Nyko Charger Grip

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Nyko
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail


Extra battery life is always a good thing. Nyko's Charger Grip attempts to mitigate the additional clunkiness of a strap-on battery by smuggling the extra juice into a Dual Shock-shaped grip. For someone like myself, a talk, gawky dork with semi-hammy hands, the extra Dual Shock-style contours are welcome. But the extra weight that comes along with five more hours of battery life isn't. When I hold my PSP upright (my modus operandi when kicking back on the couch to play) gravity pulls the mass of my gaming brick + strap-on straight through the outsides of my palms.

If you're a huncher -- the kind of gamer that plays your PSP like you're the throne -- the extra weight probably won't be as much of a liability. I'm just gonna have to buckle down on my charging habits.

The Nyko Charger Grip for the PSP retails for $29.00

Crysis

Platform: PC
Publisher: EA
Review Type: Looky
Version: GDC Trailer



When I was a kid, I loved concept cars. With their gull wings and sleek, knife-like shapes they felt like items from the future miraculously reeled into the mundane now. I believed that we'd be seeing these Blade Runner-esque vehicles on the road someday soon and I couldn't wait for that day to come. It never did. Cars stayed ugly, boxy and uncool. They remained, for the most part, uniform because that is what most people want.

I get that same feeling when I see "mindblowing gameplay footage." Every year we see new hyper-real clips depicting guys shooting trees or guys shooting water or guys shooting other guys who are also shooting. But I never get to play these games. I spent $300 upgrading my computer when Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 came out and still found myself wading through molasses-like slow down. I played an hour or so of each game and gave up. I'm not falling for that one again.

So watch this footage of Crysis, the new game from the makers of Far Cry. Check out how cool the trees look when they get mowed down by gunfire. Check out the awesome "volumetric clouds," "realtime ambient maps" and "soft shadows."

Sure, the technology is cool. But I'm not going to let myself get overly excited. Because now I know that games like this -- much like the concept cars I loved as a kid -- are fantasy. They're make believe. This stuff isn't a promise of the future. It's like porn, a tease crafted to make your dick hard And who wants to be the mook who actually thinks he has a shot at fucking a porn star?

Watch the trailer here.

Metal Gear Acid 2

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Konami
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

I'm usually the first to bitch about all the ports and console rehashes that make up the majority of the PSP catalog. But that's because I always forget about Metal Gear Acid. Here's a unique game (something you can't play anywhere else) that's been available since launch. But here's the catch. The game is fairly inaccessable. A friend and client of mine snagged a PSP on day one and grabbed the game, thinking it would be similar to the tactical military shooters he plays on the PC. It's not like Konami lied on the box. The packaging clearly describes the in-game action as "tactical turn-based strategy." Seriously, though; who but the most educated gaming nerd understands what that means? Amir fired up the game and was quickly beaten down by its complicated play.

Being a dork for this genre, I found myself attracted, but eventually discouraged by the sheer complexity of the battle system. For some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around weapon equipping and I didn't have a clue as to how the "Cost" sytem really worked. The game parked itself on my game shelf and has been collecting dust since.

Enter Metal Gear Acid 2. Don't know if it's because I've been on a turn-based kick lately or if they've tweaked the game's learning curve, but I'm finding myself immersed and gaining a slow but steady understanding of the game's insanely arcane rules. The story is fairly standard. Snake is infiltrating some kind of research facility, where all the employees are either a) busty, b) mutated or c) deadly. And is it me, or is Snake's Codex feeling more and more like a party line? In once scene a hacker, a scientist, an FBI agent and a Pentagon creep chat it up in Snake's earpiece.

The game comes with a nifty cardboard viewer called the Solid Eye Theater. Slide it over your PSP and you can watch unlockable videos in 3D. I try to avoid the spoiler-iffic clips from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater -- since I'm still trying to finish the re-release Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Instead I gravitate towards the live action clips of Japansese cuties in camo hot pants and bras. Yeah, I'm an otaku.

Recommended

Okami

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Capcom
Review Type: Looky
Version: Concept Art



Okami ranked high in my most-wanted list after playing it at E3 last year. Not that many of the games we played at last year's show have come and gone, this Zelda-style adventure is one of the few holdouts. The game isn't due until May, so I'm assuming we'll have access to a complete version of the game on the show floor.

