• AWAY Shuffle Dungeon
• Babysitting Mania
• Cooking Mama World Kitchen
• Major Minor's Majestic March
• Marker Man Adventures
• Our House
• Wonder World Amusement Park
• Zoo Hospital

Why It Won: Zelda games come around more frequently than Mario games and so aren't held to the same absurd scrutiny. In fact, after a lifetime of mostly-identical storylines (the princess is kidnapped, oh noes!) it wouldn't be altogether ridiculous to wonder when something new would come along for Link to do besides spend all day fishing, blowing into an ocarina, and looking for pieces of the much-elusive Tri-force. I'd all but discounted the series as an ad-tedium retread of the same concepts when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came along and I, feeling sorry for my oft-neglected DS, decided to give it a whirl.

Contra 4: This was the first game in a long time to "feel" like a Contra game. The fast-paced shooter is one of the best portables released this year and deserves recognition, but the joy it takes in its difficulty makes it a game not for everyone, and besides taking advantage of both screens the only real reason for this game to be on the DS is because it would look ridiculous on any other platform. What the game needs is a boomerang you control by drawing its path with the stylus.

Midway and Epic Games has announced today that Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 has shipped to North American retailers. The game is rated Mature and carries an MSRP of $59.95 and is also currently available on the PC with price tag of $49.95.

"We are thrilled to put Unreal Tournament 3 in gamers' hands before the holidays," said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. "The game plays so amazingly, and I think this is the pick-up-and-play shooter people have been waiting for on Playstation 3."

There is still no word regarding the Xbox 360 version as the release date is unconfirmed.

• December 14
• December 15
• December 16
  

• CounterStrike Source 5v5
• CounterStrike 1.6 5v5
• Unreal Tournament 3 1v1
• TeamFortress 2
• ETQW
• Company Of Heroes
• 50/50 Nintendo Wii Sports Tournament
• 50/50 HALO 3 1v1
• RED LIGHT SPECIALS!

Epic has announced that Unreal Tournament III for the PS3 is golden and will ship to North American retailers sometime this year.

Epic Games Vice President, Mark Rein, has issued a comment on the official forums:

"We got news last night that Unreal Tournament 3 has been approved by SCEA and has been released to North American manufacturing. My guess is that Midway will start shipping the title to North American retailers on Monday December 10th and it could show up in stores as early as December 11th but more likely toward the middle of that week."

Regarding the European release, Mark Rein has stated that his best guess is "early next year (January or February) for the game to ship over there." Those who wish to visit the Epic forums can do so here.

Midway has announced that Unreal Tournament III for the PC is golden and will ship to retail stores on November 19. The game was originally scheduled for earlier release but was delayed indefinitely before receiving a solid date and change of name. According to Epic, UT3 will be coming to the PS3 shortly afterwards with the Xbox 360 version holding an unconfirmed release date.

The game is scheduled to hit store shelves in January 2008.

Midway has published several new images of Nfusion's Hour of Victory, a first-person shooter being developed for the Xbox 360 that is slated to launch sometime this June.

Update: We've also included Midway's latest trailer of Hour of Victory below.

divxMovie('http://files.gaminghorizon.com/t_hourofvictory_victory.divx',true);

]]> Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:38:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/nba_street_homecourt_demo_coming_tomorrow http://www.gamebump.com/go/nba_street_homecourt_demo_coming_tomorrow http://www.gamebump.com/go/nba_street_homecourt_demo_coming_tomorrow# Electronic Arts has announced they will be releasing the demo for NBA Street Homecourt on Xbox Live tomorrow over the 360 Marketplace.

The demo will allow players to play as cover athlete Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets or the Detroit Pistons Richard Hamilton. The game will feature a first to seven contest on the outdoor courts of Venice Beach.

NBA Street Homecourt is scheduled to release for the Xbox 360 on February 20th and PlayStation 3 March 6th.

Originally written by Brian Mohr]]> Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:12:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2007_ps3 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2007_ps3 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2007_ps3# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Every year Tiger Woods releases a new game and this year is no different; but instead of coming out on the Xbox or PlayStation 2, the game is making a jump to yet another next-generation console besides the Xbox 360 and that is the PlayStation 3. The game is quite different from the 360 version and in the end that’s what makes the game worthwhile.

Obviously making the jump to the PlayStation 3 means the title will see a jump in graphics. Simply put, the courses in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 are stunning and almost picturesque due to such fine detail put in by the developers. Each course has interactive fans strewn about them and they even walk with you to the hole. There are also a fair amount of animations and cutscenes that really give you that professional golf experience. Not to be overlooked, Tiger has a tremendous create-a-player feature that allows you to create just about any person you’d like. Details go so far as wrinkles, moles, and more. The only thing that took away from it was that the golfers seemed a little unnatural in the environments. Graphically, they didn’t quite fit in.

Unlike many other sports games that make the jump to the next-generation, Tiger features plenty to keep you busy. There are typical game modes - stroke, skins, battle golf, best ball, and more - but there’s also a much deeper experience with the full season mode. Add to that the inclusion of the Tiger Challenge and four player offline and online multiplayer and you’ve got a nice set here. The only thing that drags it down is that the game is a little behind in the number of courses with just 12, but they are very good still. There are also 15 professional golfers including Tiger, Daly, and Sorenstam.

Of course, none of this would matter if the gameplay wasn’t still intact and thankfully it’s not only still very good, but has seen some nice improvements. Most notably is the addition of true aiming. By utilizing this, players are given a target to hit the ball into instead of a pinpoint spot. The simple idea here is that if you hit the ball well it’ll drop somewhere in the target area and overall it works very well, but does in the end make the game a little harder.

In addition to that, Tiger features nice use of the SIXAXIS motion sensor controls. After hitting your shot, players are able to press L1 or X and tilt the controller in any direction to control the spin on the ball. It takes a little getting used to, but really makes sense and gives you a feel that you’re almost guiding the ball a bit. Finally, putting is significantly more difficult in this game. By default, the ideal putt camera is turned off and that means players have to rely on their eyes. The nice thing about this though is that it really makes you think, and when you finally get putting down, it is a real accomplishment.

The one big issue with Tiger - if there’s anything wrong with it - has to be the sound. Don’t get me wrong; the commentary, soundtrack and sound effects are all very good, but none of it is exactly mind-blowing. Personally I felt the commentary was a little repetitive. As for the player voices, they didn’t impress me much and some of the lines were just a little odd.

The only other issue is the difficulty of estimating your swing power. A half swing doesn’t equal half power. Instead, I noticed sometimes it was a little more and others a little less. The only thing that ever seemed truly accurate was full strength and that means you’ll occasionally overshoot balls because of this.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 makes a very good leap to the PlayStation 3. The game features terrific controls, graphics and plenty to do both online and off. Sure there are some slight problems with the controls and sound, but the game does so much more right and this truly is one of those games you can show off the true power of the PlayStation 3. If you’re a fan of the Tiger series or just golf in general, Tiger Woods 07 is definitely worth taking for a spin.

True aiming is very good and the use of the motion sensor makes the game next-gen.

The courses and characters are stunning, but the players don’t quite look natural.

The commentary, soundtrack and sound effects are all solid, but not spectacular.

Pure and simple, Tiger 07 is a lot of fun to play.

There’s a lot to do with career mode, online multiplayer, mini-games, and more.

]]> Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:01:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/two_new_screens_from_unreal_tourn_07 http://www.gamebump.com/go/two_new_screens_from_unreal_tourn_07 http://www.gamebump.com/go/two_new_screens_from_unreal_tourn_07# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.The original author is Evan Lahti.

World Tour Soccer was one of the first titles to be released for the PSP last year and it was relatively well-received with its interesting point-based reward system. With a year experience under their belts, SCEE London takes another stab at a PSP soccer game. While it’s not much different from last year’s offering there are plenty of reasons to choose it over last year’s edition, most notably wireless play.

The point-based reward system introduced in the last game makes a triumphant return in the 2006 iteration. For those of you not in the know, the game rewards you points for good clean play and punishes you for a sloppy ball. An example would be +10 for a completed pass, -10 for an intercepted one, and a decent chunk of negative points for a foul or penalty. Goals are worth a few hundred, but it’s a double-edge sword because goals against will take off quite a bit of points too. Playing a good game usually spells victory, but you’ll definitely want to keep thinking of going for high scores because the two major modes rely heavily on the point system. Those of you looking for a strong sim soccer title may want to look elsewhere, because WTS offers some solid pick up and play arcade-style soccer.

WTS offers the usual quick play and exhibition modes, but world tour and medal mode are the ones that will eat up most of the playing time. In world tour, you’ll take on different opponents on different continents, however some of them feature twists that sometimes make matches a whole different beast themselves. In medal mode, you’ll come across the same match types, though the goal here is to score as many points as possible to get that gold medal to open up a new, more difficult task of the same sort – and man they can get quite difficult.

There are a total of nine match types – all rounder, shot clock, the zone, totally outnumbered, time attack, challenge plus, pass clock, check point challenge, and player tag. All rounder requires you to pass the ball to every team member before shooting on goal. Shot clock is just like a basketball game with a limited time to get a shot off. In the zone has you shooting from highlighted zones to add point multipliers on a potential goal. Totally outnumbered is just as it says. Time attack plays out like a racing game in that the timer is constantly counting down and each goal is like a checkpoint that restores time. Challenge plus plays like a standard match but has a random stipulation added. In pass clock, individual players can only have possession of the ball for a limited time before it must be passed. Check point challenge turns the field almost into an obstacle course as passing through a checkpoint will add multipliers on a potential goal. Finally there’s player tag in which you have to pass the ball to certain players before a shot can be taken. That’s plenty of modes to play in and the variety keeps things fresh for a little while, especially in medal mode where the limitations are squeezed tighter as you progress, like going from a 15 second shot clock to a 5 second one. However, having world tour and medal mode share the same match types has its downfalls, which will be addressed later.

Graphically, World Tour Soccer isn’t that great looking, but it animates quite well. It’s also nice being able to see differentiation amongst the players so that you can actually tell who is who. It’s unfortunate, however, that they all share this ghostly blank stare that really takes away from the realism. The music is unforgettable, but the announce team does a fine job. It tends to get repetitive because there seem to be only a few lines dedicated to specific actions, but at least the speech sounds fluid and natural.

