Visualization exercise No. 1: You're a tender morsel of meat-a meat biscuit if you will-suspended mere inches from the slavering mouth of a half-starved, rabid Rottweiler. At any moment, something could snap and all of a sudden, you're what's for dinner. Every scene in Max Payne feels like this thanks in part to Remedy Entertainment's self-adjusting difficulty system.
Set in New York City, Max Payne is an undercover cop with nothing to lose. Everything goes south in a split second and suddenly he's on everyone's shit list. The story unfolds like a graphic novel with a distinctive film noir flavor and a hint of John Woo.
Sure, it's a shooter with your usual gamut of weapons ranging from Berettas, Desert Eagles and Ingrams to Molotov Cocktails, hand grenades and a sniper rifle. But it also has Bullet Time, which slows down the action for a few seconds at a time so you can dodge bullets and dish out punishment witPlatform: pcEver think you could make a better car than Honda? Ever wonder what running a motor company was like? Well, the guys at Fishtank and Vectorcom Development gave it a shot and came up with Car Tycoon.
While the game is based loosely around the American automotive industry, it does take a number of important aspects into consideration. First, there's research, development, sales, marketing, advertising and that silly little thing called competition to deal with. Then you have to deal with the other companies trying to outstrip you in terms of production and sales capacity, as well as efforts to sabotage your production.
You also have to deal with production costs, customer satisfaction, MSRP and so on in order to maintain a successful corporation. The game is very detailed in its economic scope; however, it's not terribly detailed in terms of its cars. Of course, you could always put a 500-bhp engine into an economy car, but either way the novelty wears off quickly because you can't drive 'em.
The game also features two modes of play: mission-based play and free play-both are self-explanatory. The graphics are pretty typical of current simulation games and the game's mechanics make for a very good economic simulation. The soundtrack is pretty typical of a sim and doesn't introduce anything new or groundbreaking.
If you're really into cars or development sims, this is an excellent game. However, if you're looking for edge-of-the-seat excitement, look elsewhere. Car Tycoon is a tidy sim with a solid automotive theme.
h ease. Another unique aspect of Max Payne is your ability to dodge in any direction and shoot at the same time.
The graphics are superb and make excellent use of the PS2's processing power. The faces on every character are well rendered and extraordinarily detailed. The soundtrack is excellent and adds a generous amount of depth and atmosphere to the game.
One drawback to Max Payne, however, is the controls. They take a bit of getting used to and sometimes end up being quite a handful to deal with. Since Max Payne was originally developed for the PC, it's easy to see why this is. Sometimes a keyboard and mouse are better suited for games than a console controller. However, this is a game that belongs in your collection, whether it be the PC, XBox or PS2 version.
Platform: ps2"Balls Out" would have been a better name for Burnout. Developed by Criterion Studios, Burnout is a great arcade racer that, if enacted in reality, would amount to a brown-pants excursion. Hit the gas, avoid traffic and pray that you don't crash. It's tackling L.A. traffic at felonious speeds.
Then again, crashing is sometimes the best part, simply for the fact you get treated to three different angles of instant replay for each crash you're involved in. Sure, it's annoying for the fender benders, but when you create a 10-car pileup, it'll slap a grin on your face faster than a topless 2NR model handing you a fistful of hundreds.
Burnout also measures the driver's heart rate and when the meter reaches its fullest, you can active a "turbo," which boosts your speed for a brief amount of time to allow you to catch up with the other cars. Another fun aspect is the fact you get points for your crashes as well.
With a good graphics package and believable traffic patterns, Burnout leaves little to be desired. More cars would be nice, but that's a given with any racer. We always want more cars, especially if we get to crash them into things.
Overall, Burnout delivers a lot of action with minimal fuss. Gameplay is straightforward and doesn't try to give you a reason for why you're racing through traffic. We all know why. It's because we can't do it in real life and we want to see some kick-ass crashes.
Platform: xboxHalo is a rare breed of game. First of all, it's the best launch title ever, period. Second, it's the best first-person shooter released on a console to date. Finally, it makes owning an Xbox almost a necessity. Tight graphics, excellent controls and some pretty sweet music make Halo a must-have for any Xbox owner.
Simply being able to have up to four people playing at once makes Halo pretty cool. But you can also play it online through the Xbox's broadband port , which also makes Halo rather attractive. But that's not all Halo is good for: It lives up to the second part of its name, "Combat Evolved." The alien forces you're fighting against have a variety of tactics they use and they're never the same from scenario to scenario.
Next, take in the graphics. They're not average, run-of-the-mill crappy textures you'd associate with a launch title. The graphics are top notch and reveal a lot of the Xbox's power potential. One big complaint is when the game switches to a third-person perspective (driving the Warthog), perspective is somewhat skewed and takes some camera adjusting to get facing the right direction.
Another thing that you'll notice is the soundtrack. Halo is exceedingly well done in this regard, because everything is pretty much right about it. The music sets a solid tone for the game with some good atmosphere and the sound effects are excellent as well. Unfortunately, some of the dialogue is a bit hackneyed, but then I expect that of any sci-fi game, movie and/or book.
Personally, I can't wait for it to come to the PC, because then you won't have to deal with the clumsy Xbox controller, and first-person shooters should be played with a mouse and a keyboard. Nevertheless, this is where Halo really shines. The controls are so well placed that it feels natural playing with the Xbox controller. No matter how you look at it, Halo is a gem and should be in every Xbox owner's collection.