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Video games
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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
GameCube
If you're behind on holiday gaming and still catching some of the best games from 2004, make sure to check out Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for GameCube. Take the cartoon cell-shaded world of Animal Crossing, the character stats-building backbone of the role-playing game genre, replace the serious and sometimes boring dialogue from Final Fantasy and substitute in classic characters of the Mario legacy and you are staring at a great game.
Darkness has engulfed the land and Princess Peach has disappeared and
Mario is the only one who can save her. Peach sends Mario a letter and treasure map just before she's taken hostage. Mario is forced to find the magical treasure below the city of Rogueport by reclaiming the Crystal Stars and rescue Peach.
Hardly a traditional RPG, the game's dialogue is rich with character and one is of its best attributes. The events and their dialogue are absurdly funny, but may go over the head of your younger brother. The turn-based battle sequences stand out as each attack and defense must be timed correctly by holding and releasing the joystick or other button sequences; the accuracy affects the amount of damage dealt. The added control during battles is a welcome change from the random missed attacks in other RPGs.
The Thousand-Year Door is very much a plot-driven game and should provide great entertainment for those interested in a great story. With a non-traditional approach to the genre and familiar characters from previous Mario games, The Thousand-Year Door will be right at home in any gamer's collection, standing tall against most other vanilla RPGs and like any good book, you will always be eager to see what's on the next page.
Grade: A
Playboy: The Mansion
Xbox, PS2, PC
Here's a terrible idea: take a game with a large female fan base (The Sims), throw in a franchise with an almost entirely male fan base (Playboy), and release a game that will have almost no fan base (Playboy: The Mansion).
— John Kary
The real problem with Playboy: The Mansion is that it gives players almost nothing to do. Within a few hours, most players will have seen pretty much everything the game has to offer. The game's mission mode gets dull and repetitive after the first few levels and the freeform mode does little to help the monotony. The business aspects of the game will keep some players interested, but the dull gameplay between issues will likely turn even the most die-hard digital entrepreneurs away.
That must have been Cyberlore Studios' thought process when they were designing this utterly inane game, where players take control of Playboy mastermind Hugh Hefner as he puts together his magazine empire, throws parties, has sex, and, well, not much else.
Even from a technical perspective, the game is subpar. The graphics are simplistic and cartoony, the frame rates are frequently choppy, and the game's Sims style voice-overs are annoying at best.
Also worth noting are the game's laugh
Courtesy of www.gamespot.com
able "sexual" situations. For a franchise that has always been on the forefront of the sexual revolution, the sex in this game is less "Playboy" and more "Doped Up Gymnastics With Clothes On".
There's really not much else to say about Playboy; The Mansion. There are better and cheaper ways of entertaining yourself. Save $50 and just spend an extra 10 minutes in the bathroom.
Grade:D
—Andrew Campbell
Courtesy of www.gamespot.com
Leisure Suit Larry:
Magna Cum Laude
Xbox or PS2
Before reviewing this game I read several reviews, and none of them portrayed this game in a good light, but after I began playing it I realized why the other magazines hated this game - the reviewers weren't in college.
The game is based around a college guy going around campus trying to score with college girls. You, as Larry, accomplish this goal by playing a series of minigames such as, quarters, a DDR-like button timing game and a game where you guide your sperm through an obstacle course. It's hard to explain, but the games are really basic and don't take much practice to get the hang of.
The problem with the mini-games is that there are only a couple of them and after a while you will have done the same kind of game a dozen times. If you live in a dorm or a frat and you get bored with a game one of your friends can try. This game turned into a social event; sitting in my dorm room, laughing and eating Cheezits.
The game is funny and several sequences of events end with some hilarious moments of very adult humor. Although I would never suggest anyone actually buy the game, I would recommend they rent it. There is enough game to keep you occupied for a week. For those that rent it I have two pieces of advice.
The best way to play the quarters game is one handed while eating Cheez-its – trust me you'll never miss. The other piece of advice is to buy more loading screens from Nigel. I'd like to compliment the developers for making some "interesting" loading screens, but at the same time you have to look at one for 30 seconds every 45 seconds you play the game.
Grade: C
—Dan Hoyt