Lastly, there’s the multiplayer aspect. You can play with a buddy through an ad hoc connection or take your game online using infrastructure mode. It’s an excellent addition to a fun playing title because the AI can get predictable sometimes, but there’s no telling when you’re facing off against another human opponent.

Unfortunately, the number of teams has been reduced a lot since the last game – down to 71 from around 240. The reason for this is that there are no club or league teams included. Instead, to play off the recent World Cup fever, only national teams (and unlockable national all-star teams) were included. However, they did manage to get a FIFPro license so who’s supposed to be on the field really is on the field, meaning you’ll see the likes of Landon Donovan, David Beckham, and Thierry Henry on the US, English, and French squads respectively. So while the number of teams was cut, the effort to get real players on the pitch is still evident.

This is nitpicky considering that this is an arcade-style title, but it would have been nice to have some sort of season or club mode included. World tour and medal mode can only hold one’s attention for so long because they both essentially play the same – play well to score as many points as possible to earn a gold medal. I mean yes there are plenty of medals to earn and achievements to meet, but in the overall scheme of things, the gameplay stays fresh only for so long.

Finally, the controls are pretty simple, but for some reason, they didn’t feel very responsive. However, that was only in certain situations like chesting a long cross or threading a pass to a wide open striker. The controls themselves are rather intuitive, especially on shots. Holding the shot button down longer causes a high trajectory, so there will be times when you shoot the ball over the goal – just like in real life. Luckily, there’s a shot meter to help you gauge what kind of angle you want to give the ball.

If you’re looking for a straight soccer sim, then you may want to think hard about whether or not to pick this up. However, if you’re looking for a fun, fast-paced arcade-style soccer title, then World Tour Soccer 2006 is something you’ll definitely want to pick up. It has easy to pick up gameplay, an interesting point reward system, and wireless multiplayer support, for both ad hoc and infrastructure mode. Now let’s see what SCEE London is cooking up for next year.

Easy to pick up. Arcade-style play means games are fast and furious. Point system is great.

Rough around the edges, but the individual players are modeled decently and animate well.

Generic unforgettable music. Announcers sound fluid and natural, but gets repetitive.

Again, fast moving, high-scoring games are fun – even better with multiple players.

World tour and medal mode are deep, but adding ad hoc and infrastructure is a huge plus.

]]> Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:20:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/yugioh_world_championship_2006_announced http://www.gamebump.com/go/yugioh_world_championship_2006_announced http://www.gamebump.com/go/yugioh_world_championship_2006_announced# Konami has announced a new card game based around the new television series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters World Championship Tournament 2006.

The game will include over 2,000 cards including ones from the new GX universe and the latest Structure decks. Each game upon release will also feature three limited edition trading cards from the GX universe.

World Championship Tournament 2006 will include a few new gameplay modes such as Duel Puzzle, Limited Duel, Theme Duel and Survival Duel. Duel Puzzle has players complete specific objectives per turn to win, while Limited Duel sets restrictions on the structure of each deck and moves available. Theme Duel forces players to accomplish certain conditions to win while Survival Duel has players taking on various opponents with a limited number of life points.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters World Championship Tournament 2006 is scheduled to release in March.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is the long-awaited, and much anticipated, sequel to The Longest Journey, an intense adventure game set in the future that introduced players to a parallel world called Arcadia. Gamers were mystified by the lead character, April Ryan, who possessed the ability to “shift” into that parallel world along with an opinionative, sharp tongue that she never failed to put to use, and Dreamfall picks up where the story, the character, and the gameplay in Longest Journey left off, with a fully 3D world, an even more amazing plot, a new opinionative female lead, and some stunning visuals – on top of the adventure gameplay that fans of the genre know and love. That said, we could have used more of that gameplay, more combat, and more (different) areas to explore than what Dreamfall offers, but overall the experience is worth it and damned engrossing: you won’t be forgetting the events and characters of Dreamfall anytime soon.

As an adventure game, it’s no surprise that Dreamfall boasts a heavily emphasized plot, but it’s definitely shocking to see that plot contain so many twists, characters, and perspectives as well as a science-fiction fantastical touch and the inclusion of a magical world (Arcadia). Dreamfall, as you’ll come to figure out, is just as much about dreams as it is about individual stories, and the game makes use of three: the Apostle’s, April Ryan’s, and Zoë Castillo’s. Zoë is the principle character with a lovely British accent and absolutely no direction in life, and the game opens with her discovering that her ex-boyfriend, Reza (a reporter), needs her help picking up a package, and from there the ex vanishes and is replaced by a curious mystery that expands until it envelops both worlds and crosses paths with many familiar (and new) faces. April Ryan, the first game’s heroine, soon becomes involved in Zoë’s predicament, and eventually the game shifts a little to allow the Apostle room to enter the fray and grant the gamer another perspective of what’s going on. I won’t spoil it for you, however, suffice to say that rarely have I encountered such an enthralling storyline in any medium – including literature and film.

But better to focus on events from Zoë’s point of view, as gamers spend about 80% of their time in her shoes and her character does a fantastic job of describing – or rather, explaining – the basic elements of her futuristic world. Players maneuver Zoë throughout this post-apocalyptic land and are entertained by her sarcastic, or often whimsical or sympathetic, dialogue with herself as she introduces elements of her universe, where corporations have become “little families” and the government – cleverly labeled “the EYE” - spies on people. Where the dialogue obviously shines is when Zoë engages in conversation with key characters, as the majority of the lines are very well-written and not so over-the-top that gamers are aware that they’re playing a sci-fi adventure game.

Voiceacting is in line with the dialogue and adds an extra level of depth to characters, as they have accents, call Zoë by pet names (my favorite is Blind Bob’s “rose petal” – that’s both cute and creepy), sport a sense of humor, and respond to Zoë in a manner that a real person would. This becomes quite entertaining during spots when the game prompts you to make dialogue selections or important gameplay decisions, and there are even scenes that seamlessly transition from one playable character to the next – in the midst of a conversation. Dreamfall’s writers did a spectacular job in crafting the dialogue that carries the game’s story, and considering that it’s the dialogue that serves as the puzzle-completion reward, that was a necessity.

The cutscenes aren’t bad either, though, and the game’s spectacular visuals add to the unsettling, yet strangely familiar, ambience. Uniquely designed characters move fluidly (with a small exception: I’m not a fan of Dreamfall’s combat system) and interact in some very detailed – and even beautiful – environments. Arcadia boasts some breathtaking landscapes (when you actually get to leave town), a gentle snowfall, deep blue skies at night, strange magical creatures, and the standard torch lighting, along with an impressive tower and other architectural feats. Back on Zoë’s end, players get to do a fair bit of globe-trotting, and each location is as detailed as the temple you’ll visit in Arcadia, with some nice environmental effects and little lag (impressive when you’ve got such large-scale areas running on the Xbox).

Dreamfall’s adventure/puzzle gameplay can easily be termed adventure-lite, as the more difficult brainteasers featured in Longest Journey have been replaced by more small-scale, shorter puzzles. There are some occasions when magical item 1 needs to be moved from point A to B and there are a few small “sections” in-between, but overall, the puzzles don’t send you backtracking – or thinking – for long. A lot of them appear simplified so as not to distract from the actual story, but as the puzzles – the gameplay – are the reason for why we’re playing a game and not watching a movie, I think that a major increase in difficulty is required.

The game’s combat system, for when Zoë/April/Mr. Apostle actually get into trouble, is functional and just as simple as its puzzle-based gameplay, leaving players with three specific moves (strong attack, weak/fast attack, block) and usually plenty of room to move around, dodge lunges, and get in some lethal blows. You’ll rarely ever fight more than one character at a time and never more than two back to back, but again, an adventure game is allowed to toss in combat here or there to intensify the story and/or exploration, not to hone your skills or teach your character a snazzy new fireball attack.

Dreamfall’s almost surreal use of music adds to that intensity and ambience, using both the standard orchestral/RPG-ish background tunes along with actual pop music... with words. When Zoë hops a flight to her next destination and real (though not necessarily good) music comes on, you feel as relaxed and uncertain as she must, on a desperate, perhaps doomed-from-the-start search for her ex, and that’s expertly using music to add to a mood already delivered by visual grandeur and a brilliant plot.

If you’re actually reading this thing then I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve got about two paragraphs of actual gameplay analysis, and unfortunately that’s because there isn’t much (or at least, not enough) gameplay there. The combat system is rarely used, and that’s probably on account of its almost pathetic level of simplicity. Three attacks – lunge/slash, quick swipe, and... block – aren’t going to cut it for those who prefer some action in their adventure games, though you can perform a small list of combos by falling into button-mash mode, but there’s just no reason to. You fight your opponents one by one, are fully able to time your attacks for when the bad guy is vulnerable (just after a lunge), and you’ll even encounter enemies who stand there – just stand there blocking and waiting for you to beat them to death – and for a great adventure game, that’s starkly breaking with reality.

As I mentioned earlier, the level of puzzle difficulty needs some serious work. Expansive puzzles that involve the environment and take 10 hours to solve are over-doing it, but puzzles that take 10-20 minutes, if that, just don’t suffice. For an adventure game, Dreamfall should be boasting both an impressive amount and variety of brainteasers, but it doesn’t come close. Dreamfall is also quite short, with roughly 13 chapters and some of those chapters taking less than a half hour to complete (indeed, at least two of them are about watching events unfold rather than playing a section), which makes for both a quick learning curve and very few hours of gameplay.

Dreamfall’s stealth gameplay isn’t even worth covering in this review, as it’s used barely a handful of times and is just as simplistic as the combat system. You crouch and walk slowly in order not to wake someone or grab a guard’s attention so that he stops watching the obvious path and turns to get sight of you. The feature seems added as an after-thought and is only required three-four times throughout the entire game, so if you’re not big on stealth (or action), you’re in luck. Those who would like a little variety in their gameplay will be disappointed, at best.

Another major problem for Dreamfall is that it might have made for a better movie than a game, as it involves an unbelievable amount of watching/talking to further the plot, so you’ll spend a large amount of time watching events unfold and much less time actually playing the game. That’s great for a slightly interactive movie, but not so great for what promised to be the adventure game of several years (Dreamfall did take home multiple “Best of E3 2004” rewards, after all). As it stands, the motivation for playing Dreamfall is too much a need to know what’s going on and not enough of a need to experience the game’s actual content.

