G-News

Omega Five
Developer: Natsume
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Price: 800 Microsoft Points (about $10)
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Category: Shooter
ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10 and older (Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes)
Release Date: January 2008

Every Wednesday, I log into my Xbox Live account and check the Marketplace to see if there are any new gaming goodies to try out. And almost every Wednesday, I’m disappointed by a re-release of a twenty year old arcade title or a strange puzzler that’s all flash and no fun. But every so often I can find one game that piques my interest enough for me to throw down the Microsoft Points needed to get it. This past Wednesday, that game was Omega Five.

Omega Five is decidely simple on the outside, since the gameplay is about as straightforward as can be. The left analog stick controls your movement, while the right one controls the direction you shoot. As you move along, you can grab different weapons and power them up. There are two different characters to choose from at the start and one that can be unlocked later. They each have their own unique weapons and abilities, which forces you to change your strategy depending on who you play with. Ruby — a pirate for some inexplicable reason — shoots your standard projectiles that you’ve probably seen in most side-scrolling shooters. Tempest — a four-armed alien for some inexplicable — shoots liquid-like blobs that fly through the air and are even affected by gravity. I have yet to unlock the samurai character, but he apparently slices at enemies with a sword and sics his faithful dog on them.

There’s no story, no cheesy cut scenes; not even some text explaining why a pirate girl, alien thing, and samurai are all so anxious to destroy all these mechanical monsters. Personally, I see that as a good thing, since it lets you just hop right in and start blasting away. It really feels like the sort of game I would’ve lost many quarters to had it been released in an arcade years ago.

What keeps the game interesting though are the varied enemies. They each seem to have their own unique attributes as well, and they swap out before fighting them can get old. You’ll encounter certain enemies a few times, and then you’ll never see them again. Most of the reason I’m still trying to get farther in the game is because I really want to see what else is in store.

The graphics of this game are definitely worth noting. Before its release, the developers kept promising some stunning HD visuals in the game, and they certainly delivered. Omega Five is probably the best looking game on the Xbox Live Arcade. There are full retail games for the Xbox 360 that don’t look this pretty. The screen is usually packed with several enemies, most of which flutter in and out of the background or set pieces. Part of the reason the most powerful weapons in the game feel so satisfying is because of how much visual action they can unleash. Tempest’s weapons are particularly fun to watch as he lobs streams of volatile liquid that morph and flow through the air.

Bottom line: this is the best side-scrolling shooter on Xbox Live Arcade next to Metal Slug 3, and that’s saying something. Omega Five encompasses just what the titles on the Xbox Live Arcade are all about: fast, simple, addictive fun. This is one of the handful of games on the Marketplace that is actually worth the $10. It’s definitely way better than Uno.

Assume your battle positions as Advance Wars: Dark Conflict marches onto the Nintendo DS. This turn-based strategy game featuring a dark, post-apocalyptic tale of revenge, betrayal and survival, will Nintendoplayers into an ultimate battle as they direct an assortment of military units across various maps and terrains. Players also have the opportunity to battle one-on-one against other users around the world through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, or even battle with a partner against another fighting duo over the Nintendo DS wireless connection. Experience the darkest Advance Wars yet and engage in fierce battle as Advance Wars: Dark Conflict launches across Europe on 25th January 2008 on Nintendo DS.

Earth has been struck by a series of massive natural disasters, with most of the population destroyed and sunlight struggling to break through the cloud of ash which hangs in the air. With the earth plunged into such catastrophic circumstances, some of the survivors are helping others, but others want to take advantage of the situation and become new leaders. Meanwhile groups of soldiers are trying to complete orders given out before the disaster struck, whilst others are abusing the situation for wealth. Players must lead their army to victory to protect the innocent survivors, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each unit to strategically plan their attack and defeat the enemy.

Taking on the role of the Commanding Officer of an army, players must battle the enemy using a variety of military units at their disposal covering ground, air and sea. Using the Touch Screen and stylus or the control buttons, each player has direct control of their units, leading them to victory, or condemning them to defeat! With the new ability to build ports and supply points, players have greater control over their battle strategy. In addition, Advance Wars: Dark Conflict offers a longer single-player experience than ever before with 26 stages in Story mode, plus more than 30 bonus missions to play and learn the tactics required to successfully and efficiently defeat enemies. Map by map, players must position their army to destroy all enemy units or take over their HQ buildings, with further rules for victory varying for each stage.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection provides users with a new dimension within which to play Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, offering a variety of functions to enhance gameplay. When playing via the online service, if a friend code has been exchanged, players are able to talk together during battle by holding down the Y-Button and speaking into the microphone for a truly interactive experience. The map creator function allows users to build their own maps to ensure new battleground experiences, with Wi-Fi enabling users to upload them to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection server to share with other players around the world. Local Wireless Connection also provides up to four friends with game cards the opportunity to challenge each other using the Nintendo DS Wireless Connection making Advance Wars: Dark Conflict a truly interactive experience.

