped directional controller.

- Four buttons. There is a central, large A button, and the other three buttons (B, X, and Y) surround it. The layout may seem a little funny to those of you used to PS2 or X-Box controllers, but most games assign functions to these buttons quite intelligently and it soon becomes second nature.

- Three triggers. There are two analogue shoulder triggers, one for the left hand and one for the right. These provide a decent analogue function, and also provide a digital button click function after the range of analogue movement. Kind of like the kick-down on the accelerator of an automatic car, if you will. There is also a Z-trigger on the right shoulder of the controller, which is a weird little button and doesn't really fit with the rest of the design. It is often saved for little-used and obscure game functions that mean it doesn't need to be used much!

- A start button. Little grey jobbie sitting in the middle of the controller, which performs the usual pause / options menu functions.

- A decent rumble (force feedback) feature. This means that the controller shakes and vibrates in your hands to give you extra feedback for game events, e.g. when you're hit in a combat game, or when you drive onto the rumble strips at the side of the track in a racing game, and so on.

The controller is very comfortable to use, even for long periods of time. It fits in my hands very well, the buttons are responsive, it's just a joy to use.
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br>Nintendo also offer the Wavebird wireless controller, which is basically a slightly bulkier version of the standard controller, but is, well, wireless. Don't know if it's any good; haven't got one. There are also many third-party controllers available, which as far as I know are generally cheaper than the official one, but as a result the build quality can be a little lower. You can also get third-party joysticks and steering wheels, and I believe you can even get a keyboard now. I'd consider investing in a decent wheel at some point, but I don't really see the need for a joystick or keyboard at the moment.

You can also use your Game Boy Advance (assuming you own one) as an extra controller. This is quite an interesting little feature that is exclusive to Nintendo, and can be used to great effect, as certain games on the two systems also have link-up features that allow you to unlock extra levels or special items. For instance, if you have Metroid Prime on the Cube, and Metroid Fusion on the GBA, each unlock special features on the other, and if you have completed both you can unlock the original Nintendo Metroid game. In Splinter Cell, the GBA acts as a scanner and communications device, and allows you to do some pretty funky things that are not available in the original game. And of course, in Legend Of Zelda, the GBA acts as a 'Tingle Tuner' (don't ask!), allowing a second player to play along and provide supporting functions to the main player. Ideal if you want to help your girlfriend play the game, by the way!

Now, earlier on, I briefly mentioned memory cards. You'll need one of these to save your progress in games. You don't get anything bundled with the console, unfortunately, you've got to buy one separately. The entry-level Nintendo memory card is I believe costs less than a tenner, and offers 4 MB, or 59 blocks, of memory. This should be enough for your first couple of games, but after that
you will probably need another. All Game Cube games list their memory requirements (in blocks) on the back of the box, so you can work out fairly easily if you need more memory when you're buying it. It's also easy to check how much space you've got, and move things around on your memory cards, within the Game Cube operating system.

I should mention that several third parties also sell Game Cube memory cards. These are a lot cheaper than Nintendo official ones, but there are certain caveats. Some people do complain that files become corrupt on unofficial cards a lot more readily - I don't know how likely this is, as I've not experienced it myself. There are also stories of people playing online games (well, game, as there's only really the one at the moment - Phantasy Star Online) with unofficial cards, and having the entire contents of the card wiped. Personally, I have a small official card (4MB, 59 blocks, about £8 I think) and a much larger unofficial one (by Datel, 64MB, over 1000 blocks, about £18). I've had no trouble with losing saved games from it, and I don't play online.

Speaking of online gaming - as I said, there's only one game that you can play online at the moment, as far as I know, and that's Phantasy Star Online. It's a futuristic action role-playing game, kind of Gauntlet / Diablo style. It's apparently rather good. You need to buy a separate adaptor to get your Cube online, but fortunately there's a choice of broadband access or dial-up modem access, so you're not left out if you've not got a high-speed connection.

And now, finally, the games! The Game Cube has gotten itself a bit of a bad rep as being a kiddie console, and has lost a lot of street cred as a result. Sadly, the PS2 seems to be the coolest of the three consoles, for some reason, despite being the oldest hardware and the most expensive to buy. It is true that Nintendo do seem to go for bright p
rimary colours and cartoon style graphics, but a lot of people dismiss games like these as being for children without actually playing them. Games like Super Mario Sunshine and Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker may look like cartoons but the games themselves are very deep and enjoyable. I doubt anyone who's fully completed Super Mario (I'm nowhere near, and completely stuck) would describe it as being for kids!

There are many excellent adult titles available as well, such as the Resident Evil series, Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime and Rogue Squadron. Of course, all the big multi-format games get released on the Game Cube, so we've got the delights of FIFA, Hitman 2, Timesplitters 2, Tony Hawks Pro Skater, and so on. Unfortunately, not everyone sees the potential in the Game Cube, and certain games that should be multi-format don't quite make it to all three consoles. There have also been problems with certain retailers effectively abandoning the Cube, such as the Dixons group. I fail to understand why, as according to recently released statistics, the Game Cube has to date slightly outsold the X-Box. It's that damn kiddie image!!!

Of course, comparisons are often made with the Playstation 2s vast range of games, and unfortunately the Game Cube does at first glance appear to come off worse. In some areas this is more noticeable than others. There is definitely a lack of decent exclusive driving games on the Game Cube. PS2 obviously has its Gran Turismo, X-Box has Project Gotham Racing, and they both have Colin McRae Rally, which has unfortunately not made its way on to the Nintendo platform. Game Cube does have its driving games, but the decent ones, such as Burnout 2, are multi-format and available across the board.

Beat-em-ups are another area where the Game Cube is currently lacking. We do have Mortal Kombat, but so does everyone else. We have Super Smash Bros Melee, which has received a lot of good reviews but is a l
ittle too cutesy for my liking. We are going to be getting Soul Calibur 2, which is apparently going to be the best beat-em-up of all time, but everyone else is getting that one as well.

Having said that, there is an excellent selection of very good games pretty much across the spectrum of gaming genres - if you want to know what's good at the moment NGC magazine write pretty decent reviews, and have a useful feature towards the back of the magazine listing every game released so far, along with a rating and a snippet of a review.

So anyway, what am I playing at the moment? Metroid Prime gets a lot of my spare time, as does Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I've also just recently bought Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which is a very good Dungeons And Dragons based role-playing game. And of course, any time we have a party at our place, you can pretty much guarantee there'll be two blokes camped in the corner playing FIFA 2003.

Yes, I do love my (girlfriend's) Game Cube. There's a lot of fun there to be had, however, unfortunately, not everyone is prepared to look beyond the cutesy image and take the time to discover it...

Summary: