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Gauntlet - Seven Sorrows (Xbox)
by sympatic This is a role playing game and a very mediocre one at that which as far as I’m concerned is not worth purchasing but could be considered as a rental option. You get to choose which of the four characters you want to play, either the Warrior, elf, wizard or valkyrie but the problem is that although they have slightly different ... strengths and weaknesses they play almost identically so it does not greatly matter which character you choose which is disappointing for those who remember the original arcade game. The story is told by the ghost of a former emporer who supported by six advisors attempted to betray his four best warriors, the attempt failed resulting in his death and now the objective of the game is to hunt down the six advisors as they run amock. The main problem though is the fact that as a role playing game it fails miserably, what you are effectively left with is a slash and hack fighting game with rather stupid enemies who insist on running straight at you with no attempt to dodge your attacks, your only real concern is that weight of numbers can cause you problems however in the multi – player mode this is even less of a problem. Often you will find yourself taking out a number of enemies with a single blow and I soon became bored of this game after a couple of hours of play. The only real challenge comes in the guise of the bosses and the first couple of these are relatively easy as well. The only redeeming quality of this game is that visually some of the areas that you visit are well set out and quite different to each other but when the only positive that you can come up with is the scenery then you know it is a bad game. Definitely not recommended but if you do want to buy it then it is available at Amazon for £24.99 although in the used section you can pick up a copy for £5.43 which s just about what it is worth in my opinion. Read the complete review |
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Xbox)
by Yu Law Mortal Kombat was always the ultimate fighter. It surpassed the likes of other 2D sensations such as Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Streets of Rage. But there came a time when 3D was the thing everyone wanted. Now it's personal jets, but never mind that. Virtua Fighter and Tekken came along, and for a while Mortal Kombat was ... not the top of the food chain anymore. Even when Mortal Kombat 4 hit 3D in the late nineties, it still couldn't match the genius and technicality of it's rivals. Games like Tekken 3, Dead or Alive, Virtua Fighter 3, and Soul Calibur cast it in shadow with their endless command lists and imaginative characters. In the day of Tekken 4, Dead or ALive 3, Virtua Fighter 4, Soul Calibur 2, Gulity Gear X2 and Bloody Roar 4, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance comes marching from the darkness. Can Deadly Alliance grab Tekken 4, stick a sword up it's arse and demand hard-earned respect? You bet your Broadsword it can. The game has a revamped control system, literally HUNDREDS of unlockable secrets, tons of new hard-hitting characters, graphics that'll blow your mind and sound effects that'll trigger nightmares. It's all here in the newest, coolest, sexiest, smoothest Mortal Kombat yet. All warriors have three styles each, one of the styles includes the use of a weapon(s). I'll use Sonya Blade as an example, who I am best at playing with. Sonya's first style is Kenpo, which that focuses on straightforward, non-fancy powerful moves. By pressing the correct button you may switch to the second style, Tae Kwon Do. A quick and smooth style that focuses on quick, flashy kicks. Change your style once more and Sonya will be wielding two Kali Sticks (meter-long straight wooden thingy-bobs) which are very easy to swish around and bash your opponent's face with. Of course, all other characters have their own fighting styles and weapons: Sub-Zero has Shotokan, Dragon and Kori Blade. Kitana has Eagle's Cla w, Ba Gua and Steel Fans. You get the picture. Each style has about 20 or so moves, but when you multiply that by three you get about 60-80 unique moves per character. A disappointment to some, maybe, who might be used to the mile-long command lists of Tekken and Soul Calibur. Yet this is a relief to others, those who'd rather not spend their days making every move a natural reflex. Large numbers of moves may annoy those who feel they don't have the time to learn them all and just couldn't be bothered using the Practice mode. Some just want around two-dozen tasty maneouvres to get them through a match (like myself). Blood is still alive and well, saying its prayers and taking its vitamins. It actually stays visible on the ground now, and can even be spread around the arena by stepping in it. Faces are brusied and bloodied with every smack. There are also obstacles around some arenas (e.g. statues, ice-sculptures) that shatter whenever they are hit either by an attacking limb or a falling combatant. The animation for these actions is spectacular, compared to the dodgy animation in other games, where pieces of falling debris develop the ability to bounce like bunnies and disappear like the final breath