Touch Screen control allows for intuitive and fast play, moving the army units using the stylus, with the top screen being used to survey the area, view statistics on terrain and units and receive tutorial information. The in-game menu offers players the opportunity to review their tactics at any time, view the conditions needed to win as well as the statistics of the current battle, e.g. how many units and buildings have been taken. Battle animation also allows the player to see their attack in motion with the top screen showing the enemy position and the bottom screen showing their army.

For a while now, we’ve been expecting Nokia’s new N-Gage platform to come roaring out of the blocks at launch. Six to eight handsets, a stack of great-looking and playable games, and enough launch oomph to dispel the carping of cynics who remember the N-Gage first time round.

However, it seems that won’t be the case. We’re not saying Nokia is getting cold feet about its new mobile gaming platform, but, well, the launch plans seem to get more and more low-profile with every week that passes.

Here’s what we know: N-Gage will be officially launched next week at an event in Lapland, according to N-Gage boss Jaakko Kaidesoja. Nokia will be revealing full details of the Day One launch handsets and games, as well as its plans for the following months. It seems likely that N-Gage will actually go live that week or the week after.

The N81 seems certain to be the first handset to get full N-Gage games this month, and it seems the N73 won’t be far behind, judging by its prominence on the N-Gage stand at the Nokia World show (be warned, N73 users, you’ll probably need a firmware upgrade first). More handsets may have to wait until the New Year.

“We’re going to have an easier roll-out with a more managed environment,” says Kaidesoja. “We are not going to do all the tricks and treats that we have said on Day One. It’s a complex service with all the billing and communities and other features, so we need to roll it out gradually.”

It’s not going to be a big bang console-style launch, in other words. Nokia’s softly-softly approach is presumably part of the reason the N-Gage launch was delayed from November until this month, although further comments from Kaidesoja cast doubt on just how realistic that original deadline ever was.

“We’ve had the testing environment live for a month or so, and we’re getting feedback, finding there’s a glitch to fix over here, another glitch to fix over there,” he says. “We’re gradually starting to get to an environment where we feel comfortable, so now it’s time to open the doors and start rolling it out.”

So you can’t share firm details of launch titles and handsets yet?

“We’ll have the exact details next week, when we’ll have run all the tests and made all the decisions,” he says. “I would be happy to share it now if we were 100 per cent confident what was the exact line-up, but we need to wait for some more information, confirm a couple of things, and then we’ll be able to give the full roll-out plan.”

From the outside, it seems a bit last-minute to be still finalising the launch line-up and fixing glitches, but N-Gage is a pretty complex platform. With plenty of people watching for any signs of weakness in N-Gage Mk II, it’s probably sensible to be ironing out every bug possible.

Some other stuff: N-Gage may be ripe for more music games, thanks to Nokia’s activities elsewhere with its Nokia Music Store and new Comes With Games subscription service. People who own high-end N-Gage handsets may well be using them to listen to music too, so there could be a link.

“Music is an obvious one with things like Guitar Hero, although it won’t necessarily work on mobile, so you have to think about the concept,” he says. “We’re working on this sort of thing though, for example on how you call on your handset’s music player from within the game, which is something we’ll need to build into our SDK.”

Kaidesoja also confirms that the mysterious Project White Rock cross-platform game will be coming out in the second quarter of next year, and says Nokia is enthusiastic about the potential of GPS and/or touchscreens for N-Gage gaming in the future.

But coming back to that delayed launch, was the reason really caution over potential or actual technical gremlins? “You don’t have enough time to mature this to the end of the final bug,” he says. “The minute you turn it on, you’ll fine new ones, so you need to have an easy ramp-up and roll-out or you’re doomed to fail.”

The N-Gage application is working well as far as we can tell, though. During our interview, Kaidesoja downloaded Snakes Subsonic to his handset, with the 2MB file taking a minute or so to download. But as we’ve explained before, Nokia will be selling N-Gage games through a range of different methods, including some where it doesn’t have to do the selling.