The art above is concept art. Not that it's much different from the way the game looks. Okami is one of the few games you'll see that doesn't change dramatically from concept to screen. Most games start as fabulously painted homages to Frank Frazetta only to become butt-uglified in the process of being rendered in 3D. Okami is being executed as it was concieved -- as ink on parchment in the tradition of Japanese calligraphy. I'm always psyched when game designers opt for a bold, non-traditional look. Last year, Capcom's Killer 7 fascinated me endlessly and wound up being a game with play as bizarre and contrary as its art direction. I'm betting on Okami on being this year's overlooked alternative gaming experience.

The game isn't due until May, so I'm assuming we'll have access to a complete version of the game on the E3 show floor.

Lemmings

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


There's been a lot of justifiable pissing and moaning lately about the state of the PSP library. Most gamers find it tough to pinpoint a "killer-ap" for the handheld. And it's true; there are no real standouts. But, I think Sony's strategy has always been one of delivering quantity and letting gamers find the quality where they see it.

Lemmings is certainly no reason to buy a PSP, but this solid reworking of the 15-year-old classic works as another positive notch on the console's belt. This preview build contained a handful of levels of varying difficulty. The look of the game is fairly simple. The Lemmings themselves are still tiny, low-pixel creatures -- just as they ought to be. The envirnonments they traipse around in are rendered with a little more pizazz. Rock formations contain fossilized bones, tracing out the remains of dinosaurs in an attractive sprite simulation of 3D. When you speed up the game, the screen is treated with an effect mimicking the imperfect fast-forwarding of video tape. We're not talking next gen here. Just enough eye candy to fill the PSP's screen.

Eye-popping graphics or no, games like Lemmings are all about the puzzles. A slip-shod assortment of levels would render a game like this merely adequate. In my mind, it's all about execution -- properly ordering and presenting of levels so that the user slowly learns new tricks and approaches as the difficulty slowly ramps up. This demo's levels felt like a random assortment and not the game's first levels, so it's impossible to guage just how well developer Team 17 pulled this off.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this forthcoming game is the promise of a level editor. There's been a lot of buzz in the gaming community around Mega Man: Powered Up's abilty to create, upload and download user-made levels. I don't doubt for a minute that a similar community of amateur game designers will sprout up around Lemmings as well. Hopefully, they'll cook up a way to prevent jokesters from posting impossible-to-solve levels. Because I'm sure some dillweed is gonna try it.

Lemmings is due on May 23rd

Metroid Prime: Hunters

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

I'm still not entirely convinced that 3D gaming works on the Nintendo DS. And yet somehow Metroid Prime: Hunters milks as much nuance as you can expect from a difficult control scheme. It helps that there are four control options -- two use the stylus for movement, two use buttons and the d-pad. I figured I'd go for the latter, but discovered the rigid camera movement in that mode to make me mildly motion sick.

I've got big hands, so I'm playing with a large stylus. Even so, I'm experiencing a bit of cramping in my trigger finger. The biggest drawback of playing with the stylus is the need to double tap the touch screen to jump. Deliberate moves like this are fine when playing through the game's story mode, but it feels like a distinct disadvantage when playing against other players online.

Despite all these gripes, Metroid Prime: Hunters is still a pretty good game. Multiplayer is fast and extremely challenging. And the single player, while not as organic-feeling as the GameCube games, still contains enough exploration and interesting boss battles to keep things interesting.

Most interesting is the way this game highlights the game cliches that this series desperately needs to outgrow. Who designs security systems that unlock doors once you've killed every living thing in a room? And seriously, couldn't the writers have come up with quest for Samus? This time she's hunting for an item that grants its bearer "ultimate power." Since when where there ninjas in the Metroid universe?

Recommended

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Review Type: Looky
Version: GDC Trailer

This week feels like a "Looky" kind of week thanks to all the video coming from the Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Today's word of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass coming to the Nintendo DS came from out of nowhere. Long before the fan-pleasing announcement of the more "realistic" look for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess we'd been told that the next Zelda sequel would be in the cel-shaded style of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. We haven't heard a peep about a cel-shaded Zelda game until today. Most of us assumed that the look had been shelved permanently.

I'm a fan of the cartoony character design created for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and I'm very pleased to see they stylish implementation of the game given another chance.

Watch the GDC Trailer here.

