Here is what happened on Friday the 18th. The third day of this years E3. Hey.. at least it isn't Friday the 13th.
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• 5/17/01
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• General
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• Playstation 2
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I played a bunch of PS2 games today and I am very happy. I have been looking forward to most of these ever since they were announced. And I am happy to say, for the most part, they are as good as I expected. Only a couple were new and innovative, but most of them were fun. A couple did suck, but that's to be expected. I did skip a couple since I have already played them in their Japanese form. But since they haven't changed much overall I'll talk about them as well.

Oh yea, the rumors of a Britney Speers game are true. There really is a BS game being made. I have no clue what type of game it is though, is it a Kareoke game, a "make your own video" game, an immersion game or just a masterbation game... I just don't know. As soon as I saw it's booth I ran away really REALLY fast as images of Spice World came to mind...

How about the games?

Title	Thoughts
Jak and Daxter	This is the new game by Naughty Dog, the original developers of Crash Bandicoot. It was shown for the first time here at E3. And it's a really cool game. It is a fully 3D platformer like the Spyro series. The demo gave me a good feeling about the game. The level was nicely detailed and quite large. So large in fact, that I never found any sort of end to it. Another great part of the game was your compainion. He is a little rodent like creature with the attitude that Naughty Dog is known for from the Crash series. I didn't play enough of the game to see if he is anything other then a tag along, but I assume that he's there for a reason. I didn't attend the Media showing where they gave all the details about the game so I am going by what I saw and played. And I have to say, Naughty Dog may have another hit on their hands. I hope they don't blow it.
Soul Reaver 2	Hmm.. Soul Reaver. Great game. And this looks to be another one. This time you start out with the Soul Reaver, and it plays a strong part in solving the puzzles as you can change the "alignment" of it at various points in the game. The basic gameplay is exactly like the first Soul Reaver game. Puzzles and moving between worlds play a large part in the game. You can still pick up various items to use as weapons. You still suck "souls" for life. There is still a ton of combat. It still streams level data on the fly. etc. The biggest changes, as I saw in the demo level, is the level of graphics detail and how powerful you are at the begining. Other then that it is still the same game. Hmm.. seems to me that is a commen thread in the PS2 games. Well, at least they are still a lot of fun to play.
Baldur's Gate	Diablo. I can't get Diablo out of my head. This game plays just like Diablo. It's an action RPG at it's core. It still uses all the AD&D rules, creatures, magic and items like the PC Baldur's Gate. This time though, it is a solo adventure with more emphesis on action. The graphics are beautiful. The lighting is some of the best I've ever seen. And the water.. my got the water effects are simply amazing. Even the ripples themselves interact with each other. The only thing I didn't like was the camera. Much like any other 3/4 view 3rd person 3D game, the camera gets itself into situations where you can't see your character. Hopefully that will be addressed before the game ships later this year. If it does this could be one of the best Diablo clones to come out for any system. Let's hope.
Herdy Gurdy	Oo..Oo... innovation. Sort of. This game takes the idea behind Lemmings and twists it around a bit. Instead of stupid little creatures to guide to the way out by giving them powers, this game takes any and all control over the little furry creatures out of your hands. Every creature has it's own AI. Your job is to herd a certain amount of a particular creature, or creatures, into their pens using various items and yourself. Thus the title Hurdy Gurdy. The various creatures not only react to what you do and use, they react to each other, the environment and other creatures in the level. Some get along, some don't. And some even kill each other. So, that's the basic gameplay. Does the game look as good as it plays? Oh yea. The game looks exactly like an animated cartoon even though it's in 3D. And it runs as smooth as silk. This is a must have for fans of this type of game.
ICO	This is an interesting game. I didn't get to play it, but I watched a couple of people playing it for a while. Your character has to lead a ghost to saftey. She can't do anything on her own and must relly on you to help her out. Besides being the "central" character she is also a key to some of the puzzles in the game, like locked doors. And the game itself looks quie good. I think it's safe to say that developers have finally learned how to program the PS2 and have finally gotten the help they needed from Sony. This is bound to be one of the more interesting games of the year.