The fun doesn’t stop here, I’m afraid. Stealth, and perhaps even combat, wasn’t the only thing thrown in as an afterthought, as one of the three playable characters (Apostle) just feels short-changed in gameplay time. I spent about 80% of the game with Zoë, 15% with April, and 5% with Apostle, and that’s counting the time I spent just watching the Apostle during cutscenes. Hopefully he gets some extra play in the next game, as 5% is barely even time enough to figure out his story (other than he’s a religious nut). I’m also displeased that I got caught up in a bug or two, so don’t rely solely on the autosave, or you, too, could be screwed.

Disregarding all these (mostly) tiny faults, there are only two specific ones that disturb me. It’s not enough that you, the player, have figured out your next destination/task – your character has to figure it out, too, and it doesn’t help matters any when particular icons – icons that represent actions you should, theoretically, be able to perform – produce the wrong results. For example (spoiler alert, boys and girls), there’s a puzzle that requires that Zoë use her mobile to open a door, except that when I hit the command, it wouldn’t work; I had to give a little boy an item, start an event, and then hit the command in order to hack open the door, only I had no idea I was supposed to give the boy an item (or that I had to do that action first before I could use the phone) because I hadn’t picked up said item earlier in the level, which I didn’t do because I had proceeded to the next area as soon as I’d figured out where to go. The problem here is that you can’t think ahead, and I call that a problem when the puzzles/tasks are this simple and yet, you can’t proceed because your character isn’t as up to speed as you are.

My last real complaint concerns backtracking, as I think it’s a bit cheap to make me continue to solve puzzles in the same area (say, the town in Arcadia) when I could actually be exploring new areas and solving puzzles there, instead. And I kind of like to do that in my adventure games.

This one’s tricky. If I were judging Dreamfall: The Longest Journey purely against every other game on the market, I’d be somewhat disappointed. Thankfully I’m comparing Dreamfall to other games in its genre, as it’s incredibly engrossing and offers more of an experience and a fantastic storyline than most adventure (or even usual) games do, along with some (very simple, but unique) puzzles. But despite immensely enjoying Dreamfall, I can’t say that it felt more an appropriate game than a movie, as the lengthy dialogue and various cutscenes are the player’s reward for solving a minor puzzle or two, and though the reward itself is fantastic, it all feels quite mismatched, and in the end you spend far too much time talking to characters and watching cutscenes than you do actually exploring and solving puzzles. But oh, you enjoy every minute of it.

Weak combat and stealth system, some decent puzzles. Good exploration and great storyline.

Some breathtaking visuals, unique character models. Facial expressions, lighting need work.

Lovely background music. Strange pop a nice treat. Solid voiceacting, but weak combat sounds.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game, despite its flaws. Would have enjoyed it more with improvements

You can replay it to achieve different "outcomes", but you get the same confusing ending.

]]> Sat, 03 Jun 2006 23:36:00 -0500 Shiva Stella http://www.gamebump.com/go/phantom_hourglass_details_screens http://www.gamebump.com/go/phantom_hourglass_details_screens http://www.gamebump.com/go/phantom_hourglass_details_screens# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Of course, Vivendi picked up Al Pacino's likeness, but have yet to announce if they have also obtained his voice. Actors who's voices are confirmed include Steven Bauer, Robert Loggia, Jay Mohr, Chech Marin, James Woods, Miguel Sandoval, Robert Davi, Michael Rappaport and Michael York.

Cindy Cook, chief strategy and marketing officer for Vivendi said, "Al Pacino brought the character of Tony Montana to life onscreen in a very powerful way, and the inclusion of his likeness as Tony Montana is a critical component to the authenticity of the Scarface game experience."

Scarface: The World is Yours is scheduled to release for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. We'll have more on the game as Gaming Horizon heads to E3.

World Tour features two new cental modes of play in medal mode and world tour mode. Within each of those is a point-based game that offers unique challenges to utilize various sets of soccer fundamentals as you try to take on the world. Challenges in the game include classic, zone, challenge plus, totally outnumbered, time attack, pass clock, checkpoint, shot clock, player tag and all-rounder. Each of them offering a very different goal to accomplish.

Of course the game features traditional soccer in exhibition match mode as well. Overall World Tour features over 70 international teams, over 1,500 players and eight stadiums. The game is set to include ad hoc multiplayer for up to four players along with game-sharing for head-to-head matches. One other addition to the game is the trophy room which shows your world tour trophies, medals and achievements.

Join Tony and Annie on their Great Journey to save Antarctica, home of their dear friends! Players will immerse themselves into a thrilling adventure and visit lots of vibrant and colorful places - from small port towns to hot, sandy deserts, through damp, colorful jungles and all the way to the ice and snow of the South Pole.

• Colorful and captivating scenery. Discover beautifully rendered backgrounds and vividly animated real-time 3D characters.
• Take your pick; choose to play as Annie or Tony as they start out on this Great Journey.
• 5 chapters full of adventure and more than 30 locations from all over the world. Start from the old port town, then sail to sandy Africa and later visit lush, tropical jungle at Crocodile Island. Next, find your way to the mysterious Easter Island and eventually prepare for a dramatic finale on icy Antarctica
• 7 minigames will provide lots of action for everyone. Play soccer with an African shaman, save the port from a garbage flood, feed the monkey, photograph whales and do lots of other crazy stuff. Challenge your family or friends for the best score or play together in multiplayer modes.
• Ecological storyline with NO violence. Great Journey promotes empathy and understanding of today’s environmental issues.
• Mouse based interface where one click is enough to do pretty much everything you need. It's slick, simple and kids love it!

"Poker has become a cultural phenomenon as shown by the increasing popularity of the World Poker Tour television series," said Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. "The World Poker Tour brand is an integral part of our game as it brings unmatched credibility and familiarity to millions of poker fans. With the integration of World Poker Tour pros, commentators and presentation elements, the World Poker Tour video game delivers the most authentic poker experience found on any gaming platform."

The World Poker Tour video game is rated "E" for Everyone and has a retail price of $19.99. The game is available for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance.

"Using what we have learned to create the most authentic racing simulation for the Gran Turismo series, our development team is excited about continuing to refine and expand our work to deliver the most realistic motorcycle racing experience ever for the PlayStation 2," said Kazunori Yamauchi, celebrated creator of the Gran Turismo franchise and Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Corporate Executive. "Racing motorcycles in Tourist Trophy offers an entirely different and exciting gameplay experience. One has to account for a host of different variables on a motorcycle, such as riding style, capabilities of individual bikes and how a rider's movement greatly effects the motorcycle, creating a unique and new racing experience."

"Tourist Trophy is truly a realistic riding simulation," said Doug Polen, two-time World Superbike Champion and Ducati racer. "I can even customize my personal riding style and my gear down to the very last detail."

Be sure to read our full review by clicking here.]]> Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:16:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tourist_trophy_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tourist_trophy_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tourist_trophy_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

The Gran Turismo series takes pride in calling itself “The Real Driving Simulator” and so it begs the question – what else can the GT team do? Tourist Trophy, which they have dubbed “The Real Riding Simulator”, is the answer. Replacing the four-wheel high-powered machines with sexy two-wheeled motorcycles, TT hopes to take the successful Gran Turismo formula and find success of its own. But does it?

The first thing you’ll notice when first starting up Tourist Trophy is how much it shares with GT. The menus have the same look and feel, the same sound effects. The beautiful intro even uses the same camera effects as GT4. So, fans of Polyphony Digital should feel right at home when traversing the menus. And get used to this “same as GT” comparison, because it doesn’t stop here.

TT also offers the same types of modes. Arcade is the usual pick up and play style. Pick a bike, choose a rider, select a track and get racing. Tourist Trophy mode, however, is where you will spend most of your time. Here you can earn new bikes, race in circuits, tune bikes, etc. Think of it more as TT’s career mode to get a better idea, though it’s not nearly as deep as the GT franchise’s. In fact, its lack of variety is one of its low points, but I’ll detail that later.

The list of bikes found in TT isn’t nearly as comprehensive as GT’s enormous list either, but there is a good amount, with a total exceeding 100 bikes. And they aren’t all racing bikes like Ninja’s and Suzuki superbikes. Some are classic street motorcycles, classic racing-modified ones, as well as a few motards – low powered “scooters”. However, with the lack of a Moto GP license, there’s bound to be quite a few omissions. Your favorite motorcycle may not be here, but you’ll easily find a handful you’ll grow to love.

And while you can’t buy all-new parts for your newly acquired toys, you can still adjust quite a few different options like suspension, brake balance, and the roller weight of the drivetrain. Some of the vehicles do come with an optional bike exhaust upgrade that you can equip as well. But, the coolest customization option doesn’t even involve the bike – it involves the rider. You can adjust the rider’s riding form how you see fit – head roll, head angle, torso leans, seat position, bike lean. You name it, you can change it. Theoretically, you can recreate your real life riding style in Tourist Trophy. And don’t think that these adjustments are merely aesthetic. Because the body itself is a control input by shifting and adjusting how the rider’s weight is transferred, changing the riding form will affect how you take a corner. Different styles are built for different turns so if you’re looking to take a few precious seconds off your lap time, here’s another way to do it outside of making adjustments to the machine.

Beyond customizing the riding form, you can also customize your rider’s look. There are plenty of licensed helmets, suits, boots, and gloves, which are mostly unlocked by winning races or completing license tests. There are four custom setups – two for racing outfits, two for street outfits – so if you want to match the color of your current ride, you can easily switch between the four. And hey, you’ve always got to look good especially since there seems to be such a huge focus on the photo mode, which makes a triumphant return from GT4. I’m a little concerned at how much attention is paid to the photo mode in the TT manual.

With no new parts to buy, money is completely absent from here. So, how do you gain new motorcycles? You earn them by winning races. However, you can’t choose exactly what bike you win from a specific race, and this is where the challenge mode comes into play. Those who played GT4 will recognize this as it’s very similar to the mission mode. In challenge mode, you choose which bike you want and to earn it, you hop on it and must complete the goal that has been set. The goals differ, depending on which cycle you are trying to earn. They range from simply beating a lap time to racing against a single competitor where the victory conditions are either cross the finish line first in a set number of laps or hold the lead for a full 10 seconds. What I like about this is that you can’t just buy a high-powered machine and steamroll the competition in a cup race. If you want it, you have to earn it with skill. And with the steep learning curve (which I’ll get to), it’s very satisfying when you earn that bike you so desperately want.