“The file distribution is separate from the file acquisition,” he says, meaning that while you download an N-Gage game in full and can then play the trial, if you want it, you have to pay to unlock the rest. But basically, you can get the file from anywhere, whether Nokia or other sources.

“Gameloft or EA Mobile can start their own retailing activities through their own websites or other channels,” says Kaidesoja. “Operators can do that too, so Vodafone could have their own N-Gage store as part of Vodafone Live, or… well, Vodafone Live is what they will be using. But we haven’t agreed that, and there haven’t been any announcements. But I’m saying its technically possible.”

So, N-Gage section on Voda Live it is then, surely. Maybe it’ll be announced next week.

We don’t mean to sound downbeat about the N-Gage launch. A soft roll-out is certainly preferable to gallons of hype – something that quickly palled first time round, when Nokia’s initial bullishness about the N-Gage started to be the butt of jokes once it became clear that the device wasn’t going to take on DS and PSP after all.

Still, we do hope that Nokia still makes a bit of a splash with new N-Gage this month, when it launches. Some of its games are well worth banging drums about, after all. Assuming those remaining glitches are fixed, new N-Gage has the potential to become a serious games platform. Isn’t that worth shouting about?

The collapse of the original Atari back in the 1980s has been a lesson to the games industry ever since, particularly on how an originally healthy games platform can be scuppered by having too many poor-quality games.

Sound familiar? Okay, it’s a bit scaremonger-like to compare mobile to the original Atari, but the mobile game industry has arguably not heeded those lessons. At least, that was the thought mooted by Glu’s president and CEO Greg Ballard, during his presentation at the Nokia World show yesterday.

Less is more
“Quality is tied to quantity,” he said. “In the Atari disaster, there were too many games on the system, and the quality of those games became less and less relevant to consumers, who became so overwhelmed by choices, they eventually stopped buying. We’re getting right back to the Atari days with mobile: many different titles are seeking attention on the decks, and nothing good is going to come of that.”

In the Q&A section at the end of his session, we asked if there really is a danger that mobile gaming could crash and burn like Atari did.

“I always thought there was the danger of that,” said Ballard. “Whenever we’ve seen blips in the mobile games market, where it’s stalled for a couple of quarters, I’ve wondered to myself whether we’ve gotten to the point where people have had a bad experience buying games, and bounced out of the mobile business entirely. I don’t think it’s happening – we are seeing repeat users – but we have to be careful.”

Growth is good
The comments came as part of a thoughtful and hard-hitting presentation explaining the problems facing mobile games publishers in Europe specifically. It was more business-focused than we’d usually cover on Pocket Gamer, but the implications affect the games we play and the companies who make them, so we thought it was worth covering here.

Ballard kicked off by saying things are going well for Glu, and that the publisher expects its revenues from mobile games to grow by 40 per cent this year. He also reckons the quality of mobile games is better than it ever has been, and pointed out that in most respects, today’s mobile phones are more powerful than the computers that kicked off the PC gaming industry in the 1990s.

“The number of people we are able to reach swamps the PC and console businesses, but more interestingly, data usage is growing as well, and more and more consumers are capable of playing our games. The networks are getting faster, handsets are getting better, and we see a direct correlation between that and increased consumption of games.”

European disunion
That’s the positivity, now for the problems. Ballard outlined three reasons why Europe is a problematic market for mobile publishers, starting with the economics. He pointed out that the price of a game in the US has risen from $4.50 (£2.20) to $7.50 (£3.70) between 2004 and 2007, yet in Europe it’s stayed the same at around £5.

Meanwhile, Ballard says Glu’s margins are being squeezed in Europe more than anywhere else, thanks to the various people taking their cut of the download pie. As an illustration, he broke down where your fiver for a game goes: £1.50 goes to the distributor of the game, then £1.75 goes to the operator, leaving £1.75 for Glu, out of which it may have to pay a separate cut to the brand-owner for a licensed game.

“We have to sell more units in Europe than in North America, yet we’re actually selling fewer units in Europe,” he said, touting a slide showing that Glu’s top five mobile games in Europe sell 70 per cent of the sales of its top five US titles.

Meanwhile, it’s more work to port a game to different handsets in Europe – for Transformers, Ballard said Glu made 25,000 versions of the game for different handsets, operators and languages, yet 21,000 of those were in Europe. Oh, and added to this, games have a shorter shelf life here in Europe, too, which Ballard puts down to our lack of subscription-based pricing.

