Superman Returns: The Video Game

Platform: Multi
Publisher: EA
Review Type: Looky
Version: Trailer


Superman games are like kyptonite to most console players. Show us one and we'll cringe, fully prepared for the deep hurting that the game will likely unleash on us. There's no telling what EA is going to pull off with their summer tie in to Bryan Singer's flick. It could be passable liscence fodder ala The Lord of the Rings games. Or Supes could again bellyflop on the Metropolis asphalt. This promo for the game offers no help as it's obviously some kind of cut scene. Warners should thank EA, though. Hearing the John Williams score again has me that much more intrigued by the movie

Watch the trailer here.

Marc Ecko's Getting Up

Platform: PC, Playstation 2, Xbox
Publisher: Atari
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

I'm conflicted. Part of me is enthralled by Marc Ecko's Getting Up. I powered through the game this weekend, soaking up its underground graffiti vibe one huff of aerosol at a time. It's evident that a lot of care went into the game -- it brims with gorgeous art and is almost constantly underlined by exceptional music from the likes of RJD2 and Liquid Liquid. The game's opening cut sequence is beautiful, effectively setting up Trane as an artist with a revolutionary bent.

But at the game's core, I feel like there's a key misstep that prevents me from getting completely behind it. Combat. Why does Trane fight? Why must he beat the crap out of every person he comes across before he can work his art? And I'm not just talking about beefs with rival gangs. Trane fights with cops, guards and railway workers. He even throws down with a bunch of guys who work in a meat packing plant. Is this really what it takes to be a street artist?

In Style Wars, the seminal 1982 graffiti documentary, we see the real lives of graf writers. We see them sitting around a kitchen table, sketching in their black books. We see them holding court on street corners on a lazy summer afternoon slowly painting murals. Not exactly the stuff of a thrilling game. But there's plenty of excitement in the real-life of a writer; running from guard dogs, fleeing from police and transit cops, climbing fences and abandoned buildings.

I loved exploring New Radius as Trane, scaling the lovingly detailed urban landscape in search of "heaven spots" to bomb with my art. I hated having to kick ass to do so. It didn't help that the game is only a mediocre beat 'em up. Technically, there's very little that the game does exceptionally. The Tomb Raider-style exploration is hampered by clumsy, unresponsive controls. Even painting, the game's bread and butter, feels bogged down at times. Though the time it takes to complete some of the larger pieces -- especially the Turk 182-inspired finale on the side of a bridge -- did give me a fair sense of accomplishment.

I hope that Marc Ecko's Getting Up merits a sequel -- one with refined mechanics, the ability to create your own designs and, most importantly, a truer sense of what it really is to be a graffiti artist.

99 Nights

Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Review Type: Looky
Version: Video


I was just discussing with my friend Jeremy the merits of the Xbox 360. As an avowed Square-Enix fan (Square mostly) he didn't see much worthwhile on the console besides the forthcoming Mistwalker games, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. He's betting on PS3 -- and for his needs, he's probably making a wise move. A couple games helmed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi just aren't enough to warrant a console purchase.

That's when I brought up 99 Nights, a fantasy hack-and-slash produced by Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Q Entertaiment -- the people behind Rez, Lumines and Meteos. The fact that Microsoft is publishing this game is yet another sign that they're trying their damndest to serve the Japanese market, and by default fine folks like my friend Jeremy who like their game characters porcelain skinned and excessively costumed.

I'm sure this footage won't change Jeremy's mind, but at the very least it should pique his interest.

Watch the trailer here.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Platform: PC
Publisher: Midway
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot



A lot of people have been waiting a long time to play an MMO that takes place in Middle Earth. Thing is, they've had about a dozen other midieval fantasy-themed games to tide them over. I'd be very surprised if I'm the only one that's getting a little bored of the setting.

Today it was announced that Midway would be co-publishing The Lord of the Rings Online: The Game That Really Doesn't Need a Subtitle with the game's developer Turbine. The very same folks at Turbine are poised to launch Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, another MMO set in, you guessed it, the midieval fantasy setting.

So here's my outsiders view of Turbine:
1) They're fixated on swords and dragons and such (they did, after all create Asheron's Call)
2) Somebody is getting paid by the letter when titling their games
3) They're spreading themselves a bit thin launching two similarly-themed MMOs

But hey, they know what they're doing, right? Tons of hardcore MMO players call Asheron's Call the best game of its kind. I guess these guys live in an alternate universe where the creation of World of Warcraft was prevented by time-traveling robots from the future.

Chibi-Robo

Platform: GameCube
Publisher: Nintendo
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

Chibi-Robo is a nanobot away from being something really great. Part of me adores the game for its offbeat premise -- a tiny mechanical housekeeper helps a dysfuctional family learn to communicate. Like Mrs. Doubtfire with robots! But beneath this fascinating setting too many conventional game tropes lurk. Traditional item collecting, upgrade purchasing and fetch quests make this adventure feel more, um, robotic than organic. I am impressed with Chibi-Robo's hybridization of Zelda-style adventure with Pikmin's time-restraints. But still, I'm sensing that something is missing. It could be that stylish and innovative games like Katamari Damacy have ruinded me for games that are merely charming.