Via Joystiq

God of War 2: Divine Retribution

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: SCEA
Review Type: Looky
Version: GDC Trailer (Cam)


So Kratos is immortal now. Not sure whether that means the big man is above pushing puzzle boxes around. Hope so. He's certainly still got anger issues. Sony just announced God of War 2: Divine Retribution at GDC. In the brief trailer we see Kratos pummeling trolls about the head and face, eviscerating boar-like creatures and clipping the wing from a gryphon. Puts a new spin on the phrase "act of God."

The big news is that this game comes out in the first quarter of 2007 for the PlayStation 2, not the PlayStation 3. This makes sense seeing how the last console launch turned out. Why try to sell a game that has blockbuster potential on a machine that few can get their hands on? Still, many fans are disappointed that they won't be seeing a next gen version of the game for quite some time.

Check out the trailer at Playsyde.

Battlefield 2142

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

Though it's premise is a little Waterworld-y, the newest addition to the Battlefield series looks future-licious for one reason -- mechs! Looks like the warring nations vying for the last bits of land on Earth will be doing it with the help of lots and lots robot-like battle suits. Infantrymen haven't been outdated quite yet. They hit the front line in Stormtrooper-style battle armor and rifles with a bluish muzzle flash. My simpleton-level scientific knowledge suggests that these guns fire hotter than today's guns, unless the blue tint comes from cool neon ground effects.

I'm wondering if this game's look, one that borrows as much from Halo as it does from Star Wars, will be a turn-off to players so used to the historical settings of the previous outings.

Watch the trailer here.

Tycoon City: New York

Platform: PC
Publisher: Atari
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

My friend Julia is something of a sim connoisseur. She'll buy and play pretty much any sandbox-style game publishers see fit to squirt out. I, on the other hand, have a hard time remembering the last time I touched one. Probably The Sims. And here I am a guy who is payed to play games. I'm not ashamed that I play and write about certain genres more than others. And I'm not sure it's a requirement of a good critic. You don't see Roger Ebert reviewing porn movies. Well, at least not since the days of Russ Meyer you don't.

So it's hard for me to guage exactly how good a game like Tycoon City: New York. In the sad, sim-free vaccum that is my gaming life, it seems adequate. Every building comes with a handful or so upgrades -- so there's a certain level of customization and creativity each builder can put into a city block.

I was very impressed with the game's voice acting. There's a jovial New Yorker that holds your hand through the games opening tutorial. His Brooklyn accent may have been affected, but I still felt like he was actually talking to me; a feeling I get from games way more rarely than I'd like.

Tycoon City: New York ramps up with goal-oriented missions. As you develop your neigborhoods the game gives you targets to shoot for. Some residents request you build to suit their lifestyle. Another instance gives you a summer to upgrade a corridor before the Halloween Parade hits the streets. These optional directives are just the kind of thing that helps me stay hooked into a game. Throw me in a sandbox without some kind of directive and quite often I'll get bored. Especially if I can't blow stuff up.

I'm sending the game to Julia now. If she's got anything addtitional to report, you'll see it here.

Linky

Errorwear: Retro
Panic: Katamari
Penny Arcade Designs
Bungie Tees
I am 8-Bit: "Vroom" and "Push to Reject"
Zazzle: Key, Kentia, Tetris

Linky

Massive
Edge
I Am 8-Bit
1-Up Zine
EGM
The Halo Graphic Novel

Super Princess Peach

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

Poor Super Princess Peach. The boys don't like her because her game is too pink. And some of the girls aren't gonna be too fond of her either. I guarantee her "Vibe" powers, four multicolored touch screen hearts that ricochet our heroine on dramatic mood swings, will be the subject of a Feminism 101 paper sooner, rather than later. They'd be onto something too; when Peach takes damage in the game her avatar on the touch screen flinches, reels back and winces like a battered wife.

I like the game because it feels like a re-introduction of classic gaming to a new audience. The first levels are pretty simple. They run you through the basics of platforming, puzzles and boss battles. Not everyone had the honor of learning the language of games from the original Super Mario Brothers. Super Princess Peach makes an excellent starting point for kids and adults (especially those comfortable in their gender role) who are rekindling an interest in play.

Recommended

Grandia III

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Square Enix
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail


Yuki, the protagonist in Grandia III has a bizarre relationship with his mother. Firstly, he calls her "Miranda." Those post-divorce years must have been tough. And then there's the thing with girlfriends. When Alfina, a pointy-eared, magic-using (and perhaps mildly retarded) cutie makes the scene, mom can barely keep herself from shoving the two youngsters into the sack. Creepy.