Graphically, TT is on par with GT4. That comparison is easy to make since most of the track and environments are reused from there. The game is pretty in stills, but seeing it in motion is what you need to see to fully appreciate it. The bikes and riders are animated beautifully, and the attention to detail is fantastic. You’ll not only see the riders lean to shift their weight and balance, but you’ll also see them move their wrists when you open and close the throttle, depress the brakes – it’s all so wonderful in full motion. It’s also safe to say that replays are also great looking, continuing Polyphony’s reputation for creating such photo-realistic playbacks.

Lastly, the sound effects are great. The high pitched buzzing of the motors when you open the throttle coming out of a corner is awesome, as does the sound of it downshifting when approaching a corner. The same can’t be said about the relatively forgettable soundtrack. With GT’s track record in this area though, that wasn’t surprising.

While TT does look good, some sacrifices were made to do so. In GT, there are at most six cars in one race; in TT the most you’ll ever see on one track is four. I’m willing to forgive the developers a bit since this needed to be done because animating the riders taxes the PS2 more, but it’s still a bit of a disappointment.

What irks me the most about this game is that there isn’t much to do, which is the complete opposite of the trend in most car racing titles. Outside of the license tests, challenge mode, and the race events, there’s nothing else to do in Tourist Trophy mode. There’s a challenge for just about every machine, but after that, what else? You have every bike. The license tests aren’t exactly mandatory, but you’ll need to do them anyway because earning those is what unlocks the better bikes in challenge mode. You’ll also want to do them because you need to learn how to ride one of these things. And finally, there aren’t that many race events to participate in. An online mode would’ve helped immensely, but seeing that GT has yet to see an online component, why should we have expected one here.

Tourist Trophy has a very steep learning curve, so those put off with frequent initial failure or those just looking for a quick play will be out of luck. Even after completing all the license tests, some may still not have a good grasp on how they handle. From a personal standpoint, I tried driving most of the courses at first like I did in GT, having memorized brake points, racing lines, etc. And I can tell you that it didn’t work – not even close. You’ll need to look further ahead, brake even earlier – it’s a completely different beast, and so you’ll need to throw out everything you know about driving cars and change gears, so to say. If you can get past this, though, you’ll have a very satisfying experience.

Once you get the basics, you can get more control over the bike by switching to the pro control scheme. With this you’ll have independent control over the front and rear brakes. Be warned that this is for only the most skillful of riders because this involves having to use almost every single button on the DualShock2 just to make a simple turn. If you can get past an extra learning curve hump and take advantage of this setup, then you’ll find even more satisfaction in TT. But, I don’t see many casual gamers focusing much energy to do so.

The track selection is a bit of a disappointment. There are a few original tracks, but the rest are all lifted from previous Gran Turismo entries. They try to make them feel different by changing some sections of the track, like adding a chicane or two, but looking at the bigger picture, it still boils down to an old track that many have seen a dozen times over. I realize that the small production window can be attributed to this problem, but the lack of a Moto GP license really hurts this as well. With a license, we could’ve seen more tracks and thus maybe would’ve had more things to do, helping to give TT more variety. I guess that’s something else to improve in another installment.

On its own, Tourist Trophy is a great motorcycle sim. Those weaned on Gran Turismo will have a fun time playing with the two-wheeled monsters because of how familiar everything is. However, TT is not without its faults, which are all the more magnified when compared to the leading name in motorcycle racing – the Moto GP series. There is plenty of fun to be had here, but there is also plenty of room for improvement. It’s a very good first step for what will hopefully turn into a “Gran Turismo on two wheels” series.

Racing sim fans will have a blast, just wish there was more.

Fantastic looking game, but having to sacrifice two riders is a letdown.

Sound effects are realistic; music is forgettable.

Once you get past the steep learning curve, the experience is very satisfying.

Race, get bikes, but once you get all the ones you want, what else is there to do?

]]> Sun, 02 Apr 2006 17:40:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_announces_world_tour_soccer_2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_announces_world_tour_soccer_2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_announces_world_tour_soccer_2# Sony has officially announced the upcoming release of the PlayStation Portable title, World Tour Soccer 2.

The game will build upon the original that released at the handheld's launch by providing players with 11 modes of play, better graphics and Wi-Fi support for up to four players.  Various modes include the classic challenge mode which gives you points for perfect passes and shots, the all rounder mode which requires you to bring in teammates to the game, time attack mode which has you gain points against the clock, checkpoint tests your distribution skills and finally shot clock where your eye for goal is tested in a race against time. The game is set to include eight new stadiums and 71 international teams.

World Tour Soccer 2 is scheduled to ship sometime in June 2006.

Originally written by Brian Mohr]]> Wed, 22 Mar 2006 21:43:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/day_of_defeat_free_weekend http://www.gamebump.com/go/day_of_defeat_free_weekend http://www.gamebump.com/go/day_of_defeat_free_weekend# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.The original author is Matthew Call.

Valve Software announced that their World War 2 shooter, Day of Defeat: Source, will be available for free this weekend.  Day of Defeat was originally a mod for Half-Life, Valve’s critically acclaimed shooter, that pitted Allied and Axis soldiers against each other online.  Once Half-Life 2 and its new Source Engine were released Day of Defeat was ported over to the new engine.

Gamers interested in trying Day of Defeat: Source can head to Valve’s webpage at www.steampowered.com to preload the game in preparation for the free trial at 12:00 pm PST this Friday.  Good hunting! ]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2006 23:39:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/nintendos_brain_age_coming_to_the_us http://www.gamebump.com/go/nintendos_brain_age_coming_to_the_us http://www.gamebump.com/go/nintendos_brain_age_coming_to_the_us# Nintendo has announced that their math and word touch screen games, Brain Age: Train Your Brain and Brain Age: Big Brain Academy will be coming to the U.S.

The titles are based around the idea to keep your brain active and have had a lot of success in Japan by selling over 1 million units each.

Nintendo Executive Vice President of Sales, Reggie Fils-Aime said, "Our brain-training series, led by Brain Age, builds on the popularity of word and number puzzles and acts as a treadmill for the mind."

Brain Age: Train Your Brain is scheduled to release on April 17th, while Brain Age: Big Brain Academy will hit retailers on May 30th.

The game again puts players in the role of Team Rainbow as you battle it out through seven single-player missions. Many of the missions will feature updated classic maps and weapons. Critical Hour will also feature online multiplayer for up to 16 players.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Critical Hour is scheduled to release Spring 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

In more interesting Square Enix news, the company has launched the official site to Dragon Quest Yangus, an RPG probably being developed by Level 5 that pulls from ]]> Mon, 19 Dec 2005 13:20:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2006_360 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2006_360 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_tiger_woods_pga_tour_2006_360# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Aaron Thomas.

EA Sports came out in full force to support the Xbox 360 launch. All of their Xbox 360 games have great next-gen graphics, but despite costing $10 more, each and every one of them is also missing features found in their Xbox counterparts. Tiger Woods PGA Tour is no exception. The level of detail in the courses is outstanding, as are most of the player models, but it only features half the number of courses and a less involved career mode.

Striking the ball is done by pulling back on the left analog stick to start your backswing, and then pushing forward to swing. Adding power to your shots is achieved by repeatedly pressing the left bumper (left shoulder button) during your backswing. Since the bumper and the analog stick are so close together it takes awhile to master this mechanic. You can’t change your button configuration, so you’ll have to learn to live with the unfortunate lack of customization. The new method of using the right analog stick to hit a certain spot on the ball, allowing you to play a slice or a fade, add backspin, or topspin to the shot is here and works as well.

The previous versions of TW 06 introduced a new putting mechanic, which is also found in the Xbox 360 incarnation. The caddy tips that made it easy to line up putts are gone, as is the vastly overused “Tiger Vision” that allowed you to drop-in putts from anywhere on the green. A color-coded grid has now been placed over the green, with dots moving to show the green’s changes in elevation. Putting the ball the proper distance is now dependent on how far you pull back the analog stick – just like a real putting stroke. Even after lots of practice, it’s still tough get the right amount of power on uphill putts, but for the most part the new method of putting works very well.

Rather than using money to upgrade your character’s abilities, the game now uses experience points, which are awarded based on how well you play. During a round, if you putt well, you’ll earn points for putting; if you hit accurate shots you’ll get points for accuracy, and so on. It’s not any better or worse than the previous method of using money to buy upgrades – it’s just different.

Tiger Woods create-a-golfer has always been the best character creation tool available on consoles. You have incredible control over nearly every aspect of your character’s facial features. You can also customize your golfers outfit, celebrations, and even their swing. While the mode is impressive here, it offers far fewer options than its Xbox counterpart. On the other hand, the results (outside of some plastic-like hair) are much more impressive.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06’s biggest selling point is its amazing visual presentation. The courses look absolutely fantastic, especially in 720p. It looks nice in standard definition as well, but you won’t be blown away unless you see it in high-def. Everything is crisp, the sky is photorealistic, water hazards glisten in the sun, waves crash alongside the cliffs at Pebble Beach, birds fly amongst the trees, even leaves fall to the ground alongside the course. For the first time, the rough actually looks “rough” instead of a darker shade of the fairway. There are still some ugly spots – buildings alongside the course look like models, but other than a few minor things, the courses are breathtaking.

Character models look better than ever, but they haven’t made the same leap that the courses have. Tiger Woods is easily the best looking out of the bunch, and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the real Tiger and the “fake” Tiger from ten feet away. His eyes will blink, he’ll wrinkle his brow when studying a shot, and you can even see the veins in his arms. Other golfers generally look just like their real-life counterparts, except for John Daly, who is just atrocious looking. Whoever is responsible for that character model should be embarrassed. He’s about 75 pounds lighter than he should be, has noticeable square sections in his chest, his hair looks like it came from a PlayStation game, and his face isn’t very accurate at all. At least they got the sponsor emblazoned on his shirt; we wouldn’t want to forget that important detail.