It's also fairly evident that Chibi-Robo was localized by Nintendo of America's "B" team. None of the sharp and often funny dialogue evident in Paper Mario or Animal Crossing is to be found here. And this, a game about a disentegrating family and the tiny robot who hopes to bring them together, is the exact place smart writing is needed.

Rampage: Total Destruction

Platform: GameCube, PlayStation 2
Publisher: Midway
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot


Arcade updates rarely manage to recreate the magic of the original. But that doesn't keep us from hoping. Luckily for Midway, the Rampage formula isn't too hard to screw up. Rampage World Tour for the Nintendo 64 wasn't brilliant, but that didn't stop me and my college roommate from bashing buildings until dawn.

I initially panicked when I learned of the game's new playable characters -- fearing that the three classics Lizzie, George and Ralph had somehow been axed due to overzealous copyright enforcement. Luckily, this just isn't true. Faux-Godzilla, Pseudo-Kong return, in addition to the new mutants like Cal (seen above).

Fun fact: PlayStation 2 owners get the shaft on this bargain title. Only the GameCube release features a 4-player mode.

Rampage: Total Destruction streets on April 24

Tourist Trophy

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: SCEA
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Developer Preview


Tourist Trophy is Gran Turismo with motorcycles. And I'm not saying this to be clever either. The game was developed by Polyphony Digital, the same team behind Sony's racing sim. And it utilizes the same tracks as Gran Turismo 4 -- modified for bikes, of course.

The game is the kind of racing sim that demands insane levels of fine motor control even when playing in the supposedly easier "Arcade Mode." If you couldn't tell, I have a slight bias against difficult racing simulators. I'll prefer the hyper-real crowd pleasing of Burnout over autistically strict racers.

And yet, there's something that Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy both do right. They strive for realism and excel above and beyond the call of duty. And that's why they're so dang hard to play. It's no cinch to tear through a lap at Infineon in under two minutes, even if you're straddling Ducati's $32,000 999r. Me, I can barely complete a circut without dumping the bike half a dozen times.

The most interesting difference between Tourist Trophy and the Gran Turismo games is the introduction of the human element. Players input the height and weight of their rider and can fine tune their position on the bike as well as degree and style of their lean. Way to reduce flesh and blood down to another set of data points, guys.

Splinter Cell Essentials

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Ubisoft
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot



Guess what emotion Sam Fischer is feeling in this picture. The image of a hero standing before the grave of a loved one is not unique in modern media. It's a crutch Sam Raimi falls back on every time he tells the superhero story. But for an image like this to show up in a screen shot is something special. Most promo material for games falls into a small handful of categories; scenery, people doing next to nothing, people getting shot and people about to get shot. The choice to depict a contemplative moment such as much this in an offical image says as about the person editing the pics than it does about the game. We're looking at a classic "backstory" image -- the kind that goes hand in hand with a mother holding a baby or a couple standing at a wedding altar. And this moment suits the game, which promises to unveil the drama of Sam Fischer's past.

Splinter Cell Essentials is due spring 2006.

Go! Sudoku

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Ubisoft
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot



I've never sat down and tried a Sudoku. My kneejerk reaction to them when the fad hit was that they're puzzles for people who don't want to bother knowing things -- a basic requirement of completing crosswords. Value wise, I find it interesting that Nintendo have added a Sudoku element to their forthcoming "brain training" games for the Nintendo DS. Considering the fact that "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day" is dropping at the value price of twenty bucks, a bare bones Sudoku program, thrilling music or no, feels a little flimsy in comparison.

Huxley

Platform: PC
Publisher: Webzen
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot


Brave New World is one of those novels I'm embarrased to have not read. Either that, or my less-than-open-minded 16-year-old self filed the book in the same mental dustbin with all the other books on my high school reading list. Back then if it wasn't thrash metal or comic books, I wasn't terribly interested.

And yet, with all of my ignorance of Huxley's 73-year-old novel, I find it difficult to imagine a violent MMO/FPS capturing the novelist's intent. Then again, I also assumed that Alex Proyas' I, Robot was going to be a moronic, Hollywood abortion of classic Asimov. I don't mind admitting that I was totally wrong in that case. Perhaps, Webzen will surprise in the same way.

They'll also surprise me if they manage to deliver any kind of meaningful "massively multiplayer" settings that look as great as these screenshots. And, no, instanced areas and lobbies don't count.

Daxter

Platform: PSP
Publisher: SCEA
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Developer Preview


The PSP has really been hurting for a traditional platformer. Daxter, the first game from new developer Ready at Dawn, aims to fill that gap. The game riffs on the spray-gun concept cooked up for Super Mario Sunshine. Here, Daxter is eventually armed with an exterminator's kit which he can use to levitate and, of course, dowse enemies. In an interesting twist, the green goo can also be ingnited by an open flame, turning Daxter's poison hose into a flamethrower. Unfortunately, Ready at Dawn chose to take a detour around the William S. Burroughs bug powder route, so Daxter won't be getting dusted off his own cockroach-killing stash.