Consolidation the solution?
So what does all this mean for Pocket Gamer readers? “It means publishers have to think short term,” said Ballard. “We can’t invest as much in European focused games as in global titles, and we have to put a premium of quantity over quality. We do continue to launch European or even British-only titles, but the economics of our business make that increasingly a challenge.”

The second problem in Europe is the experience of buying a mobile game, with Ballard comparing operator portals negatively to real-world retailer EB Games (although he did have warm words for Vodafone Live). He also praised Nokia’s efforts.

“The one bright spot is things like N-Gage, which have now started to address directly the interface between the carriers [operators], the game companies and the consumer, making the interface more intuitive, offering sample games, and making the experience much more consistent with something like the EB Store.”

The third problem in Europe, according to Ballard, is that there are still too many publishers releasing too many mobile games, despite the fact that the sales charts are dominated by the big firms. The problem, in Ballard’s view, is that while the big publishers reinvest their profits in marketing mobile games – and thus growing the market – the smaller publishers don’t.

He’d like to see more consolidation in Europe, with publishers buying each other, going out of business, or simply being removed from the operator portals (something that’s apparently happening in the US already).

So there you have it. A very industry-focused presentation, and one that rival publishers, operators and smaller firms will doubtless have strong views on. The gist of it, though, is one of the Big Three mobile publishers saying there are some serious problems here in Europe, which may explain why we get below-par or rubbish mobile games.

Which is bad news for everyone.

Before you get your tights in a bunch over how much you think the motion controls in the Wii’s first attempt at beefcake-theater will disappoint, we’re here to say that the mechanics don’t suck. Really. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 08 provides - we’re happy to say - action that is quick, accessible and fluid, with your movements being as intuitive as they possibly can be from flashy taunts to punishing powerbombs. Check here for all the new screens.

 Unlike the other SmackDown games, the Wii version was built from the ground up and lends a more arcade-y feel, without having to worry about bothersome stamina meters and long matches. We already mentioned the controls in our earlier Pre-E3 preview, but we’ve got a more detailed run-down of how it all works. A simple flick in one of four

directions performs a basic strike - left performs a punch, while right throws a backhanded chop. Swinging the Nunchuck performs an Irish whip, while tilting the analog stick tosses your opponent to a desired location like ropes or turnbuckle. Don’t fear how long it takes for your moves to register either - while there’s no 1-1 ratio of remote swinging and your wrestler punching, it still feels pretty immediate.There’s no run button either. If you’re far away from your opponent, push the analog stick towards them and flick the remote for a running clothesline or dropkick. Holding A and flicking in a direction results in your quick grapple move, such as atomic drop or enzuguri, while holding B and flicking goes for your power grapple like chokeslam or powerbomb - although they allow for a little more control.

Well, I’m back from vacation. Don’t be jealous about my break—I had an excruciating experience. You see, I loaded up BioShock for the first time after my kid went to bed, played until 2:30 A.M., and then the next morning, left for the beach for a week without my 360. All those Little Sisters and Big Daddies wandering around in Rapture without me to harvest and blast them. And now here I am back at work and I still have half of the game left to complete.

Not that I’m complaining. One of the best games I’ve played in years, BioShock is giving me the same feeling I get when I read a great novel. You’re anxious to see how it’s going to end, but you’re not looking forward to leaving the story behind. If you don’t have this game yet, get it. It’s a lot more than a twitch-and-react shooter. If you’re a shooter fan, crank the difficulty to maximum and dive in. But even if you’re not a shooter player, you’ll enjoy BioShock. On the “Easy” level, you may lose 60 potential Gamerscore points, but the combat becomes a walk in the park, and you’ll still find the game well worth the price for the experience of exploring the game’s world, seeing its story, and solving the puzzles throughout.

BioShock is an electrifying experience.

New on Shelves
If you’ve already finished BioShock, fear not. The steady rain of new games continues to fall, with John Woo presents Stranglehold™ and Medal of Honor Airborne™ both landing this week. Stranglehold is a third-person action game that finally lets you release your inner Chow Yun-Fat. Based on the action film Hard Boiled, Stranglehold puts a gun in each fist and sends you into non-stop action as you attempt to bring down the organized crime bosses who took your family. And it has one of the best-named features: Tequila Time™. Though unfortunately it refers to a cool Max Payne-esque ability to slow time, named after your character, and not some cool new Xbox 360™ peripheral that dispenses adult beverages as you proceed through the game.