This family dysfucntion is one of the few the highlight of Grandia III's story. The rest is more of the same anime/fantasy hogwash we've seen done better a million times before. Dreams, destinies, ancient relics, airships, etc. In fact, the retro-looking flyer that Yuki obsesses over (sorry, Miranda) is more than a little reminiscent of the aircraft in Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso. Protip: It's bad news when a video game's narrative inspires you to reach for your DVD shelf.

But here's the crazy part. Once you start fighting, almost all of Grandia III's story problems melt away like so many remedied status effects. In most RPGs I hurry through combat, feeling compelled to push the story forward. In Grandia III, I found myself itching for fights, longing to escape the breathless anime voice actors and plodding "gather-your-party" detours. And credit goes to the battle system, a clever hybrid of turn-based and real-time combat. Imagine Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic infused with multi-character combos.

The whole thing revolves around a sort of combat clock, with an "attack zone" between 3 and 6-ish. Everybody in the brawl moves around the dial at their own pace, when the clock strikes three the action pauses and it's their turn to make a move. And here's the cool part; if one of your enemies is plotting a big attack, you can ruin their day by timing your blow to cancel theirs. It's less complicated than it sounds and it's the kind of innovation to the mechanic of RPG games that we're going to see a lot more of in the years ahead.

My problem could be that I'm not a 13-year-old girl. Which is cool in a way. Firstly, because I've grown accustomed to being a 33-year-old man. And I'm also pretty jazzed that anime-flavored Japanese fantasy is becoming the drug of choice for America's tween-aged estrogen set. My poor sister (a future NASA scientist) had to make do with Barbie and Care Bears. Grandia III is a big improvement, but I think we can do even better.

Viva Piñata

Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Nintendo
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot


Never mind Conkers Bad Fur Day and Goldeneye. Rare has always excelled in the realm of kid-friendly. And rightfully so. Their goofy characters and slightly whacked sense of humor put them somewhere between Jim Henson's Muppets and Sid and Marty Kroft on the (completely fictional) Quality Kid Stuff scale. This is the reason why they're both reviled and adored by gamers in almost equal measure. The Xbox crowd hate them for diverting Microsoft's money and resources from Halo sequels. Old-school Nintendo fans love them for all the great kart racers, platformers and little known gems they created back in the day. Lately, the love hasn't been as enthuisastic.

Since Starfox Adventures and the subsequent absorption into the Microsoft machine, the response to Rare's games have been lukewarm. Now that Perfect Dark Zero is a done deal, they've just announced a parnership with 4Kids to create a game, television show and merchandising empire around a new property, Viva Piñata. These first looks at a world of fragile, candy filled characters retain the quirky sensibilty that Rare has been known for.

I'm curious to see if Rare's sharp wit and oddball sensibility (and let's not forget imaginative game design) can survive being trampled under the feet of all the Microsoft and 4Kids executives sure to be involved with the process.

Regardless, Microsoft could do with a decent kid-friendly game. Blinx just isn't pulling his weight.

Official Site

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot


The last "educational" game I've spent any time with was the emulated version of Donkey Kong Jr. Math in the GameCube version Animal Crossing. Don't ask me why. Before that it was Typing of the Dead. And then I can't recall touching a good-for-you game unless I think back to the days of the Apple II. Most gamers learned early on that games with something to teach were generally unfun and contained very little in the way of gameplay. Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? and Oregon Trail notwithstanding.

There's a big revival happening in the genre now and these games aren't aimed at the lunchbox set. Two such games for the Nintendo DS were huge hits in Japan last year, luring many adults back to the video game aisle. Next month the U.S. scores our first for the DS, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day.

Amid all the hype I'd heard for these games, I never actually digested the fact that you turn your DS sideways, like a book, when playing this game. I hope this layout doesn't hamper southpaw players.

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day is in stores April 17.

Late to the Party: Front Mission 4

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Square Enix
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

I've got two piles of games I intend to play. The first is in my office. It's the "new stuff" that I want to play for this blog or to review for a magazine. Then there's the pile next to my personal collection in the living room. These are games I've collected for my personal edification -- stuff I scored used during a Blockbuster promotion or games snagged during the Toys R' Us buy-one-get-one-free deal. Front Mission 4 is in that pile because I dig turn-based strategy. I've played more hours of Advance Wars than I care to admit. And this game feels very similar to the GBA title, only the complexity is turned up more than a few notches.