of a fallen enemy. Mmm. And the fatalities? Very sick. Disturbing stuff. I couldn't help but cringe when I saw my opponent vomit food, vomit blood, fall face first into the porridge delight and finally get his head burst when I stomped on his spine. That was Sonya's Kiss of Death. Other fatalities include ripping out spines, stretching necks, stealing souls, drinking blood, splitting heads, pulling off heads, tearing out hearts etc.. Just plain nasty. Perhaps too nasty. Needless to say much ado of this content may be unhealthily exciting for the more squemish people out there. If you wish to play this game then you must have a strong heart and at least some passion for the kill, which is generally needed for all games. There is a Konquest mode (way-hey!) where you get to choose a character and take them through a series of missions. These consist of step-by-step guides for learning new moves. While this approach may be good for learning the combos and special moves for each character, it may become patronising after an hour or two of gameplay. By that time you will most likely have figured out already that pressing the kick button several times will result in some sort of combination. As a result this mode is one of the weaker points of the game and is unfortunately not the most pleasing way of gaining points for unlockables. Konquering the tasks earns you currency (Platinum, Jade, Sapphire, Ruby, stuff like that). You spend these valuables in the Krypt, a big big basement/tomb where approximately five-hundred and seventy-six coffins wait to be bought and opened. They mostly contain concept art and production information, which is next to useless, but the more expensive coffins include new stages, secret characters and alternate costumes. There are about two-hundred and twenty missions in Konquest mode, when you add up all the missions each character has to do. Speaking of characters, we have a whole new batch of fighters. The full list of new characters is composed of Kenshi, Li Mei, Bo Rai Cho, Mavado, Drahmin, Frost, Nitara, Hsu Hao and Moloch. Old characters appearing in the game are Johnny Cage, Kano, Kung Lao, Quan Chi, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, Sonya Blade, Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Jax Briggs, Princess Kitana, Raiden and Reptile. There are also two new secret characters, unlocked by completing all missions for every character in Konquest mode. Their names are Blaze and Mokap. So, how many characters is that? Twenty-three, excluding the non-playable end boss, Moloch. Shao Kahn is assassinated by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in the opening video, as well as the 'chosen one', Liu Kang (I thought wanting that to happen was just a hopeless dream), so he won 9;t be doing any shrieking for a while. And he said there was no hope without him. Stick this in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Kang. With that many characters to master, an amount of extras that will make your head spin (including a making-of documentary and a feature called 'The History of Mortal Kombat'), an original gameplay system, astounding graphics and terrifying sounds, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a must-buy for all console owners. Except of course Dreamcast and PSone people. Read the complete review |
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Xbox)
by ojdude In the day's of Tekken, Virtual Fighter and Soul Calibuir it seemed, untill recently, that the once mighty Mortal Kombat had decended into gamings past greats. The first Mortal Kombat games were very controvercial - which seemed to be the selling point of the series. Over the top blood, violence and even the abbility to viciously ... kill your enemy at the end of the match. The latest addiction to the series sees the game brought to life in full 3D graphics and arenas. One thing that I was puzzled about was could they still retain the classic Mortal Kombat feel and gamplay now that fighting games had evloved to more than just a few punch and kick moves per character? The answer to this is yes. Right away the atmosphere is right; dark, edgy and fantasy-like. The publishers, Midway, have retained several of the Mortal Kombat favourate trademarks; Fatalies: in which, through a combination of buttons, you can conduct a brutal and sometimes comical murder of your enemy when you win the battle. Blood: There's loads of blood, it spits out of the characters in true Mortal Kombat style. Special Moves: each character has a few special moves, including classics such as Scorpians ("Get Over Here!") harpoon and Sub-Zero's freeze. You're probably wandering which characters have stayed and what new ones have been introduced. Old favourates are Scorpian, Sub-Zero, Jonny Cage, Kitana, Kung Lao, Raiden, Reptile, Shang Tsung, Sonya Blade, Kano and Cyrax. New characters are quite well thought out, and imaginative. These are Mavado, Nitara, Quan Chi, Moloch (boss), Li Mei, Jax, Hsu Hao, Drahmin, Kenshi and Bo' Rhai Cho. Alhtough to begin with, only half of these characters are playable. And where is Lui Kang I hear you cry? Well you'll be in for a big surprise in the games opening FMV sequence. Each character has 3 fighting styles, each one is