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GB Review: Jackass The Game (PS2)

Brian Mohr — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:01:55 -0600

Hey, see if you can kick this guy in the...

At first glance, Jackass The Game sounds like a terrible idea, but Red Mile did an okay job with it. If you want something stupid and funny, it provides a brief laugh and a short experience of the hilarious antics of the show. As a game, however, it doesn't measure up, and nor does it offer much in the way of longevity.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I guess it was only a matter of time before a publisher decided to put together a game in regards to the hilarious antics of Jackass. Red Mile Entertainment attempted to do just that with Jackass The Game. What is created is essentially a compilation of minigames that give you a feel for all things Jackass.

In the game players take on the role of a director because the original one was injured during shooting. You direct seven episodes and each one is broken up by five different stunts youll perform which add up to 35 total.

Each stunt is very simple, utilizing just two to three buttons at most. The minigames in themselves arent difficult by any means, but provide a slight challenge as your goal is to complete various objectives, blowing things up, collecting items and such in order to gain more money and move on to the next episode.

As a concept Jackass works fine, but this is also the problem. You do have 35 total stunts to perform and each is fun the first go round, but its highly unlikely that any of the minigames will make you come back for more. They just dont provide much in the way of replay value. Youll also find yourself plowing through the game in a hurry.

Minigames in Jackass include jumping into poop, running things over with a golf kart, rolling down a ski slope as a snowball, juggling and falling down a hill to name a few. Overall the stunts in and of themselves are humorous, but as mentioned earlier arent the most enjoyable to actually play.

Not surprising, the graphics and voiceover work arent exactly top notch. Graphics are bare and the voicework is repetitive, but Red Mile did manage to land everyone on the show except for Bam Margera.

While it wont wow you, Jackass did a couple things right. The biggest was giving you a Jackass feeling in a game; it really does capture the experience of the show. In addition there are a fair amount of unlockables including all of the characters and a number of videos and more, but dont be fooled: this is a bare bones product and certainly not worth the $30 asking price as of this writing. If you can find it cheap, though, its good for a laugh.

Also available on: PSP | DS
Publisher: Red Mile Entertainment
Developer: Red Mile Entertainment
Release: Sept 24, 2007
MSRP: $29.99
Mature

GB Review: Sega Rally Revo (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:32:07 -0600

Drives like a subaru.

Sega has brought back the Sega Rally series in a new edition this year entitled Sega Rally Revo for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The last time a Sega Rally title released stateside it was for the Dreamcast and while the graphics are amazing, little else has changed and that creates a problem particularly in respect to longevity. There's nothing new to see here, really, so I wouldn't recommend the game unless you're a racing addict or a big fan of the series.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Putting it simply, Sega Rally Revo is a straight arcade racer. There is no complex driving here, the whole goal is just to go fast. Revo requires just a bit of expertise as you have to perfect the powerslide. Its as simple as that; there arent a lot of options. This game is all about the driving and once you do that, you can dominate it in a variety of locales including jungles, mountains, ice and more.

The appeal of the racing in this game is undeniable. The controls are easy to pick up and play and simplistic because you just have to pivot the stick around curves while shifting off the gas. If youre unfamiliar with this style, you may find yourself sliding all over the road right away, but all it takes is a handful of runs and youll get used to it and be a pro. Once you do that and learn the courses, it really makes you feel like youve accomplished something.

In addition to that the tracks, while small in number - just 15 - they are beautiful. While ripping through courses in real time, youll tear up dirt, mud and snow which creates stunning tracks in the road. These can be especially useful as driving lines for you to follow on return runs through the course. Also, the car models are gorgeous with or without mud on them.

But for all these advantages, Revo has some serious issues too, particularly in regards to repetitiveness which strikes early and often in regards to tracks, cars and gameplay.

Fifteen tracks is too small for a title that is selling for $50 or $60. Clearly Sega took the concept of arcade game to heart. On top of that, the game includes approximately 30 cars - minimal at best. The multiplayer mode is also bare-bones, leaving the gamer with a two-player split screen option or just six-player online races; while both run well, there simply isn't a lot to write home about regarding the game's online offerings.

Meanwhile, the computer AI is a bit temperamental too. The artificial intelligence makes few mistakes and seems to have a distinct advantage over you even when youre not making that many mistakes. They can knock you into walls that slow you down and unfairly speed up to pass. Theres a clear discrepancy in the game.

Finally, as mentioned before, the arcade style of racing is fun, no question about it. But this game is all powerslides and doesnt offer the features youll see in some of the latest games out in the genre.

Sega Rally Revo is not revolutionary and in fact is a bit of a look back into the past. Its a fun game to pick up and play, but wont provide players the depth or diversity they are accustomed to. Aside from graphics, little has changed in the style of play in Sega Rally Revo and that hurts it in the end.

Also available on: 360 | PSP | PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega Racing Std.
Release: Oct 9, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Everyone | Online

GB Review: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:59:11 -0600

Don't look down.

Fans of the series should have no problem finding enjoyment in the game as Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is alright, but it doesn't exactly do much new or exciting. Instead, it changes the formula around a bit and is essentially the same tricks, combos and more you're used to. If you've played a Tony Hawk game in the past, you're not going to find much new here.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Every year a new Tony Hawk title comes to consoles and this fall is no different with the release of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground on the PlayStation 3 amongst other next-generation systems. With so many Tony Hawk titles already out, does Proving Ground break any new ground?