TW 06’s online mode is largely unchanged from the Xbox version. You can play a variety of different match types, enter tournaments, and bet money. You can even chat with friends that are playing other games, even if they are playing the offline mode – as long as they are signed on to Live. Since there aren’t a whole lot of Xbox 360’s out there yet, it was pretty tough to find a match, but this will certainly improve over the coming months.

There’s no beating around the bush – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 was rushed to make the Xbox 360’s launch. It’s missing a ton of features, and outside of its gorgeous visuals, there’s not one thing about it that says “next-gen.” It would have been nice to see some new animations such as players interacting with each other, caddies carrying bags; just more new stuff in general.

There are only six courses, which is disappointing not only because other versions had twice as many, but it makes for a very repetitive season when you play the same six courses over and over. It doesn’t really feel much like a major championship if you’ve already played the course five different times for 15 rounds. Speaking of playing the same course over and over, it gets really bad when the “majors” roll around – especially if you’re not in the top ten. You’ll need to play four rounds to qualify for the tournament, and then play four more during the actual event. Assuming each round takes 30 minutes, you’re looking at playing the same course for four straight hours. Some single round tournaments or a max of three rounds per tournaments would be appreciated next year.

There are also several features that are missing or not fully implemented from the Xbox 360 version of the game. You earn money for accomplishing tasks and winning tournaments, but there’s nowhere to actually spend your money. In other Tiger Woods games you have to purchase your clubs, but here, they get unlocked as you master challenges. There’s also no way to tell what clubs are better than the others, and as far as I can tell, they’re all the same for some unknown reason. Changing what clubs are in your bag is a chore as you’ve got to exit out of career mode and edit your gameface from the main menu. This is just a careless oversight.

You can earn points towards your gamerscore (this is tied to your Xbox Live gamertag and shows your accomplishments in the games you’ve played) but the goals are all online based, so you get nothing for playing offline matches. I earned 200 points in one offline game of Madden, but after 10 hours of Tiger Woods, I had exactly zero. Sure, this doesn’t affect how the game plays, but every other launch title has gotten it together, so there’s no reason TW 06 couldn’t have. There are objectives that don’t say they are online, such as averaging less than 1.5 putts a hole, but despite my average being a 1.4, I never got the points, so I have to assume they are online-based or broken.

While the putting system is much-improved, it can still be exploited at times. You can hit the A button and watch the camera trace your ideal putting line, find an object in the background that’s in-line with where the camera is aiming, and voila, you’re gonna sink the putt. It seems like the camera actually aims a little lower in the 360 version, making this less of a viable tactic, but you can still do it a fair amount of the time.

David Feherty and Gary McCord do the game’s commentary, and quite frankly, they are absolutely terrible. Perhaps it’s because I’ve played TW 2005, as well as three versions of TW 06, but it became unbearable after a short while. The two don’t have a whole lot of different sayings to begin with, and their repertoire might actually be smaller this go around. The whole “antagonistic announcer” thing is amusing for the first few rounds, but when they jump all over you mid-swing for (god forbid) taking a practice swing every time you do it, it’s a bit too much.

The player chatter and crowd reaction also need to be improved if this is to be called a next-gen title. It’s no longer acceptable for the golfers to mumble a handful of phrases – I want to hear real reactions, talks with their caddies about how to approach a shot, and player interviews. At first the crowds sound just fine, but once you realize that there’s only one generic crowd cheer (they just vary the volume to make it sound different) it starts to feel lacking. It would be nice to hear the “Tiger…Tiger” chants you hear on TV, and crowds roaring off in the distance as someone makes a big shot ahead of you, for starters. The rest of the sound effects aren’t bad, and the EA Trax are mellow and for the most part rather enjoyable, so it’s not all bad from an audio standpoint.

If you own TW PGA Tour 2004 or 2005 and held of on purchasing 06 because it was “more of the same” then the Xbox 360 version is a must-buy – it’ll blow you away. That said, if you’ve already played the heck out of the other console versions of Tiger Woods 06, there’s no real reason to pick it up on the 360; especially since it’s $60.

I can live without “time travel” but more challenges and shorter tournaments are a must in 07.

The courses look amazing, as do most of the golfers. John Daly looks pathetic.

The commentary is dreadful. More than one or two crowd cheers would be nice.

A little tougher than other versions of the same 06. But that’s a good thing - it's more fun.

It's $60 yet has half the courses of previous gen games - inexcusable. LIVE play is good though

]]> Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:07:00 -0600 Shiva Stella http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is the latest installment in the famed Dragon Quest series, originally helmed by former company, Enix, and now distributed under the Square Enix moniker. The game was developed by Level 5, the people behind Sony’s Dark Cloud series (most notably Dark Cloud 2), and features characters designed by Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z fame. DQVIII also marks the series’ transition to full 3D, making the game one of the last and finest visual treats we’ll probably encounter on the PlayStation 2. From the simple gameplay mechanics to the splendid presentation and the dozens upon dozens of hours you’ll spend just playing through the main plot, DQVIII is a definite winner this holiday season – despite its lack of inventiveness and originality.

DQVIII begins with a cozy introduction of the primary cast; you’ve the silent, heroic youth; the hero’s bigger, uglier sidekick, Yangus; the giant toad, King Trode; and the lovely Princess Medea, who is presently a horse. Some grave misfortune has fallen upon King Trode, as his entire kingdom has been ravaged by uncontrollable thorn bushes and he and his daughter have obviously been cursed – transformed into creatures – and the soul survivor of the incident is our nameless hero. The fiend responsible for the curse is a jester-mage called Dhoulmagus, and King Trode has employed our hero’s aid in ascertaining Dhoulmagus’ whereabouts and forcing the maniac to reverse the spell, which of course Dhoulmagus has absolutely no intention of doing.

During the initial stages of their quest King Trode’s little gang stumbles upon two other characters who have set their sights on Dhoulmagus as well – lovely Miss Jessica, the game’s sex appeal, and the wanton Angelo, who is much more interested in gambling and having a good time then acting out the duties of his templar knights – and so the gang grows from a common goal: the painful defeat of the sinister Dhoulmagus. Though the story’s premise is simple and direct, numerous twists and turns (which I won’t spoil for you) abound, and plot progression is presented via lively, shortened cutscenes. Those tired of extensive, dramatic dialogue in the Final Fantasy/Star Ocean franchises will find this a welcome addition, while those who crave more engaging plots will still be satisfied with DQVIII’s offering.

The gameplay is as simple as DQVIII’s plot– players run around the stunning environment in search of the next town and leads of Dhoulmagus’ location. En route you encounter random battles that pit numerous opponents – usually three to five – against the party of four. Upon entering the battle gamers can opt to fight, flee, intimidate (attempt to frighten monsters away), or set tactics for the rest of the team (if desired, the remaining three characters can be set to various battle stratagems other than the default “follow orders” selection, like “show no mercy”, “don’t use magic”, and “focus on healing”). Party status is displayed along the top of the screen while attack commands are on the bottom, and these consist of attack, defend, items (i.e., health), abilities (learned weapon skills), spells, and psyche-up (raise attack power). Attacks are quick slices or thrusts with an equipped weapon, and all attacks are shone in bright orange figures while remaining health for the party briefly displays in subtracted white text.

For a slight twist, you can target a single opponent with certain weapons while others enable you to select all of them, inevitably dealing less damage overall but weakening all the foes on the field. Although this is hardly innovative for an RPG, it does make random battling easier, as some of the foes quickly wipe your party. The game makes use of some very difficult, random opponents strewn between masses of easy victories, which keeps players on their toes. Monsters also increase in difficulty when night approaches, and this is a significant draw of the in-game clock; if you really want to level-up, just go out at night and prompt a lot of random battling. The whistle command, which summons foes to the group, is very convenient during leveling sessions and enables you to avoid all the unnecessary running around to trigger fights.

One unique aspect that breaks the repetitiveness of random battling is the different twist in status effects. Rather than stick to the plain poison, paralysis, or cursed effects that every RPG includes, DQVIII also makes use of dancing fevers and hand puppets. It’s humorous to catch characters laughing uncontrollably or snapping their fingers as they do a little dance. Yet another intriguing difference between DQVIII and many recent RPGs is the methodology for acquiring skills (abilities) and spells, as they’re learned in a different manner; after a character levels, the gamer is granted stat points to distribute among five selections, i.e. Yangus features a “humanity” selection along with “axe, club, scythe” and “fisticuffs” (barehanded fighting). After so many points are allotted to a selection, it grants the bearer additional attack abilities and spells (heal, fire, etc). Each character has a unique fifth listing akin to Yangus’ humanity; the unnamed hero utilizes courage while Jessica aims for sex-appeal and Angelo focuses on (much needed, and probably often used) charisma. It’s a light, straightforward twist that keeps the focus on the gameplay and plot premise rather than on stat manipulation and skill acquisition, which is very fitting giving the game’s simplistic atmosphere.

As this is the first DQ game entirely done in 3D, it’s important to note that Level 5 has managed to maintain the stylistic, anime feel of the characters on a realistic backdrop. The game has a fantastic, familiar presentation that adequately and aesthetically transitions the series to full 3D, with cell-shaded characters reminiscent of the Dragon Ball series thanks to the employment of Akira Toriyama, the anime’s character designer. The party is detailed if not stereotypical, and all characters perform even the slightest of movements fluidly. The hero’s orange coat flutters as he walks, characters blink their eyes and breathe easily, Jessica’s hair blows in the subtle breeze, and a slight shadow follows our hero’s footsteps.

The immensity and beauty of DQVIII’s world is simply astounding. The game features a non-demanding in-game clock with regular days and nights, such that you can trace the sun’s path as it rises in the east and sets in the west to a glorious display of orange skies. During the night the skies appropriately darken, a thousand stars appear, and the moon shines brightly down upon the party. In the daytime light, fluffy clouds float overhead and the sun’s rays strike the camera. The landscape is a lush, vivid green dotted with detailed trees, blades of grass, flowing waterfalls, and superb ground texturing. As the player explores the pleasant countryside he glimpses stray animals lazily grazing across the hills, small streams and ruins, tiny cottages, and the typical dirt road. Dust kicks up from our hero’s feet as he runs along in search of the nearest town, and foliage rustles in the gentle wind. To say that the series has successfully transitioned into the 3D world is an unbelievably crude understatement.

