Video games
Mercenaries:
Playground of Destruction
Xbox or PS2
Xbox or PS2
I learned so much from *Mercenaries*, mindlessly blowing things up is fun, but I knew that. That's why I wanted this game. Calling in an air strike just to see a building become a pile of dust feels terrific, beyond the destruction is a solid game.
In the game you are a mercenary in the border between North and South Korea. You accept contracts from different factions—Americans, South Koreans, Chinese and the Russian Mafia—and in return for your services you will receive payment and intelligence. The intel helps you locate and capture or kill key members of the North Korean dictatorship government. Locating your target means you can capture and have them airlifted for interrogation or kill them. Killing them means you only receive half the bounty and it's not as rewarding.
One thing I learned the hard way is that
All images courtesy of games.yahoo.com
in Korea bushes are the natural enemy of tanks. A tank can destroy any building or vehicle but running into a bush or a tree can flip it. The ally "Al" could have used some work. Your allies in *Mercenaries* make your allies in Halo 2 look like Steven Seagal.
Although this game had a couple flaws, it was worth it. Hijacking a tank in the middle of a firefight and using it to destroy everything never gets tired. I played for about 20 hours and had only captured 23 of the 52 targets and had fun with every capture. If you like Grand Theft Auto or war games you should definitely accept this contract.
Grade: Aepic chapter in the story that takes place long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords comes with more features and even more worlds to explore.
Dan Hoyt
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Xbox
The Force has stayed strong with the Xbox. The critically acclaimed role-playing game, RPG, has come back for another
Five years after the events of
KOTOR 1, all of the Jedi have been wiped out in the Jedi Civil War with Malak. The Jedi Order is no more. You, an exiled Jedi, are the only one who hasn't chosen which path to take. You must do your best to try to regain your connection to the Force and find out what has happened.
You still have the free will to decide which side to take; the Light Side or the Dark Side. With each choice is presented to you, you decide what do say to the people and depending on their reactions, decide what type of person you will become. As you travel to more planets, you will meet more people who will join you on your journey. One major feature the game boasted this time was that your decisions will also affect your team's alliance with you. In order to change their alliance, you must gain influence with them. You do this by talking to them and
saying things they way you think they want to hear. Some characters like you to be sympathetic, while others would prefer you to use more brute force to solve matters. For example, one character in a situation would like it if you would use a grenade to "cleanse" the filth from a cainta. Deciding what to do in this situation can make you gain or lose influence.
Grade: A
Choices like this also affect your Light and Dark alignment as well.
KOTOR 2 is a solid RPG. It has great character development, great storyline and tons of things to uncover. This game could give Halo 2 run for its money in the realm of Xbox. I actually stopped playing the first Halo and picked up the first KOTOR.
—Chris Moore
You also have the power to make your non-Jedi party members Jedi as well. This takes serious conversations with your party members. The one charactor turned into a Jedi took 15 minutes of conversation for him to start his training
The gameplay is still the same as the first one. The combat is based on a d20 system, where dice rolls are used to calculate damage and effects to enemies (no real dice are seen).
Ghost In the Shell:
Stand Alone Complex
Playstation 2
All right! Another game based on an anime series! The anime/game crossover needs a break before any more attempts are made. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is based on the series of the same name, which is based on the movie, Ghost in the Shell. As its name implies, the game is "stand alone," or a completely different entity and separate from the movie/show. The game is set in the future where, as they say, being human has come down to a science. A majority of the people are heavily augmented with cybernetic brains and bodies. They are still considered human, however, because their
The game lets you play as two of the main characters from the show: Bateau and Kusanagi, who is referred to as simbrains contain a "ghost," which basically means they aren't controlled by AI.
ply "The Major." it's not possible to choose which you play; it's predetermined for the mission. The game is convoluted and it's difficult to figure out why you're even there in the first place. For the most part missions will consist of finding out how not to die by precariously-pleased snipers with insane shooting ability. If you're out in the open for more than a
handful of seconds,
consider yourself dead.
Other than this,
you will spend your time wading through enemies trying to find a button to push to make your way to the next level.
The Major and
Bateau control similarly and have no real differences other than physical combat skills. You can carry two weapons at a time and switch with weapons that enemies drop after you kill them. These weapons are standard fare, ranging from shotguns to assault and sniper rifles. Hand-to-hand combat consists of pressing the R2 button as fast as you can to perform the same
combo over and over again, always finishing with a slo-mo kick to the face. The combat is just as tedious as the missions and lacks any real depth. The story is confusing and not well conveyed to the player. As I played, people asked me what I was supposed to be doing, and I replied to all with the same answer: "I have no frickin' idea." I would like to be able to recommend this to those who enjoy the show, but they would just be disappointed as would most anybody else. The game can be entertaining for awhile, but just doesn't deliver the goods.
Grade: D
—Nick Finnegan
18
Jayplay 02.03.05
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