So, what is new?

The big thing this time around is that Proving Ground allows you to follow three distinct paths in your career. One is the career path which allows you to earn contracts, shoot videos and more. Another is hardcore, which teaches you the skater lifestyle, knocking people over and such. Finally, the last is rigger, in which you can move items in the environment around to skate off of and create trick lines. The rigger mode features a world editor, and while it's not terrible, it's not exactly ideal either. It's sloppy and can be difficult figuring out where to stick cameras, etc.

The game goes even further than that though as you can actually learn stuff from specific skaters including Bob Burnquist, Bam Margera and Lance Mountain. Burnquist teaches you competition skating and an interesting nail the grab mode which allows you to pull off slow-motion manuals and grabs. It's utilized a bit more than in previous games as you can do more with your board.

As for Margera, he teaches you about climbing and Mountain on bowl carving and slash grinding. While these are nice additions to the game and add a little more depth, they require a fair amount of completion before you can even unlock them. This means you can't pull off a lot of these more interesting moves until much later in the game. If you accomplish all those goals, you'll form your own skate team and then be given an even larger set of tasks.

In summation, the big change is the branching story. It's a nice change and enables you to play through a variety of different goals without ever getting stuck at one spot.

And don't fall.

In addition, all the environments you visit feature marked challenges in-world that can be accomplished on the fly including grinding, wall-rides, leaps and manuals. These goals can be beaten in one of three difficulties from amateur, pro and sick just like in previous Hawk titles.

Just like in previous Hawk games, there's no denying that Proving Ground continues the excellent franchise's control scheme. Controls are quick and reactive allowing you to pull off some amazing combos with just a few taps from your fingers.

One other feature added to this game is the skate lounge. Just like in many other collection titles, you can unlock new items, parts, and more to put in the warehouse. It's a nice feature, but does little to add to the game experience.

While some of this is interesting and even good, there are some problems. One big one is the fact that there is no way to jump from the various cities, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore. You have to skate between them and this can be a bit irritating.

Also, the graphics are good, but there are some definite technical issues in the game. The characters you meet are relatively poorly done and don't exactly exude a PlayStation 3 like quality you'd expect.

Also available on: PS2 | 360 | DS | Wii
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft
Release: Oct 15, 2007
MSRP: $59.99
Teen | Online

GB Review: NBA 08 (PS3)

Brian Mohr — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:10:54 -0600

Sony released NBA 07 last year right around the time the PlayStation 3 was released and the title was another in a lackluster series for the developer. Sony went back to the drawing board and put nearly a year's worth of development into NBA 08 for the PS3. Was it any better?

The simple answer is no. This game does not come close to what has already been offered for years from 2K Sports or EA.

Let's start with the good and I'll be nice here and say the graphics are decent. The game runs at an impressive framerate and the arenas and crowds look quite nice. There is some nice attention to detail with shadowing and lighting. In addition, the players all look well. I'm not going to say it's great, because at times players move awkwardly which is a clear graphic misstep. But otherwise I can say the graphics are decent.

Also, there are a couple of nice attributes to the gameplay. The first is the shot meter presented in the game which is also seen in the PSP and PlayStation 2 versions. It goes from red to yellow to green to tell you the likelihood a shot will go in. It's quite effective as is the rebounding icons on the floor telling you where the ball will go. Those work great and are terrific aspects to the game; the problem is everything else.

On the flip side of the gameplay are some major deficiencies. An obvious one as soon as you play a game is the fact that there are no fastbreaks, something that is seen on every level of basketball and a crucial aspect to the title's momentum and pace. The reason for this is that when you try to push the ball up court, one of two things will happen. If the pass goes any further than a fourth of the court it will get picked off by a defender, even if you're trying to throw it over them. If your player gets the ball, they always stop when catching it and then have to start running again to go. This allows the defenders to catch you every time and cuts out fast breaks all together.

That is one significant problem with the gameplay, but there is more. Offensive players rarely get open even though you can call plays for them. Also, I found no way to call a pick in an attempt to get my own man open. On defense, the trigger button does allow you to stick to a player, but it's not reliable and offensive players can get by you with ease because there is no good way to man up. To make matters worse, defensive play calls provide minimal help, so if there's a mismatch the computer will take advantage.

The sixaxis feature is once again implemented in the series, but its use is essentially pointless. You can do it for spin moves by tipping the controller left or right or on defense for hands, but there is no reason to when you can just use the right analog stick.

If the gameplay isn't enough to dissuade you, the lack of options is also problematic. There is no franchise mode to speak of in NBA 08 and players are given a very limited single season option. This means no drafting, team management, etc., which is something every other game on the market has had for years.

Other options aside from single game and single season are online single game and mini-games. The mini-games are the same three you've seen in the Sony series for years now: own the court, three point challenge and skills challenge. Aside from a single online game, the only other addition that is worth noting is the NBA replay option which is available online. These are challenges in which you try to relive some of the best plays of last year. To say the least, this mode doesn't provide much more depth to the game except the ability to earn credits which can be turned into improving a created player and/or unlocking meaningless items.

Last, but not least is the commentary. Unlike last year's version, which had none except for an announcer, NBA 08 features Kevin Calabro and Mark Jackson. They do an average job, but are often repetitive and add little to the experience.