Medal of Honor Airborne literally drops you into World War II combat by letting you parachute into the action. I played a bit of this at E3, and it isn’t just a gimmick. The parachute drops make for some interesting strategy. Do you land on a roof and snipe away at the Nazi troops? Drop in on the outskirts of town and surgically work your way towards the target? Or take a chance and drop right in on top of them, hoping the element of surprise will keep you from getting mowed down by the enemy?

Hmmm. Where should I land?

Of course, Medal of Honor Airborne supports multiplayer play over Xbox LIVE®. Be sure to check out Operation LIVE Jump, which will give you the chance to play against the game’s developers, get your butt handed to you by a girl by taking on the PMS Clan, and possibly win fabulous prizes including an Xbox 360 Elite console autographed by the Medal of Honor Airborne development team.

New on Xbox LIVE Arcade
Cyberball 2072™ brings the arcade classic to your Xbox 360. Do I really need to say any more than “It’s football with robots” to get you to check the free demo available from Xbox LIVE Arcade?

FATAL FURY SPECIAL™, or Garou Densetsu Special to the arcade purists out there, is a high-def adaptation of the 1993 classic fighting game. It has all the gameplay you loved in the original, plus Xbox LIVE support that means you should be able to find opponents to beat down (or be beaten down by) 24/7.

Wait, is that the Human Torch?

Wrapping Up
Come by the This Week in Xbox feedback topic in the Xbox Forums and let us know what you’d like to see on the site, and what further improvements we can make on Xbox.com. This topic is for feedback on the Xbox.com Web site, which is the one place where I can work to make your suggestions happen. As opposed to the other suggestions, such as getting features added to your Xbox 360, raising your Gamerscore, telling top-secret release dates, the best plasmid combos, or getting Tradewars added to Xbox LIVE Arcade. Sorry! 

Article by Denny Atkin

Grab your laser swords and ridiculously over-sized shields, kids - Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is upon us now. Another title published by Namco Bandai and Koei, and developed by Omega Force, this science fiction action game follows in the footsteps of previous Dynasty Warriors games; just replace the ancient warriors with giant, interstellar robots. So hang on tight… Gundam, launch!

Actually, before we get started, we think it would be appropriate to establish a few important points for your consideration. First and foremost: if you love the Dynasty Warriors series and you love the Gundam universe, you might as well get the game. You don’t even have to finish reading this review, actually. Check out Warhawk or something, instead. On the other hand, if you really love either Dynasty Warriors or Gundam, think about renting this one and maybe you’ll get a kick out of it. If you really don’t like either of them, or perhaps (like several people in our office) you have a blood-curdling hatred of them both, then avoid this like a plague.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is a straight-forward action game that puts you in control of a single Mobile Suit (a.k.a. a giant robot) aligned with one of several different factions / military powers. More specifically, you pick a pilot first, and then a Mobile Suit. Generally speaking, you run around and cut through literally hundreds of enemy Mobile Suits in an attempt to win area “Fields” - locations on a map that can be captured by your team or your opponent’s. After destroying the opposing forces and taking down the enemy officers, you move on to your next mission, each mission being separated by either a brief cinematic sequence or a spoken exposition. The game follows this formula quite strictly and continues on in this fashion for just about the entirety of its course. If anyone’s looking for a radical departure from these hack-n’-slash style mechanics, you’re going to be disappointed. This is extremely standard fare, and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is in no way redefining the genre or awakening the latent power of the Warriors/Gundam universe(s).

Fire away.

However, this game has a somewhat odd setup that we should mention before diving into the finer details. When you launch the game, you have the option of selecting Official Mode, Original Mode, Versus Mode, Gallery or Options. Here’s where things can get a little confusing, because there’s virtually no context for any of these modes of play that orient the player in the experience. Although the game does provide you with short, one-line descriptions for each mode, they’re lacking at best. From what we understand, selecting one of three initial characters in Official Mode lets you play through missions that are rooted in actual Gundam canon from some of the much older series. For example, you can play through famous conflicts between the Zeon and the Federation that actually took place in the anime, though the developers may have taken creative license with the narrative elements. Unfortunately, there’s really no summary or prologue to any of this, so the missions just sort of start with dozens of characters bickering and shouting at one another about things that you may have never heard of before, unless you’ve followed the original Gundam series.