Level 5 included a beautiful, lovely orchestral soundtrack to accompany the game’s splendid visuals, and the two combine for a spectacular presentation. Sweet violin music fills the air as the party wanders from town to town, and each village has its own theme. Little ambient noises – characters running, doors opening, monsters snarling, etc – support the audio along with superb voiceacting. Characters in DQVIII occasionally feature heavy accents, and while they’re all varied – Jessica has a proper British speech while Yangus uses a thick, slum-British (nearly Australian, complete with “crimey” and missing consonants) – they also aptly fit their characters, and none appear too overdramatic or out of context. Overall, Level 5 has done a magnificent job in localizing the game.

Though DQVIII is cited as having more than 50 hours of gameplay, Level 5 again went a step farther and included some side-quests and various minigames. You can scour the land for mini-medals for a particular princess, exploit King Trode’s alchemy pot for some fun item creation, and even prowl the casino grounds for honest, high-betting action. The alchemy itself deserves particular mention, as players can spot item recipes (which the game automatically logs for you) from most any bookshelf, which makes fashioning any number of special, more powerful items incredibly convenient.

Considering how wonderful the game has turned out, you really have to forage for its faults, the primary of which for DQ fans is that the game offers nothing terribly groundbreaking for either its series or genre; if you’ve played any other turn-based RPG, the reason you're so instantly at home with DQVIII is that it’s an upgraded game of yore, better tailored for the nostalgic than those demanding a more innovative way to spend 50 hours.

The game’s small cast and stereotypical characters aren’t as engaging as those found in other, modern RPGs, which you may forgive depending on how well you take to each character. The previously mentioned voiceovers, while very well-done, do make abundant use of accented dialogue, which could easily drive those more comfortable with typical, American English completely insane.

I’m also not a fan of DQVIII’s more personal save system, as it involves trekking to church every single time you need to save. Churches are dotted throughout the countryside, and while there’s usually one less than ten minutes away from the current field location, why spend a minute rushing to a church to fly through some chatty nun’s dialogue every half hour? Save-anywhere systems work best when they’re placed inside a simple save menu or activated through an automatic checkpoint; however, it’s understandable that the game’s cozy atmosphere is amplified by the church “adventure log” system which, if you’re a theologian, makes perfect sense – where else would you go to “get saved”?

My last gripe concerns the random battles and the intentionally dumbed-down AI. As swarms of easy battles are strewn with the occasional difficult batch of foes, you’re sometimes going to die just by stepping outside of town (and when you die, you lose half your money). To combat this, Level 5 has opponents that will actually stop attacking to groom themselves or get jiggy while your team stands there, weapons at the ready. This system is rather functional, so I’ve no idea why Level 5 also has opponents that literally recast spells that can’t affect your team members because they’re already affected or immune. If this is to further counteract the super difficulty of some random battles, why not just make all the worse foes nocturnal? Enemies that recast the same ineffective spells over and over are just stupid.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is going to please series fans with its gorgeous transition to 3D while newcomers to the franchise will be astounded by the pleasant visuals, welcoming atmosphere, direct plot, and simple gameplay. Unfortunately the game doesn’t have an innovative leg to stand on, which may disappoint some DQ (and RPG) fans. The accents are a little overdone, but add to the title’s atmosphere. Overall, Dragon Quest VIII is just an extremely enjoyable, beautiful, nostalgic, and engaging RPG for the PlayStation 2. This charming, atmospheric RPG is not to be missed.

Not original, but still very solid and fun to play through. A good (but not dramatic) plot.

Extremely good. A beautiful transition to 3D. Cute character/enemy design. Gorgeous environs.

Not as intense as the visuals, but still very solid. Heavily accented characters aren’t for all

You’ll really enjoy playing through it and probably get addicted very quickly.

High for an RPG, but I’m also counting draw-in factor and side-quests.

]]> Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:16:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/rumor_nfs_rivals_online http://www.gamebump.com/go/rumor_nfs_rivals_online http://www.gamebump.com/go/rumor_nfs_rivals_online# Rumor is swirling on PlayStation boards that Need For Speed Underground: Rivals will feature an online mode.

This would be similar to the recently announced 989 Sports titles, ATV Offroad Fury and Twisted Metal: Head-On. Currently, this is still just a rumor, but if true it could lead to the assumption that EA Sports titles would also be online.

We'll keep you posted if and when further details come about from Electronic Arts.

The SSX series is one of those franchises that gets lumped in with the usual suspects of extreme sports games like the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. But, whereas those types of games concentrated on nailing trick after trick to gain a high score, SSX focused more on racing with tricks thrown in to build boost. SSX On Tour is the newest entry in the series and not only is it as good as its predecessors, but it’s more fun, entertaining, and solid in all aspects. Read on to find out why.

SSX On Tour only offers two modes – quick play and tour. Quick play allows you to hit the slopes as fast as possible with no thought about anything else except trying to race. In tour mode, however, you’ll come to find that it contains a slew of different gameplay variations in itself, so it’ll be hard to be bored with this game.

The goal of tour mode is to go from an unknown novice downhiller to the king of the hill. You’ll do this by performing in competitions or racing rivals in order to build up hype. Build enough hype and you’ll start climbing the amateur rankings and then eventually the pros. When first starting tour mode, you’ll be asked to create a character, with the biggest decision being whether you want to use a board or skis. Skis are a new addition to the series, but there’s not much difference in how each controls, so pick one with the confidence knowing that you’ll be playing almost the same game no matter what you pick save for the aesthetic difference and the type of tricks performed. Even though the differences between the two are small, being able to use skis is a welcome addition.

On Tour continues SSX 3’s trend of taking place on one mountain with short courses littered throughout its side. By selecting a different place to run, you’ll come across the different kinds of gameplay types. Most involve racing characters from the previous SSX games or beating a cumulative trick score total in a limited number of jumps. Some of the other goals are rather interesting like gaining 30 seconds of air or grinding 1000m of railing before the clock runs out. And this is only a couple of them – there’s plenty more challenges waiting for you on these slopes.

The trick system has been simplified, which is definitely for the better. Since most of the time you’ll be concentrating on racing and just using tricks to build boost, it’s a nice touch and good decision by EA Big. The old “ubertricks” are now called “monster tricks” and no longer are they performed by hitting a shoulder button and face button together, but by simply hitting the right control stick in a direction. That’s it – plain and simple, yet very effective.

Graphically, the character models aren’t as detailed as in the past games, but that’s enabled the development team to keep the action fast and smooth – and I mean really fast and really smooth. The EA dev team must have taken a cue from their buddies who created Burnout as the sense of speed is that blazing fast. What helps is that the silky smooth framerate never drops at anytime and the audio adds to the illusion by blaring a huge rush of wind out of the speakers. And though the detail has dropped, don’t think that the game suffers for it. There are still some touches here and there that may be overlooked but are awesome once you notice them. Some of these included the gently falling snowflakes and the path your board cuts in unmarred snow. The entire experience is wonderfully immersive.

The art style that was chosen is also very unique and quite fitting with the theme of the game. In the all of the load or selection screens, mounds of art litter the frame. The art looks kind of like the doodle-art of a bored high-school kid scribbled in their Mead spiral notebooks. The metal spirals on the left side really at that feeling as well. Just take a look at the box art and you’ll see exactly what I mean. I really liked it and actually chuckled at a few of the doodles.

The soundtrack EA selected for its Trax is a good mix of all genres, but there are quite of few classic hard-metal themes that will have you pulling out the devil horns on a number of occasions. Those tracks seem like they may not fit with the theme and culture, but with how - pardon the pun - hard the rest of the game rocks, it works.

Though the tour mode focuses on your custom rider, the initial customization options are lacking. First you choose the gender of your rider, then boards or skis. After that, it’s onto a couple of preset templates and off to the slopes you go. Thankfully, as you progress in tour mode, you can use the money you earn to buy different clothes, haircuts, and boards. It’s still not that deep, but there are enough options to at least give you a good selection to create an avatar you won’t mind looking at for hours on end.

This type of game seemed perfect for online play, but unfortunately there’s no option at all to play with others outside of two-player split screen. It doesn’t detract at all from the entire SSX On Tour experience; it’s just a slight disappointment. The fact that it doesn’t have an online component should not keep you from getting this great addition to the series.

SSX On Tour, simply put, is a fun game. Despite the lack of multiplayer options, there are plenty of things to do in the single-player tour mode, and its steady progression in difficulty is wholly satisfying. Some fans of the previous entries may not view this as their favorite in the bunch, but there is no doubt they will enjoy it; first-time boarders and skiers should enjoy just as much, if not more, than the installed fan base.

Race and trick down the slopes. Simple, yet fun.

Lower detailed character models, but little touches add to the atmosphere.

Sound of wind adds to the speed. Soundtrack rocks, literally.

Simplified controls will have everyone having fun with this while looking like a pro.

Plenty of things to do and buy/collect in tour mode.

]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:08:00 -0500 Shiva Stella http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_dragon_quest_viii_journey_of_the_cursed_king_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is the latest installment in the famed Dragon Quest series, originally helmed by former company, Enix, and now distributed under the Square Enix moniker. The game is being developed by Level 5, the people behind Sony’s Dark Cloud series (most notably Dark Cloud 2), and we were fortunate enough to receive an English build to update us on the basic plot, visuals, and gameplay mechanics. Needless to say, we’re impressed – very.

DQVIII begins with a cozy introduction of the primary cast; you’ve the silent, heroic youth; the hero’s bigger, uglier sidekick, Yangus; the giant toad, King Trode; and the lovely Princess Medea, who is presently a horse. Some grave misfortune has fallen upon King Trode, as his entire kingdom has been ravaged by uncontrollable thorn bushes and he and his daughter have obviously been cursed – transformed into creatures – and the soul survivor of the incident is our nameless hero. The fiend responsible for the curse is a jester-mage called Dhoulmagus, and King Trode has employed our hero’s aid in ascertaining Dhoulmagus’ whereabouts and forcing the maniac to reverse the spell, which of course Dhoulmagus has absolutely no intention of doing.

During the initial stages of their quest King Trode’s little gang stumbles upon two other characters who have set their sights on Dhoulmagus as well – lovely Miss Jessica and the wanton Angelo – and so the gang grows from a common goal: the painful defeat of the sinister Dhoulmagus. Though the story’s premise is simple and direct, numerous twists and turns (which I won’t spoil for you) abound, and plot progression is presented via lively, shortened cutscenes. Those tired of extensive, dramatic dialogue in the Final Fantasy/Star Ocean franchises will find this a welcome addition, while those who crave more engaging plots will still be satisfied with DQVIII’s offering.