different from the next and one of them being a weapon fighting sty le. You can easily switch between these styles by tapping the L1 shoulder button. Although it takes a bit of getting used to, this feature is what makes the game brilliant, there's never been so much variety in a fighting game. Cleverly, each fighting style has its strenghs and weaknesses, for example, the weapon is very powerfull but whilst using it the character takes more damage. Combat in this game is fluid and fun, and filled with combinations. You can block, reverse and easily dodge moves by using the shoulder buttons and some of the combination moves are suberbly voilent, although a little tricky to pull off at first. Over all, the combat is definately on par with Tekken 4, the feel of quality makes for brilliantly solid gameplay. What is a bit of a dissapointment is the games fatalities, although immaginative, they're graphically bland and somewhat cheesy. They can be quite funny, but they're not at all shocking or as violent as you might expect. Graphics in Deadly Alliance are awsome, this game is bursting with colour, detail and imagination. However, gone are the realistic appearance of the character's that made the first three Mortal Kombat games revolutionary, now each character looks more akin to those you'd find in Soul Calabuir; i.e. a slightly comic-book like appearnace, but far from kiddish or un-threatening. A great feature that made me wander why it hadn't been done before was the damage to characers faces, the more damage you suffer, the more your characters face gets cut, bruised and bloody; and it looks brilliant. The games arena's are some of the best and most imaginative I've seen in a fighting game, but I was dissapointed to find there was no "pit"-like arena like in previous games. Some arena's have intereactive eliments like the "acid bath", which has gargoyle statues that pour out acid underneath themtaking health off your character if they happen to be there. The sound on Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a fairly average aspect of the game. The tradional "FIGHT!" and "FINISH HIM" are still there, but the grunts and screams of the characters are a little repeative and have little variation. But with saying that, sound has never been the most important aspect of fighting games, and Mortal Kombat doesnt dissapoint in this area, because you don't take much notice of it. New features to the game are the profiles, "Konquest" mode, a practice mode and "The Krypt". Instead of saving a single file you can set up your own unique proile, which also keeps a record of your wins and losses. Konquest is simply a training program, the character works through training exercises whilst you read information about their unique story and reasons for entering Mortal Kombat. The parctice mode is self explanitary and the basically the same as any other practice mode you'd find in modern fighting games. The most interesting new feature though is the The Krypt. Each win in the arcade mode and each success in the Konquest mode earns you coins which are saved against your profile. Coins, which range in colour, are spent as currency in the Krypt. The Krypt presents you to browse through 676 coffins, each coffin holds either a new character, arena, outfit or little extra such as concept art. As you would expect, the most expenive ones are those of new charcters and arenas. This feature is a great idea and works very well, sifting through the krypt and buying coffins is actually great fun. The only problem here is that you'll find yourself playing the game to death trying to build up your coins, which can get quite boring at times and takes a long time to save up for those new characters and arenas. A great extra to the game is the "Kontent" option on the main menu. Quite like dvd extra's, here you can view concept art, character profiles and other things purhcased in the krypt. But the best feature here is the two video extra's: The Making Of and The History of Mortal Kombat. These mini documentaries are brilliant and really inspired me to wish for this feature in every game. With the kontent option you really feel like this game is money well spent. Over all Mortal Kombat is definately back and kicking ass. It's a superb fighting game, definately on par with Takken and with enough extra features and little differences to make it a unique experience. An essential fighting game in every respect. Read the complete review |
Midway Xbox Game |
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Genre: Racing / Xbox Game / Driving / Rating: E - (Everyone) / up to 2 players / published by: Midway Home Entertainment - In L.A. Rush, join the crew at West Coast Customs to pimp up your ride and live the fabulous lifestyle of an L.A. street racer. Feel the rush as you race over 36 licensed rides in... |
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Manufacturer: Midway / Xbox Game / Genre: Action / Genre: Adventure / ESRB Rating: M - (Mature) / Max. Number Of Players: 1 / ESRB Descriptor: Blood and Gore / ESRB Descriptor: Intense Violence / ESRB Descriptor: Strong Language / Release Date: January / 2004 - Disturbing horror action, combined with ... |
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