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Reviewed by Andre Delaney 20th August 2007

What a month of games this has turned out to be. The Xbox 360 receiving Bioshock, Nintendo Wii has Metroid Prime 3 and the Playstation 3 gets Warhawk and Heavenly Sword. Has there ever been a better time to be a gamer? Heavenly Sword, developed by British development team Ninja Theory, is without a doubt the most anticipated Playstation 3 release to date. Ironically for a game developed in Britain is the remarkable Japanese feel to it. Never has a game had so much hype behind it and a lot of eyes will be watching to see just how good this title is. While it won’t make or break Sony and their Playstation 3 efforts, if this game doesn’t do well, there may be trouble ahead. Thankfully Heavenly Sword manages the almost impossible task of surpassing any hype surrounding it.

Heavenly Sword is not your typical game by any means. Looking more like an RPG than an all out action title, you may be caught off guard. By now we are sure you have all watched the videos, demos to an endless degree and are eager to get your hands on it. We had our reservations about just how deep Heavenly Sword could be, but our worries where laid to rest about 20 minutes into the title. Boasting some of the greatest level designs in gaming history, Heavenly Sword is possibly the most beautiful action game we have ever played.

The majority of Heavenly Sword will be played with the stunningly beautiful Nariko, a fiery redhead destined to become a bigger cult hit than Lara Croft. Nariko is the daughter of a local Chieftain named Shen. She is also the sister of another playable character named Kai. Nariko moves swiftly and unbelievably fast with some of the most unbelievable array of moves. Everything just flows remarkable well from character animation to the basic feel of Nariko.

The game will launch you into Nariko’s family home under siege by evil forces commanded by King Bohan which by the way is the nastiest villain you will ever come across. He is also accompanied by his inept son Roach. There is a huge plot twist in the opening cinematic which we will not spoil for anyone, but he helps determine how the game will be played through to the end. Just be prepared to totally abandon your life, friends and work, because Heavenly Sword will have you enthralled and totally hooked from beginning to end. The game itself is absolutely huge and completing it is no mean fete.

Graphically Heavenly Sword is stunning as already touched upon earlier but the audio presentation is something to behold. Apparently Sony managed to cram more than 10 gigabites for audio material in Heavenly Sword and we can easily see that’s the truth. From character speech right through to dramatic scores, this is what audio is all about. Battle music will leave you breathless and the voice acting alone is simply the best we have come across in years. Capcom take note. No more dodgy Resident Evil acting please.

As well as the playing with Nariko, there numerous levels in which you play as Kai, who lacks any melee abilities but is supplied with and endless amount of arrows – and you can, for example fire arrows through objects in your path. For example, if you see a burning bush up ahead, fire your arrows through the flames, aim them towards some explosive barrels and watch the fireworks. But for all the non stop action, there will be a lot of puzzle solving to do also, so make sure to get your thinking caps on because these aren’t simple brain teasers, you will be tested to the max of your logical ability.

One thing we feel we should mention before we end this review is the epic boss battles throughout Heavenly Sword. We always imagined God of War always holding pole position in boss battles but Heavenly Sword took our breath away. Again, we wont spoil anything here but prepare yourself for total shock and awe battles.

Heavenly Sword really is a title which must be played to be believed. Videos have been popping up all over the web but trust us; they cannot do this game justice. The game will have you hooked from beginning to end and that’s a hell of a long time trust us. It took us 5 days straight of 12 hour sessions to finally complete this title, and that’s without all the secrets unlocked. We will definitely be revisiting this title to see what other surprises it has in store. If you own a Playstation 3 then it should be made law you must purchase this title. It simply is the most amazing videogame experience your likely to have for years to come.

At a glance
Colin McRae has been a regular guest on video game consoles for years now through the legendary rallying series that bears his name. What some racing fans may not know is that the off-road racing series has been a mainstay on the PC for just as long. Colin McRae Rally 2005, the franchise’s latest iteration, plays just as well as its console cousin, with the additional advantage of some gorgeous graphics.

Dirt never looked so good
You should be warned in advance, that the first few races in Colin McRae Dirt will most likely be difficult. Not because it is complicated to maneuver, or because the car physics are too “realistic”. You will probably be too busy admiring the awesome graphics, and forget to watch the road. Codemasters latest development, the “Neon-Engine”, makes up for their past shortcomings. The cars in Colin McRae always looked good, but the landscape and audience graphics lagged way behind their major competitors.

Name change?
You guessed it! Colin McRae is taking a new direction. This is apparent in the title of the series spin-off. “Rally” and the year were always used as the title, and now it’s simply called DIRT. This is meant to emphasize the new multifaceted Colin McRae. The new game offers off-road races in addition to the ever-popular rally disciplines. Alongside the American CORR Championships with dune buggies, pick-up trucks and Rallycross, there are also Rally Raid, Crossover and Hill-Climb circuits in the career pyramid.