The mechs in Front Mission 4 are customizable. Weapons and armor can be upgraded, tweaked and even repainted. In combat, each of your mechs can interact via link points, allowing them to assist during offensive or defensive maneuvers. The layers of complication are thick, but not unwieldy. They're the sort of depth that you peel away rather than drown in.

I'm also a big fan of the battlegrounds. They look like the kind of cool locations you'd want to build in miniature for a table-top strategy game if you had the time, talent and patience to paint all those little trees and bridge spans. Right now, I'm thinking my way through a battle on a bridge. My four troops are met with tanks and six mechs. We're outnumbered without a repair mech and through failure I'm slowly formulating a technique for survival.

The story here is a little more complicated than what Advance Wars usually offers. The dialogue isn't as sharp, but I like that they've written in reasons for having only a few "wansers" at your disposal. One one side of the split narrative you're part of a non-military mech research group, assisting in a sort of forenzic investigation of a mysterious attack. On the other you're a squad of aimless soldiers who go A.W.O.L. ala Kelly's Heroes after discovering a Venezuelan dictator's gold stash.

The PSP could really use a rich and graphically pleasing strategy game like this one. An engrossing strategy title could persuade me to give my DS a rest on long plane flights. How about a Front Mission 1-3 collection on UMD, Square-Enix?

Recommended

Linky

Futurama: Raiders of the Lost Arcade
Dave Chapelle: Grand Theft Auto
I Love the Power Glove, It's So Bad
Shynola + Junior Senor: "Move Your Feet"
Golden Shower: "Video Computer System"

Linky

Video Game Music Archive
Cool Hunting interviews Bitshifter (video)
Saskrotch
Uematsu's Music
Monotonic -- Mp3 Label
Music for Robots

24: The Game

Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: 2K Games
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

I was doubtful that a game could recreate the realtime tension of 24. Most games are played at a pace. I, like many gamers, like to ransack every room for ammo and secrets, drawing the time I spend on each level out to patience-testing limits. But as Jack Bauer, I always felt like I had a clock -- some ticking timebomb (quite often not metaphorically) that drove me to move a little swifter. Ammo and health seemed to be in good supply, so I didn't feel too compelled to hoarde. But when I did feel like searching the corpses of my kills, the action was swift and always productive.

Like the show, the game is split into hours, each containing several action set-pieces or technical minigames. There's a good deal of variety in the play. Sometimes you find yourself embroiled in a gun battle, others a car chase or a foot chase. And then there are bombs to defuse, people to interrogate and data systems to hack. All are nicely tied into a narrative that has the look and feel of prime time action. I credit the games emotive, but still useful shakey camera (it jostles like a hand held when you bolt) for maintaining the feeling of immediacy. Clever split screen editing livens the visuals, especially during gameplay.

I wonder a bit about 24, a program I rarely (if ever) watch. Do all the bad guys usually look like the thugs from a Stephen J. Cannel show? I made it halfway through the game and it seemed like most of my enemies were burly American dudes in bandanas. I guess I missed a plot point, but who exactly are we fighting here? And does the show really have that many contrived countdowns? On several occaisions it seemed like they were scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel for reasons for me to make with the quicky.

And finally, when they make the feature film will it be called 2?

Wings of Power

Platform: PC
Publisher: Shockwave Productions
Review Type: Looky
Version: Trailer


The Shockwave Productions insignia at the beginning of this clip bears the motto "Designed by pilots, for pilots." But that's only half the story. Shockwave Productions makes Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 add ons that cater to serious WWII buffs. A while back they released a retail box called Wings of Power: Heavy Bombers and Jets, a package that featured eight incredibly detailed recreations of vintage aircraft. Each plane was controlled via a fully-realized 3D control panel. This new clip, of the Henkel He 219 Owl, is a preview of a new add on, available via direct download through their online store. Navigating each of the displays reminds me a bit of playing Myst or Riven. The myriad dials and switches are just a foreign to me as the strange languages and arcane puzzles of a fantasy game.

I'm strangely drawn to hyper-detailed simulators like this, but am now fully aware that I'll never be able to muster the patience to properly use one. I barely managed to get the drift of the watered-down Steel Battalion control panel.

But you've got to wonder. Wouldn't a controller designed exactly like one of these virtual cockpits be really fresh?

Watch the video here.