Like Syphon Filter: Omega Strain, this game feels more feature-rich than the many ports and rehashes that have plagued the PSP. The game is full of cut scenes (dig Daxter's rendered fur) and boasts tons of spoken dialogue (take that, literacy). And in another swipe from Nintendo, Daxter rewards players for diddling around with "connectivity." Playing Daxter then connecting to the PS2 via USB can unlock special swag in Jak X Racing.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the Bug Battle mini-game (dubbed "Pincho Combate" in Spanish localiztion). This side story to the Daxter side story lets you catch and raise bugs, which can be trained and then battled against other players via wireless. The turn-based gameplay is simple -- an adaptation of "rock, paper, scissors" with disruptive gameplay (players can throw down tokens that can swap attacks or heal at the last minute). The two-player critter battles between developers and journalists that cropped up during our hands on were surprisingly dramatic for so simple a game mechanic. Bug Battle is the kind of game that could easily be expanded to its own PSP property. Hopefully the difficulty of finding friends who own and have beaten Daxter won't prevent buzz on this clever little bonus game from spreading.

Daxter's only misstep can also be found on the game's bonus disc. In a dream sequence Daxter imagines himself as Neo from The Matrix. The mini-game tosses the Ottsel into the strange, movie-only kind of fight in which opponants come at you one at a time rather than all jumping you at once. Timed button presses dispense the charging baddies with wire-fu moves. While simple enough, the game takes too long to beat. God forbid you actually screw up and are forced to try again. It should also be noted that allusions to the Wachowski's ruined trilogy are officially played out. Conker's Bad Fur Day name dropped the flick back in 2001.

If you're keeping score at home, the Irvine-based Ready at Dawn team features ex-Naughty Dog (as well as several ex-Blizzard) on staff and worked closely with the Jax & Daxter team in creating the game.

Daxter is due for the PSP in March

I'm OK

Platform: PC
Publisher: Thompsonsoft
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Free Download


Anti-game lawyer Jack Thompson is good for a giggle now and then. Not long ago, the kook posted his own modest proposal, an outline for an ultra-violent video game that details a father's revenge on a video game industry that caused the death of his son. Thompson promised to donate $10,000 to charity if a video game company actually made the game. By now indie game makers have risen to Thompson's challenge, but Thompsonsoft, the creators of I'm OK, have actually made a decent game out of the lawyer's twisted treatment.

I'm OK is a bloody, side-scrolling shooter rendered in an old-school, 8-bit style. The game, a Metal Slug-style throwback, is a gorgeous example of nouveau retro rendered in chunky blocks. It's also pretty damn hard.

Recommended

Download the game here.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Developer Preview


I just spent a couple days in Bend, Oregon, looking at the latest build of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. The thing that most struck me about the game was the level of its production values. From the cut-scenes and their sharp-looking character models to the highly detailed levels, the game felt like a PS2 game.

I knew little about the series prior to visiting the Bend studio and playing the two level demo that Sony has been mailing to journalists and Playstation Underground members. Apparently the last game, Syphon Filter: Omega Strain was very poorly recieved. It wouldn't be completely off the wall, then, to hypothesize that Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror was once a PlayStation 2 game that's been "demoted." If so, the console crowd's loss is the PSP owners gain

Compared to most games available for the PSP in the states, few feel as big budget as Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. The fact that the game isn't a port, remix or rehash of an existing title should come as a great relief to PSP owners looking for new gaming experiences.

Like many PSP games, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror controls did feel a bit wonky at times. While not fully customizable, the game offers several easy-to-adapt-to control schemes and an instant lock-on for those that really need their hands held. Multiplayer was fun, offering similar levels of depth, variety and community as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo.

The developers didn't show us anything that would lead me to believe that Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is any different from the million other games about guys who shoot other guys in the head. Except for the fact that it's going to be a pretty good one.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is due mid-March.

The Rub Rabbits

Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Sega
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screen Shot


I'm more than a little disappointed that they changed the name of this follow-up to the dating sim/mini-game fest, Feel the Magic. The orginal title, Where Do Babies Come From? was genius. I imagined millions of well-meaning parents clicking the game into their Amazon shopping cart right next to the DVD of Nova's "The Miracle of Life. "

Hopefully, The Rub Rabbits will be a little more fleshed out than it's predecessor -- a game that served as a proof of concept for the capabilities of the Nintendo DS, but didn't deliver quite as much fun as one would expect from a wacky, Japanese title.

Rule of Rose

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail


Okay, so I've got at thing for Japanese games. Rule of Rose is the survival horror game re-imagined as a supernatural childhood psychodrama. The plastic expressions common in "realistic" really seem to work when the intent of the came is to creep you out. In Silent Hill the looks on the faces of the good guys were nearly as skin-crawling as the horribly disfigured creatures you had to kill. As far as Rule of Rose goes, I'm intrigued based on the wistful tone of this trailer alone. Things can't possibly end well for the poor chubby girl.

Watch the trailer here.

Rule of Rose is available now in Japan.