The gameplay that we sampled is also extremely simple – players run around the stunning environment in search of the next town and leads of Dhoulmagus’ location. En route you encounter random battles that pit numerous opponents – usually three to five – against the party of four. Upon entering the battle gamers can opt to fight, flee, intimidate (attempt to frighten monsters away), or set tactics for the rest of the team (if desired, the remaining three characters can be set to various battle stratagems other than the default “follow orders” selection, like “show no mercy”, “don’t use magic”, and “focus on healing”). Party status is displayed along the top of the screen while attack commands are on the bottom, and these consist of attack, defend, items (i.e., health), abilities (learned weapon skills), spells, and psyche-up (raise attack power). Attacks are quick slices or thrusts with an equipped weapon, and all attacks are shone in bright orange figures while remaining health for the party briefly displays in subtracted white text.

One unique aspect that breaks the repetitiveness of random battling is the different twist in status effects. Rather than stick to the plain poison, paralysis, or cursed effects that every RPG includes, DQVIII also makes use of dancing fevers and hand puppets. It’s humorous to catch characters laughing uncontrollably or snapping their fingers as they do a little dance. Yet another intriguing difference between DQVIII and many recent RPGs is the methodology for acquiring skills (abilities) and spells, as they’re learned in a different manner; after a character levels, the gamer is granted stat points to distribute among five selections, i.e. Yangus features a “humanity” selection along with “axe, club, scythe” and “fisticuffs” (barehanded fighting). After so many points are allotted to a selection, it grants the bearer additional attack abilities and spells (heal, fire, etc). Each character has a unique fifth listing akin to Yangus’ humanity; the unnamed hero utilizes courage while Jessica aims for sex-appeal and Angelo focuses on (much needed, and probably often used) charisma. It’s a light, straightforward twist that keeps the focus on the gameplay and plot premise rather than on stat manipulation and skill acquisition, which is very fitting giving the game’s simplistic atmosphere.

As this is the first DQ game entirely done in 3D, it’s important to note that Level 5 has managed to maintain the stylistic, anime feel of the characters on a realistic backdrop. The game has a fantastic, familiar presentation that adequately and aesthetically transitions the series to full 3D, with cell-shaded characters reminiscent of the Dragon Ball series thanks to the employment of Akira Toriyama, the anime’s character designer. The party is detailed if not stereotypical, and all characters perform even the slightest of movements fluidly. The hero’s orange coat flutters as he walks, characters blink their eyes and breathe easily, Jessica’s hair blows in the subtle breeze, and a slight shadow follows our hero’s footsteps.

The immensity and beauty of DQVIII’s world is simply astounding. The game features a non-demanding in-game clock with regular days and nights, such that you can trace the sun’s path as it rises in the east and sets in the west to a glorious display of orange skies. During the night the skies appropriately darken, a thousand stars appear, and the moon shines brightly down upon the party. In the daytime light, fluffy clouds float overhead and the sun’s rays strike the camera. The landscape is a lush, vivid green dotted with detailed trees, blades of grass, flowing waterfalls, and superb ground texturing. As the player explores the pleasant countryside he glimpses stray animals lazily grazing across the hills, small streams and ruins, tiny cottages, and the typical dirt road. Dust kicks up from our hero’s feet as he runs along in search of the nearest town, and foliage rustles in the gentle wind. To say that the series has successfully transitioned into the 3D world is an unbelievably crude understatement.

Level 5 included a beautiful, lovely orchestral soundtrack to accompany the game’s splendid visuals, and the two combine for a spectacular presentation. Sweet violin music fills the air as the party wanders from town to town, and each village has its own theme. Little ambient noises – characters running, doors opening, monsters snarling, etc – support the audio along with superb voiceacting. Characters in DQVIII occasionally feature heavy accents, and while they’re all varied – Jessica has a proper British speech while Yangus uses a thick, slum-British (nearly Australian, complete with “crimey” and missing consonants) – they also aptly fit their characters, and none appear too overdramatic or out of context. Overall, Level 5 has done a magnificent job in localizing the game.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is going to please series fans with its gorgeous transition to 3D while newcomers to the franchise will be astounded by the pleasant visuals, welcoming atmosphere, direct plot, and simple gameplay. This will definitely be a “must-have” game this holiday season. Expect to pick this one up come November 15 and be amazed. ]]> Wed, 26 Oct 2005 16:22:00 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_fantastic_four_xbox http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_fantastic_four_xbox http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_fantastic_four_xbox# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

Atrocious controls and button mashing ad nauseam – can it get any shallower?

Never got used to the “stretched-out” look of the characters. Bland backgrounds.

The movies’ actors supplied voice, but nothing else is memorable, except that Jurassic 5 track.

The bad controls, mediocre graphics, and uneven gameplay sap any fun to be had.

There’s the F4 icons, bonus goals, and multiple difficulties, but why wade through this mess?

]]> Wed, 20 Jul 2005 01:25:00 -0500 Brian Mohr http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_fantastic_four_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_fantastic_four_ps21 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_fantastic_four_ps21# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Activision is no stranger to superhero games and it's planning to release another, Fantastic Four, alongside the launch of the Fantastic Four film this summer. The game features more than 40 levels with some based on the movie and some specifically created for the game.

Graphically the game looks very good and the action on-screen is high-paced and exciting. The superpowers also look good as there is a lot going on as you play. The character models for the game are well represented and look like their movie counterparts. The world for each mission is also detailed, but enemy design is repetitive.

There are a lot of options in Fantastic Four, including the ability to use any object as a weapon. The game includes approximately 10 to 12 super abilities for each character along with various combos for both team and solo play, as well as a monetary system to add some role-playing elements. During the game you can switch between each of the characters with a simple touch of the D-pad and come together to form a team combo which is even bigger and better than when the players fight alone. Each character has his own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities that can be upgraded.

Other options include two player co-op for the entire game. The storyline is being written by Zach Penn, the writer of the X2 script, and the developers even created a new boss for the game, called Diablo. Fantastic Four is planning to include a slew of unlockables, including interviews with Stan Lee and video of him playing the game as well as the first six comics.

The unlockables, multiple abilities and cooperative play should make Fantastic Four a hit among the fans of the comic. With its correlated release, great graphics and impressive high-paced action it should also be able to attain a much wider appeal. Fantastic Four really looks to be a great transition of the comic and is shaping up well for its release.]]> Sun, 22 May 2005 19:27:00 -0500 Brian Mohr http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_greg_hastings_tournament_paintball_maxd_xbox1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_greg_hastings_tournament_paintball_maxd_xbox1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_greg_hastings_tournament_paintball_maxd_xbox1# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

With the surprise success of the original Greg Hastings Paintball by being one of the top 25 Xbox Live titles, Activision is hoping lightning strikes twice as they plan to release Greg Hastings Paintball Max'D. Instead of just releasing for the Xbox the game is also going to see releases for all current and handheld systems. The game will feature three game modes including elimination, capture the flag and center flag. It will also have approximately 30 locations to play in.

The graphics for the new Greg Hastings title looks pretty, it's still a first-person shooter and has the same look and feel as the original. Although we didn't get our hands on the project, the controls look very simple and easy to pick up and I've been told they haven't changed too much from the earlier version.

More important to the title is some of the added content including four-player split screen. In this mode you can play two on two or four players against the computer, but if you don't want to play split screen hook the paintball title online for up to seven on seven action. Online is also looking to support downloadable content and missions in the future. Something important to note is that if you have the computer fill in as your teammates, you can map out  exactly where you want them to be before the game even starts.

Another key feature added to the title is the field editor. The game will approximately 12 standard bunkers along with 15 to 20 other items to put in your map, you can also create skins to put on them as well. The best feature of all for this though is the option to put your created maps online and play in them.

The single player aspect of the game will feature a career mode that has you win tournaments to gain experience, skills and money. These can all be used to better yourself later in thae game and even if you continue gaining experience, the designers have plans for unlockables as well. Finally, there will be custom soundtracks in the latest title.

Overall, Greg Hastings Paintball Max'D is looking to be a pretty solid title for consoles upon its release this fall. Key additions like a field editor and split screen will certainly add to the fun and the game looks and feels great in the early addition we saw. Consider that with the online mode and Max'D definitely will again be a top online title for the Xbox and perhaps the PlayStation 2.]]> Sun, 22 May 2005 12:49:16 -0500 Brian Mohr http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_virtua_tennis_world_tour_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_virtua_tennis_world_tour_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_virtua_tennis_world_tour_psp1# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Virtua Tennis for the PlayStation 2 is easily on top of the competition even a few years after its release and now with the PSP out, Sega is looking to beat the competition to the punch with Virtua Tennis World Tour for the handheld. The game includes various modes of play including Quick Match, Tournament, Exhibition, World Tour, Ball Games and WiFi play for four people. The only new additional mode featured exclusively on the handheld is Ball Games which are mini-games made for the PSP that push you to beat try to beat the high score although this was not on display today.

We were only given the opportunity to play Quick Match instead and just based on the one round match we played the game's controls are very easy to pick up. With the push of triangle players can move from a near first to third-person view or back, with square you can do a lob shot, circle a slice and X a top spin. Serving the ball is very simple by pressing what type of shot you want which starts a meter up and then press it again for the power of the shot.

Graphically the court and players look and feel true to life. The player movements are done exceptionally well and are very lifelike as they will even dive and jump to hit the ball. If they do dive and hit the ball, you'll also notice that they then have to work their way back to their feet which is slow, but realistic. Another great addition to the realism of the game is the sound, you will hear and feel the grunts from the players. It really does make you feel like you're courtside.

With the varying options the game has plenty of replay value, but given that it is also pretty difficult emphasizes that fact even more. The difficulty isn't impossible, but does make you work harder to score and this definitely adds to the realism of tennis.

Virtua Tennis World Tour is approximately 80% complete and scheduled for a summer 2005 release and just based on the demo version we saw, it certainly looks to be one of the top sports games for the handheld. The game looks and feels like real tennis should and if you liked Sega's product for the PlayStation 2, you will definitely be happy with what they are bringing to the PSP.]]> Fri, 20 May 2005 00:12:58 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_2006_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_2006_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_2006_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Brian Mohr.