Rainbow Six: Vegas

Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Ubisoft
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot



Grand Theft Auto has been milking the location-based sequel thing fairly subtly with their approximations of Jersey, Miami Beach and Los Angeles. For some reason this overt trip to Nevada doesn't really rub me the wrong way. I'm sure the continued popularity of CSI has something to do with it.

The Ziff crew have the exclusive on this one. 1Up is pimping the first screen from the game and the new EGM is featuring the title as its cover story.

Remember kids: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...unless you score a bloody killshot through the target's head. That image you carry with you to your grave.

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation

Platform: GBA
Publisher: Atlus
Review Type: Looky
Version: Screenshot

In the West we've pretty much come to terms that you'll never see Captain Kirk and Darth Vader go head to head. But in Japan, they're not half as universe agnostic as we are. And thus they get to enjoy games like Marvel vs Capcom and Kingdom Hearts. Super Robot Taisen is a strategy series starring giant robots and mechs from beloved series like Gundam, Macross, Neon Genesis Evangeleon, Getter Robo and Mazinger Z.

It's been long thought that the licensing issues would prevent these games from ever seeing the light of the day in the states. Strategy RPGs are a tough sell, especially on the younger-skewing GBA. It would be nice to see Atlus rewarded for their efforts in the form of sales.

EDIT: According to Joystiq won't be featuring any licensed characters except for the ones created specifically for the game. So the game is no Jump Superstars, but it's got super-deformed robots. That's got to count for something.

Pursuit Force

Platform: PSP
Publisher: SCEA
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

Pursuit Force feels like something new. Or maybe newish. The game, like all the greats this generation, is part genre hybrid and part genre refinement. Here combat racing earns a much-needed tweak. Pursuit Force's "big idea" is the ability to leap from car to car at full speed. Were this the game's only novel feature, it would have gotten dull quick. But the designers have injected just enough variety in the game to keep things interesting. There are levels that take place in speed boats. Other's call for you to fire a gatlin gun at enemies from a helicopter. Some missions cram a few of the action flavors into one sprawling chase. Only the game's on foot missions slow the pace, but these moments are brief and forgiving.

I'm a big fan of Pursuit Force's high camp. It's fairly evident that the game is meant to emulate the American Action film -- particularly the Bruckheimer variety -- with big action, pulse-pounding orchestral scores and over-the-top, cliche-ridden dialogue. Early in the game, when you're rescuing a mob snitch he tells his would be assasins, "I told you guys not to eat so much canolli!" A stinging bon mot to be sure. Unintentional humor perhaps, but it made me laugh.

Recommended

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim

Platform: PSP
Publisher: Konami
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

When I was younger and less informed, I'd rent video games from Blockbuster or my local mom and pop video shop. The rule of thumb on these trips was lowered expectations. You'd shop based on what "looked good" and what hadn't already been rented out. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is the kind of game I'd invariably take home. It's a passable action RPG, one that takes the basic tenets of the original The Legend of Zelda and riffs on them until your thumbs are sore, a main character is dead and the boss lies in a bloody puddle of his own hubris.

I'm almost embarrased to make the next points. There are certain truths about PSP games we, by now, should all hold self evident -- Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is a PS2 port, with long load times and hellacious slow down. But then, deep in Undercity of your cynical gamer's heart, you probably knew that already.

The Sims 2: Open For Business

Platform: PC
Publisher: EA
Review Type: Looky
Version: Video


EA's must have an army of music licensing monkeys working non-stop to keep their games rocking with fresh, new and mostly mundane major label output. Every so often they manage a song selection that's fairly inspired. Here's one that wins points for pure strangeness: David Gahan and Depeche Mode performing their song "Suffer Well" in Simlish, the garbled non-sense language of The Sims. The track will appear on the expansion The Sims 2: Open For Business along with Simlish versions of "Things Can Only Get Better" by Howard Jones and "Too Shy" by, fittingly, Kajagoogoo.

Lo-res video.
Hi-res video.

Cooking Mama

Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Taito
Review Type: Looky
Version: Video

It looks like Nintendo DS games are shaking out into two categories. You've got stylus-optional games, like Animal Crossing and Mario Kart DS and then there are games whose main mechanic hinges entirely on the console's touch screen capabilites. Cooking Mama, falls into the latter category as evidenced by this gameplay video. Stylus strokes are used to chop, fry and mix food. I'm a little concerned at how easy the game appears in this footage. But then again, Trauma Center: Under the Knife looked deceptively simple at first glance as well. And that game got really tough, really fast.

Video here.

Via 4 Color Rebellion.