AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2003

Overall winner

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Honourable mentions

MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN

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PS2 version reviewed.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is a first person shooter published and developed by EA Games for the Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube.

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STAR WARS: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON (2003) REVIEW

A contender for the worst Star Wars game ever.

GBA exclusive.

Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon is a shooter published by THQ and developed by Pocket Studios for the Game Boy Advance.

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BEYOND GOOD & EVIL REVIEW

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PC version reviewed.

Beyond Good & Evil is an action adventure published and developed by Ubisoft for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube and PC.

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The PC port seems like a real mess from what I was able to play sadly.

RATCHET & CLANK: GOING COMMANDO / LOCKED AND LOADED (2003) REVIEW

How to make a sequel.

PS2 exclusive.

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is a platformer published by Sony and developed by Insomniac Games for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Vita.

GAMEPLAY
So many improvements over the first game such as quick select pausing when you select a weapon, strafing around enemies, improved auto aim and more.

General game design, with Ratchet improved in his movement and appearance with armour upgrades. While Clank's levels have been expanded upon.

Weapon upgrades

The hoverbike races are much better than the hoverboard races from the last game.

Space combat maybe a bit worse than the last game?

Checkpoints have improved over the previous game, although there are still a few dodgy ones

One boss fight was pretty much a really long turret section, and the boss didn't really change tactics or develop over the fight, aside from using one new move half way through that in the end had the same effect as most of his other moves. It's a bit of a shame because Insomniac are usually very good at boss fights.

STORY
Ratchet was much more likeable in this game than the previous one.

GRAPHICS

While it looks similar to the last one I found some levels to look more appetising than the previous game where some levels looked a bit dull.

SOUND
More noticeable and engaging than the previous game

The voice acting was pretty much the same as the previous game, although Ratchet has a new voice actor who I prefer to the old one.

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL
Insomniac took many of the complaints people had with the first game and really stepped it up with this sequel. I feel this game is superior in almost every way from its predecessor and I'd recommend you give this one a go, even if you didn't enjoy the last one.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING REVIEW

PS2 version reviewed.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an action game published by EA Games and developed by Digital Eclipse for the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance and PC.

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CALL OF DUTY (2003) REVIEW

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PS3 version reviewed.

Call of Duty is a first-person shooter published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

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SLY COOPER AND THE THIEVIUS RACCOONUS (2002) REVIEW

The best Spyro game to be released in 2002.

Playstation 2 exclusive.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is a stealth platformer published by Sony and developed by Sucker Punch for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Vita.

GAMEPLAY

Fluid, responsive, impressive and downright fun for the most part. Not many games can offer the top quality platforming that the game provides, let alone all the special moves, stealth elements and mini games. The different approaches you can take with different tactics in a level are also a welcome feature to any game and Thievius Raccoonus does well with that concept, even if it’s a stealth game at heart.

A couple of bugs can cause frustration; I encountered one that forced me to exit the game at one point. A couple of the boss fights felt somewhat uninspired, such as the Mugshot fight, which didn’t really make much sense.

STORY

Nothing done awfully, yet nothing done in an outstanding style, the story of platformers is rarely important, but some nice touches thrown in before entering new areas can really give you more of a feel for the characters or what’s going on.

GRAPHICS

Great art direction, cell-shaded graphics look great. It really shows the power of the PS2

SOUND

Voice actors and SFX are all good

Okay, well, it sounds a bit brash but this game has quite simply the worst soundtrack I've ever heard in a game before. I don't think I've ever played a game where I feel the experience was brought down by the music. All of it seems bland, boring, unispired and I was even questioning if the music had broken at some points because it didn't sound right, but no, the soundtrack really is that bad. Listen to the swamp home world music (The Swamp's Dark Centre) to understand what I mean, does it sound like music you'd familiaze with a swamp? No. Does it sound catchy, interesting, or like any effort was put in? No. It's just two notes repeating and repeating. I listened to a bit of the composer's other work and it sounded alright, so I don't know what went wrong here.

