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.