GT3 A-spec	Gran Turismo with beter control, a well done rally mode and a very well done arcade mode. Oh, and it looks really good as well. This is simply the best looking game I have ever seen. And not only is it the best looking, it is the best sounding as well. The sounds are near perfect and everything has it's own distinct sound. All the various type of ground and barriers sound differnt. The cars, even the views all have distinct sounds. Words don't do this game justice. And neither does screen shots. The only way to truly appreciate it is to play it. And not the old demo version that is floating around, play the full game. I don't like the GT series due to it's poor graphics and controls, but I love this version. Oh, and if you can, get the Logitec GT3 force feed back steering wheel. I tried out GT3 with the wheel and it is pure bliss. And if you are a diehard racing sim fan, and have a lot of money laying around, get 3 PS2s, 3 copies of the game, 3 TVs and 2 i-Link cables. Connect all the PS2s together, each with their own copy of GT3 and their own TV. And now you can play GT3 using a triple screen just like in the arcades. ^_^
Devil May Cry	Action, action and more action. This plays like a cross between Resident Evil and Dino Crisis. The demo level was just a small taste of a castle level from the game. It gives you a good taste of the various fighting capabilities of your character, a small smattering of puzzles and a few of the wonderfully strange creatures you will fight. Speaking of fighting, this has one of the best fighting engines in any action game. You can wield differnt weapons in each hand and use them to create various combo attacks. One of my favorite is when you use the handgut multiple times to force the enemey into the air and then finish it off with the sword. And that also seemed to be everyone elses favorite as well.
Dark Cloud	Some hate it, some love it. I happen to love it. It is a cross between Zelda, Actraiser and Evolution. It has the dungeon crawl aspects of Evolution, the finding and building from Actraiser and a battle engine similar to Zelda. Some of the interesting features on the game are multiple characters with different capabilities that you can play in the game. An experience and hitpoint system for your weapons insead of for you. And the ability to move between any dungeon and dungeon level you have visited. Very handy if you find yourself in need of recovering from a severe beating in a level too hard for your character. As far as I'm concerned this is a great game. But I would recommend renting it first unless you know you like dungeon craws like Evolution.
Draken 2	ARG... DAMN... I forgot to play this one. I saw it and was going to play it.. but I forgot.. :(
Twisted Metal Black	This is a return to the original Twisted Metal. The same team who did the first two are in charge of this one. Not only did they bring back the fast and furious pace of the original, they returned the story and character backgrounds to the game. And yes, the game plays as good as it looks. Driving around shooting everything and everyone in your path is a blast. And to include morphing car power-ups, a dark and gritty world, multiplayer fights and and dark and twisted characters to the mix.. woohoo.. Car combat fans must go pre-order this one now. Go.. now...
Silpheed	After all the bad things I read about this game, I am pleasantly suprised. This is actually a good verticle 2D shooter in a 3D world. And I didn't see any slowdown. But I don't know if that had to do with the game or the particular level I played through. If you've played vertical 2D shooters then you've played this game. So just ask yourself if you like those types of games and you'll know if you want this one or not. BTW: This game is out now if you want it. It only took Working Designs an extra 5 months to finish it.
Yanya Caballista	I didn't play the game, but from what I saw of it I would call it a JGR clone on skateboards instead of roller blades and aliens instead of cops. It even uses Cell Shading.
Armada 2	Um... did you play the original on the DC? It's the same with larger 3D models. I played it for a little while and got bored very quickly. I kind of enjoyed the original and was looking forward to this sequel. But not anymore. It's just not fun anymore. IF they wait and make it an online multiplayer game then they may have a good game. But otherwise it's a dud.
Dark Angel	Hmm.. another dud. Graphically it's not that great. Gameplay, hmm.. Diablo w/o the fun. You wander around the very dark and limiting level beating on the creatures around you. You can change weapons, which changes the damage and speed of your attacks. But there just wasn't anything interesting. Even Record of Lodoss Wars on the DC was more fun, even with all it's slowdowns. I just couldn't get into this game. Plus, I don't know if it was the demo or not but if you stop using the controller for about 30 seconds the game takes over and plays by itself. Ugh..