Release Archives: WEEK OF JANUARY 11, 20051.11.2005 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap *Pick of the Week* Dev. Capcom Pub. Nintendo MSRP: $29.99 Systems: GBA Even if Nintendo isn't making it, a new Zelda of any kind is reason to get excited. This is Link's first real GBA adventure, and he's showing up in style with a magic hat that lets him shrink down to thumbtack levels. Considering how successful the DS is turning out to be and that home consoles are already ridiculously powerful, this may actually be the last 2D Zelda title ever released. Now wipe away those tears and buy this game. Banjo Pilot Dev. Rare Pub. THQ MSRP: $19.99 Systems: GBA Rare may not be lighting up the console world anymore, but they are still making very good games for the GBA. Banjo Pilot is a sequel to the amazing Diddy Kong Racing (N64), a kart title only surpassed by the legendary Super Mario Kart (SNES). While this GBA racer removes many of the cooler features of the N64 original, such as the addictive Adventure mode and the ability to drive three different vehicles, the great gameplay that made DKR great is still around. Virtua Quest Dev. AM2 Pub. Sega MSRP: $39.99 Systems: PS2, GC Oh, how far Sega has fallen. I would have cried even harder when the Dreamcast died if I knew this is what Sega would be like as a third party. For those that have loved the Virtua Fighter series from back in the days of the Saturn, you may want to look away. This is an action-RPG where you play as a young boy who fights an army of nameless enemies to save the universe. With a cliché story and graphics worse than what you would find on the Dreamcast, gamers of all kind should stay far away from this title. Maybe I can interest you in a new Zelda game instead? Resident Evil 4 Dev. Capcom Pub. Capcom MSRP: $49.99 Systems: GC The Resident Evil series isn't liked by all, but it's respected by most. Up until now, whether you enjoyed it or not came down to whether you could handle controlling a character that moved like a tank or not. I've had mixed feelings on the games up until this point, but I can definitely recommend RE4 from what I've played so far. It looks gorgeous, plays well, and is significantly more frightening than anything else I've played recently. It may be daylight a lot of the time, but eerily aggressive quasi-European zombie men throwing axes at me isn't much scarier in the dead of night. Granted, a lot of the tension still comes from fiddling with the controls while under attack - they are vastly improved from the previous games, but still require the dexterity of a spider monkey to use at their highest level of efficiently. Despite that, the gameplay is intense and the level design is smart; it will surely satisfy survival-horror veterans, and probably recruit a few action gamers along the way too. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction Dev. Pandemic Pub. LucasArts MSRP: $49.99 Systems: PS2, XBX The whole emergent, sandbox thing in games has been done quite a bit now - give the player a virtual playground and a set of world-appropriate tools, and let them progress how they like. In this instance the world is North Korea and the tools are guns, tanks, helicopters, jeeps, etc. The overall idea is to take out various 'wanted' people around the country, playing as either an American, British or Swedish troop. You also choose whom you work for and more entertainingly, how you work. Have to take out some goon in a building? Sneak in and cap him, fly overhead and bring the building down around him with missiles, or drive inside and run him over. It all sounds a bit too much like Grand Theft Auto on paper, but it's much more tactical, looks a million times better, and the core gunplay and vehicle stealing/operation is a lot smoother. Each level presents dozens of ways to complete your goals, and very, shall we say, 'explodable' settings to do it in. - Tom is responsible for the Minish Cap, Banjo Pilot and Virtua Quest write-ups, while Nick wrote the RE4 and Mercenaries ones |