Like we said before, in the CORR Championship you drive dune buggies and pickup trucks on gritty, sandy circuits against an A.I. opponent, and in the Hill-Climb you must navigate grueling mountainous terrain. As always, the clock is ticking. The whole Colin McRae package is rounded off nicely with the Rally Raid (racing on sandy hills with super-charged monster machines), the Rallycross track (circuit with eight other opponents) and the Crossover (circuit with one opponent).

The career pyramid
Pro racers and amateurs will both have fun with the career pyramid mode. It lets you participate in a many different types of races as soon as possible. To move up to the next level of the pyramid, you have to rake in points and money. You accomplish this by running as many races as possible and achieving at least one spot on the podium. Depending on the chosen level of difficulty, the winnings will pay out more (pro) or less (amateur) cash. The point distribution remains the same, which is fair. If the career mode isn’t your thing, you can still put your driving skills to the test in the individual races, or in a separate championship.

That is no easy feat, either. Not at the “pro” level, at least. If even the slightest mistake is made, your opponents will react so fiercely that your little ponies won’t know what hit them. If you’re not careful, you run the risk of a total write-off. Beginners, on the other hand, are given the opportunity to experience the glories of success at the amateur level. Hats off to Colin McRae. This game really has something for everyone.

It’s really hard to miss the car physics as well. They are not as realistic as in Richard Burns Rally for example, but they still make a good impression. Codemasters has managed to find the mid point between corny arcade style, and challenging race simulation games.

Feelings
The driving model that fans of the series have come to depend on is still rock solid in the PC version of CMR 2005. The game chooses to err on the side of a driving simulation and isn’t necessarily a simple pick-up-and-play experience. If this is your first experience with the series, expect to spend large amounts of time offtrack. This is rally racing, after all, where no road surface is taboo: smooth asphalt, muddy gravel, and even frozen ice are all an option.

The vehicles in CMR 2005, of which there are more than 30, have a tangible sense of weight that is especially noticeable when making jumps. There are no floaty physics here, as the cars require a tremendous amount of speed to get airborne before they quite literally slam to the ground when they land. The sense of suspension trauma is noticeable and thrilling, especially when using the game’s cockpit view.

The best-known rally cars are all here–the Subaru Impreza WRX, the Lancer Evolution VIII, the Peugeot 206, and the Ford Focus, among others–but CMR 2005 also features a number of classic rally cars, including 2-wheel drive models such as the VW Polo, the Citroën Saxo, and the VW Golf GTi. Notably missing from the game’s car list is the Toyota Corolla, a model that found a good deal of real-life rallying success in the late 1990s. Cars from disparate classes feel quite different from one another, as there is a great deal of performance difference between an Audi A3 and a Mini Cooper S. What’s interesting in CMR 2005, though, is the diversity in handling between cars of the same performance class. The 2WD VW Polo, for instance, seems to have slower acceleration off the line than the MG ZR, which is also a 2WD.

Diverse car selection means little without a similar variety of tracks to drive on. CMR 2005 delivers here as well, with nine rally events available: UK, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Spain, Japan, Greece, USA, and the newly introduced German course. Each event includes eight drivable stages, and some events include an additional enclosed super special course. Unfortunately, the stage list in the PC version of the CMR 2005 is identical to that found in the console version of the game. It would have been nice to see some additional PC-only stages not found in the console version.

While the individual stages change from one version of CMR to the next, the characteristics of each rally event have remained true to life throughout the series. As in previous versions, the Finland rally event in CMR 2005 is blindingly quick, full of harrowing hairpin turns in dense forest, full-throttle gravel straights, and some of the most dramatic jumps in the world. Greece, on the other hand, is a test of endurance both for the driver and the car, with heavy gravel, narrow roads, and precipitous drop-offs.

CMR 2005 pulls off these tactile differences in track surfaces and conditions to great effect. The game realistically conveys the feel of each course with a convincing combination of vibration support (of which there is a wide range when using a gamepad) and excellent visual feedback in the handling of the car. The bumps and undulations found in stages, particularly those in Greece or the UK, are a perfect example. The bumps are most noticeable in one of the three first-person camera perspectives, where your car is tossed all over the course, especially at higher speeds. It can certainly make for a thrilling ride.

The only major complaint with the tracks is the relatively short length of each rally stage. Most stages in the game take between three to four minutes to complete. This is in stark contrast to some of the behemoth tracks real rally drivers face in competition, which generally average nine or more miles in length. For the PC version of CMR 2005 (arriving on DVD, no less), inclusion of tracks of this length would have been a welcome addition to the series.