Sony’s sports games for the PlayStation 2 have never gotten the recognition or respect in comparison to the competition and again we see another one of their sports games lacking, this time soccer. It’s not that World Tour Soccer isn’t good; it just does feature a lot of flaws and doesn’t include anything over the competition.



The graphics for World Tour are good, but not nearly on par with Winning Eleven or even for that matter FIFA. The facial features for players are solid, but the crowd isn’t very detailed and they have no facial features whatsoever. The stadiums do look impressive though and outside the stadium Sony did put work into some smaller details like adding surrounding buildings, which really gives some depth to the overall environment. But the in-game graphics are just not up to par or as smooth as Winning Eleven or FIFA.

The controls are very simple and intuitive. You have basic shooting and passing buttons and then things get slightly more developed when you work a give-and-go and such. Nothing is overly difficult to pull off though. The drawback in relation to the controls is that they are also not nearly as smooth as the game’s competition and that pulls World Tour 2006 down.

As for the game itself, it does feature a decent amount of options like four levels of difficulty, 27 stadiums, historic teams, time of day and various weather conditions. The game does feature many different teams including club teams, international teams and you are given the option to customize too.

Whether good or bad, the game does allow for a lot of scoring too. Obviously that is unrealistic, but it does make the game slightly more exciting. World Tour Soccer allows you to get open breaks and into your opponent’s backfield relatively often, all of this is not very realistic for a soccer game. Finally, the computer AI goes for shots relatively often even if there’s not an open look. In reference to their defensive play, the defense is pretty easy to break down and on easier difficulty levels the defense lays off completely, but if you play on the harder modes penalties are called significantly more often, so thus there is no good intermediate area to play in.

As for the career mode, it is pretty extensive and allows you to work up from amateur to semi-professional and then if you’re successful on up to the pros. The real problem with this feature is that you cannot choose a team already in the game, but instead must play with some scrubs. The option to play your way up with an already created team would have been a nice addition from Sony.



The biggest downfall for World Tour Soccer 2006 is that the game features nothing new that hasn’t been seen on either Konami’s Winning Eleven series or EA’s FIFA series. In fact the game has one important feature missing and that is that it doesn’t support any online mode whatsoever. This is a huge disappointment for any soccer fan and it would have at least given them another option, but Sony chose not to add this feature even for the North American release, even though it was five months after European release. Other features that would have been a nice addition include a shootout or other minigames, but none were included in World Tour Soccer.

The gameplay isn’t like Winning Eleven or FIFA; you really feel like you’re doing all the work to score and your players aren’t working with you. One example of this was when my character ran down the sideline and then tried to kick the ball up towards the goal, but instead of going inside towards the goal the wingman literally was standing out of bounds behind me. This is really problematic when one of your own players is literally ineffective for a play. A good thing though is the field diagram that shows where the rest of your players are in relation to you, and it does help in allowing you to set yourself up to make plays.

Beyond this fault, the replay mode is very poor especially on replays of goals, when you don’t get any lead up to the goal. A perfect example of this was when I took a shot and hit the crossbar and the ball came back to another one of my players and then he put it in. I was only able to view the ball from when it was in the air until it went in the net, thus this was very disappointing.

The game literally looks like Sony held onto it the last five months adding nothing to the North American release and thus putting out a dated product.



Overall the game was a decent step in the right direction for the franchise, but World Tour Soccer and Sony’s sports games in general are always a step or two behind the rest and again we see that here. The game does feature some good options and better graphics, but they still aren’t up to par with Winning Eleven or FIFA.

The biggest downfall for the game is that it is already five months old and it appears that Sony didn’t add any features to the North American release. One important feature missing from the game is an online mode or other possible minigames, a huge disappointment for us.

World Tour also features some other small quirks that aren’t completely worked out and help take the game down another notch. Sony is definitely improving the franchise, but nothing for their game is ever innovative or new, they seem to follow the trends of previous soccer titles and thus they always fall into last place. I would say if you’re interested in trying out a soccer game for the PlayStation 2 look elsewhere because World Tour Soccer misses the goal.

The controls are simple, but repetitive. The game itself is a little choppy at times.

Graphics aren’t nearly up to par with the competition, but stadium player renders are decent.

The crowd and announcer respond pretty well to the action on the field. Repetitive.

It gets dull because you’ll easily be cutting through the defense and scoring.

The lack of online options or minigames forces you to play exhibition or career mode.

]]> Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:50:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_psp http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_psp http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_world_tour_soccer_psp# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Aaron Thomas.

One of the PSP launch titles with the most worldwide appeal is World Tour Soccer, the first-party soccer game from 989. It’s certainly going to face some stiff competition from EA’s FIFA Soccer, but WTS should be able to hold its own, and not because it was released first, but because it’s a fine representation of the world’s most popular sport.

WTS newbie, or seasoned veteran, there are four difficulty options available to suit your needs: Amateur, Pro, World Class, and Master Class. The amateur setting isn’t too difficult, so if you have in fact played WTS before, you might want to just start out on Pro. The default match length is 4 minutes, which is a bit short but can be increased to either 6, 8, or 10 minutes if you’ve got the time. You can also choose how you’d like extra time to be handled, and even turn off penalties if you’re nuts about slide-tackling. There are eight stadiums in the game, but only one is unlocked from the get go. That means you’ll have to earn the right to play in “Arnold Schwarzenegger” stadium – and no, that’s not a joke.

There are several different game modes you can choose from, ranging from a variety of cups, to local WiFi play, and even a challenge mode. The challenge mode places you in a match against increasingly difficult opponents, and rewards you with points as you play. You’ll get 300 points for a goal, but you’ll lost 300 if you give one up. Completing a pass earns you points, but having one intercepted costs you – it’s a neat system. After the game is over you are rewarded more points based on things like not getting a card and shutting out your opponent. Depending on your score, you’ll get a medal, which unlocks the next round, as well as the rest of the game’s stadiums. The cup modes are essentially tournaments that are separated by league and/or country. Winning here will unlock the rest of the game’s 245 teams that are unavailable to you initially, including some all-star teams, and classic teams from the past.

The game’s controls are easy to learn, and mapped comfortably to the PSP’s six buttons. The use of multiple button presses for moves is kept to a minimum, with only special dribbling moves and intentional dives requiring holding the L1 button in conjunction with a face button. You even have the ability to change your team’s play style from six different options by simply pressing the select button. The players themselves are easy so control, and while they do take a bit of time to turn around sometimes, generally are quick to respond to commands. Passes are crisp and accurate, the players make intelligent runs, and the special moves are nicely balanced. The referee is pretty laid back, but is always on top of offsides, and will call blatant fouls and obvious dives. As far as the gameplay goes, there’s very little to complain about – the game plays great.

Since the soccer pitch is so large, the default camera is positioned far away, making the players a bit small, but this allows it to cover a good portion of the field, which is a fair trade off. To further help you see where your players are and to help you plan your attacks, there's a radar showing player positions is at the bottom of the screen. In addition to that, there are small arrows on the left side of the screen that indicate the general whereabouts of your nearest teammate. The effort that was put into making the field and players easy to see really encourages team play, and keeps the game from being a “dribble the length of the field and shoot” title.

Despite the camera being far away from the action, the players still look good and feature a respectable number of animations. After a goal, the camera will cut to the player celebrating his feat, giving you a close-up view of the nice player models. Several different replays of the goal will follow the celebration, giving you ample opportunity to view your amazing shot, or lament your pitiful defense. The eight different stadiums look nice and feature some surprisingly nice looking grass.

The other 989 sports games’ audio have ranged from disappointing to decent, but WTS is actually quite good. For starters, there’s actually an announcer in the game, and while his comments are somewhat limited, it’s far better than nothing. He’ll call out player names, make quick comments after a goal, and does a good job keeping up with the action. There are a couple of different songs in the menus, and like most soundtracks, it’s a matter of preference as to if they’re any good or not. The crowds are lively, and will perform a variety of familiar chants during the course of the game.

WTS does have real players, but since it doesn’t have the FIFA license, there are some noticeable omissions, as far as leagues and teams go. The challenge mode is great, but it would be nice to see it lengthened a bit, and inclusion as a multi-player feature would have been welcomed as well. The exclusion of a season mode is a major disappointment as its presence would have added some significant depth to the title.

The game’s difficulty feels a bit unbalanced as it’s quite easy on the amateur mode (nothing wrong with that), but becomes quite difficult when you ramp up the difficulty just one notch. The AI isn’t horrible, at least on the offensive side of the ball, but it’s lacking on defense. Your players will offer no resistance while the computer makes its way down the field, though they will infrequently intercept passes by seemingly by sheer luck. The computer’s defense is a little more balanced, but relies heavily on crowding the penalty area, rather than challenging you with clever play. These aren’t major complaints, but they are issues worth noting.

The graphics are nice, but you will notice a few areas where presentation was sacrificed for the greater good. Little things like the nets not moving after a goal, cardboard cutout crowds, and no referee on the field (except for cut-scenes) aren’t huge omissions, but you’ll likely notice them.

Like the other 989 sports games, WTS has some simply mind-numbing load times. Unfortunately, it’s the worst of the three, with games taking over 45 seconds to begin. If you’re playing a 4 minute game, that means you’re spending the equivalent of 20% of the match twiddling your thumbs. The load times are actually different for certain play modes, which shows that they can be improved, but they weren’t.

Its big brother on the consoles is usually thought of as the lesser of the “Big Three” soccer series, but WTS on the PSP is quite a good game. The game feels polished, the controls are nice, and there are a healthy number of gameplay options to keep you entertained for a long time. Whereas the other 989 games would have been better served being built from the ground up instead of sacrificing vital features in their transition to the PSP, WTS feels like it was destined to be here all along.

The difficulty is uneven, but game plays nice and smooth.

The players look decent, the camera is ok, but little touches are missing.

Adequate announcer, lively crowds and decent menu music.

It’s lots of fun to play. Multi-player challenge mode would be nice.

It needs a season and longer challenge mode. Otherwise, there’s good depth.

]]> Sat, 19 Mar 2005 16:20:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tiger_woods_pga_tour_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tiger_woods_pga_tour_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_tiger_woods_pga_tour_psp1# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Aaron Thomas.