VALUE FOR MONEY

It can be played by anyone of any age and offers anywhere between 7 to 20 hours, depending on how you play

OVERALL

The first Sly Cooper game falls just short of greatness, due to a dull soundtrack, a couple of minor bugs and the all annoying Master Thief Sprints. Make no mistake though, this is a must have for the PS2, show casing the consoles great aspects through the smooth gameplay and wonderful looking graphics.

THE SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN REVIEW

PS2 version reviewed.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is an action game published by Universal Interactive and developed by Digital Eclipse for the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC.

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SECOND LIFE (2003) REVIEW

So bad you'll begin to appreciate your first life.

PC exclusive.

Second Life is a virtual world game published and developed by Linden Lab for the PC.

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TOONTOWN (2003) REVIEW

Not one for the kids... Or for anyone really.

PC exclusive.

Toontown was a Massively multiplayer online game published by Disney and developed by Disney Interactive for the PC.

GAMEPLAY
Never have I seen such a game with such little imagination or effort put into it. There is no variety in tasks, the main content the game offers, as every single one in the game is a fetch quest. Almost all the buildings look the same on the inside no matter how imaginative or interesting the name sounds on the outside. All the cog content ends up boiling down to doing the same thing over and over again too, whether grinding through buildings. that whilst different looking to toon buildings, all still look the same, or battling the same boss over and over by doing the same dungeon-like run thing before hand a million times.

The game has absolutely no skill level to it at all, whether you've just started or are right at the end game it doesn't mean much, other than the fact that you have been prepared to put yourself through a huge amount of boring, repetitive, grindy rubbish that most people wouldn't be able to stand. It's depressing to stand back and realise what a huge waste of time it is doing anything in this game because nothing is rewarding.

Seriously. The skill required for this game is really just down to grinding and luck. If I asked you to think of notable moments from any game you've played perhaps you'd been able to tell me one, whether good or bad, something you remembered. Toontown though? It's so flat that I couldn't really tell you much and I played it for years.

The level design is it at a minimum really, with most places just being streets with the same houses. You spend most of the game running up and down the streets to different buildings (that all have incredibly similar if not the same interiors). You can't teleport to them or anything, and there's the chance they've been taken over by cogs so you'll have to switch to another district, all just to consume more of your time. That's it.

Let's not forget the cog bosses though, which you have to grind a dungeon-like place to actual face in the first place. They can actually be quite fun the first few times but afterwards become yet another monotonous journey of doing the same thing over and over.

What's even worse is that the gag track sound is completely overpowered. You can breeze through most cog battles with it. Every one uses it because it gets things done the fastest. There's no real reason to use anything else because it has among the best accuracy of the different tracks in the game and requires such little thought to use as the group just has to spam it.

Racing is like Mario Kart but awful. Golf is a boring slog.

The only good thing this game could be used for was checking if your child has an addictive personality. There is such little incentive to choose this over so many great games kids could actually play, Pokemon is a turn based game kids can play, or the many Playstation platformers like Crash, Spyro, Sly Cooper or Ratchet & Clank.

You know you must have created a boring, terrible game when certain players of the game only participate to ruin other players experience by "Greening" them. An act where one player purposefully causes others to lose. I mean, yikes. It's really rather sad when you think about it.

Fishing isn't that bad for what it is but is incredibly grindy due to the rarity of some fish. I actually fell asleep... playing a game... when I was doing fishing once though, so that really is something.

They might not be that original but the trolley mini games are probably the best part of the game such as Toon Slingshot, that requires a little bit of thinking to do well at. Photo fun just doesn't work though and is pretty broken - it actually stands out, which is something considering the state of this game.

GRAPHICS

Not terrible but riddled with bugs.

SOUND
The soundtrack isn't terrible but it gets boring fast. It really could have done with more tracks. After you've played the game for a while you might begin to wonder that if there is a Hell, Minnie's Melodyland might just be it.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Outrageous asking price for such a little amount of content and lack of updates.

OVERALL
This game does nothing new and uses Disney characters to mask its dreary, shallow, pitiful experience that was solely designed to make money. The only possible fun from this unimaginative pile of drivel is from playing it with friends, but almost any game is fun with friends. It's a poor excuse for a game. Thank goodness it got shut down.

FINDING NEMO REVIEW

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GBA version reviewed.

Finding Nemo is an adventure published by THQ and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance and PC.

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