Pay attention to the weather before heading out on a rally stage. Your car, and your codriver, will thank you.

Because conditions vary so widely between events, correct car setups are critical to your success as a rally driver. As in previous installments in the series, CMR 2005 lets you adjust a number of different aspects of your car before hitting the road, including tires (the choices of which change depending on the event), ride height, springs, antiroll bar, brake bias, steering, and gearbox. Each adjustment you make can have a dramatic effect on how your car performs once you’re on the road. As such, it’s important to make the right modification for the right situation.

Here is where CMR 2005 falls flat, however. Even though the game gives you preview information on the next two stages, the information presented is fairly threadbare, consisting mainly of length, weather conditions, time of day, the types of surfaces you will encounter on the road, and a zoomable map that outlines each sector of the stages. More information is often needed to make intelligent setup choices, especially regarding weather conditions, which can often change dramatically between stages. Similarly, drastic elevation changes (which often call for lower gearbox settings) are not noted at all. As a player, you are left to either memorize the stage’s characteristics, or try to guess at the conditions based on what you know about the event locale in general.

Pimp my ride
Colin McRae Dirt has something for motor heads, too. You can tinker with just about every nut and bolt of your ride. Tuning your car has a realistic impact on your driving capabilities, so it could be worth your while to do a test run of the track before the actual race, and tweak your vehicle according the track conditions. If you don’t have a clue about tuning cars, don’t worry. The standard settings are so good, that you can still win every race without having to tinker. It may be after the second start, though.

A.I. or multiplayer mode
We thought at first, that this would be an easy decision to make. Here is where Colin McRae deserves a slap on the wrist, however. The game could have easily done without the multiplayer mode.

We thought at first, that this would be an easy decision to make. Here is where Colin McRae deserves a slap on the wrist, however. The game could have easily done without the multiplayer mode.

The spectacular damage modeling and tracks set the game up for an exiting and motivating Multiplayer mode. We made the unfortunate discovery, that we could simultaneously drive on the course with up to 100 different opponents, but we couldn’t see it. Not even in the simulation. You are only racing against the other opponents’ times. Too bad!

We preferred the “edge of your seat” Cross-Rally races. The A.I. opponents react so well. There’s pushing and shoving, and if there is one, they will gladly take a short cut. The A.I. opponents do make a blunder now and again, so that it is possible for that annoying person in the lead to topple over because he took a corner too fast.

Rating:
I recently sat down and played through the first episode of the newly revitalized Sam & Max series. I wanted to try it out for several reasons. First, I haven’t played an adventure game that was worth my time since the Monkey Island series and have been interested in trying that type of game out again. Second, the series has gotten a lot of positive press, largely because of its episodic nature but also because of the quality of the work. And finally, I wanted to see what you got for your money.

I purchased my copy of the game from Vavle’s Steam system largely because I already had Steam installed. You can also play the game off of the Gametap service if you are a subscriber. After agreeing to pay $8.95, you get the game downloaded to you - it took about 2 minutes to get it delivered and installed silently. I know people have complained about Steam, but so far I’ve had nothing but good experiences with it and this was no exception. I can’t find any fault with the ease of deployment Steam provides.

The game has cartoon-like graphics that looked pretty good in 1600×1200, the maximum resolution the game supports. The background music was decent, and the supporting effects audio was spot-on. I think the team did a good job mimicking the Looney Tunes-style and the audio helps out with that.

The voice acting and dialog is what sets this game apart. Sure, there is the adventure game mechanic of clicking on items and figuring out the puzzles, but it is the dialog that goes along with all of that which makes the game. In this case the game is outstanding. The sarcastic and witty banter between Sam, Max and the rest of the characters is fantastic. For example:

Sam: “Take that, you lawbreaking dairy products!”
Max: “Sam, no! The cheese was innocent!”
Sam: “Innocent? I think not.”

The deadpan film-noir style detective Sam goes great with the crazy ‘over the top’ comebacks from Max.

All told, I finished the game in about 4 hours. The puzzles aren’t hard and don’t take much to solve except the willingness to try some crazy things with the various inventory items you have. Nothing is as bizarre as the combinations found in LeChuck’s Revenge luckily. But frankly being challenged is not why you play this game - you play it to enjoy the crazy story and funny dialog. And on that score Sam & Max: Culture Shock is a 4 out of 5. The only negative is that it is a bit short even for the low cost.