G4 - Last night, Infinity Ward and Activision invited members of the press out to a sound stage in Hollywood to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer for the first time. The developers are adding so much to the game that it’s initially staggering, but after a few rounds, you realize that this is a totally different theater of war than Call of Duty 4 and it’s time to figure out the differences.

There are some major game changers in effect for MW2 and Infinity Ward seems to have taken player feedback to heart. Secondary weapons now include pistols, machine pistols, shotguns, and launchers. No longer will players have to give up their precious primary weapon slot to field a shotgun or lose a perk to grab a rocket launcher. The change also gives a lot of versatility to snipers giving them the option of grabbing a fully-automatic pistol or shotgun for close range conflict.

Full Preview

Half-Life 2 – $29.95
Half-Life 2: Episode One – $19.95
Half-Life 2: Episode Two – $29.95
Portal – $19.95
Team Fortress 2 – $29.95
———————————
Individual price $129.75
Package price $49.95
———————————
Pre-purchase discount – $5.00
———————————
Cost to you $44.95
You save $84.80!

The pre-purchase for “The Orange Box” is now available via Steam. Looking at the prices, if one does not own Half-Life 2 and/or Episode One it’s a great deal. However, if one does own Half-Life 2 and Episode One and is really only interested in Episode Two, it may not be. It looks as if Episode Two will be available later for $29.95, $10.00 more than Episode I was selling, $12 if you expected another 10% discount. Considering that each episode is reported to be like a 1/3 of a normal-length game, the cost of collecting the Episodes are adding up fast. If so, it’s no small wonder Valve wanted to split the releases. $50 for roughly 2/3 of a game works out well for them, especially when released on Steam and especially when first offering the higher-priced package first in order to get the eager beavers to pay more. Episode One, many agree, was short but we do not yet know about the length of Episode Two so it’s possible it is considerably longer than the first and, as such, worth the additional 50% ($10). To be fair, we’ll reserve final judgement until then.

When Episode One was released, consumers were able to pre-purchase to receive a 10% discount, bringing the price down to $18. Fair enough. Some thought $15-16 was its actual worth whereas most agreed $20 isn’t “too bad” considering you do get it sooner than waiting years for a full-length version.

When Steam was first released to the public some boasted that it was a true win for the consumer since the consumer would be able to download games at a discounted price since there was no need for a publisher (like Vivendi) and the cost for packaging and shipping.

Game titles rolled out slowly at first then the bottom of bargain-basement games started being released by companies trying to make a few dollars on products that have mostly run their course on the retail shelves. Smart business for older titles, really, and convenient to the customer who may want to pick up an inexpensive game on an impulse.

New games like Bioshock were released on Steam. Unfortunately, there was no cost savings to the consumer over purchasing the game in the store. The fact that the consumer isn’t “winning” as much as before, though, is solely the consumer’s fault. You can’t really blame Steam or game providers in as much as they, like all other businesses, simply want to get the most money possible for their investment. The marketplace dictates worth and people have obviously been ready and willing to shell out more money than something is worth. For some, it’s convenience. For others, it’s not knowing any better and jumping at the first offering that pops up in the Steam News window. If only purchasers knew what power they really have.

I don’t wish this post to be a hate-fest toward Valve and Steam since I hold no ill-will toward either. As previously stated, the offering is a great deal if you do not already own Episode One and/or Half-Life 2.

I leave this post with a couple quotes, though:

Team Fortress 2 and Portal are included with all retail and Steam versions of Episode Two for the PC.

Quote Source

Not only did Newell confirm that the title will be included as the multiplayer component of Half-Life 2: Episode 2, but a first glimpse of the class-based shooter showed a surprisingly stylized look reminiscent of campy 60s spy films — an approach used in titles such as No One Lives Forever and XIII.

Quote Source

I could be wrong but it looks to me, as noted on pc.ign.com and many other internet sites, that Team Fortress 2 and Portal were to be paired offerings with Episode Two, not quite the case as per the costs posted above. If “Team Fortress 2 and Portal are included with all retail and Steam versions of Episode Two for the PC” how could it be not be free? ALL retail and Steam versions… ALL. If the two games come will ALL versions then they’re either free or they have to overcharge for Episode Two to compensate for the cost of the two other “free” games. Those are the only two options, right? Personally, I only want Episode Two, but I want it at a fair price and I want companies to stick to their word. Also, I don’t care for bait and switch tactics. Promising one thing to get all the good publicity and traction then quietly backing away and overcharging is bad business if caught or interpreted that way by the consumer. I hope this isn’t the case here and will be quick to post if I learn otherwise.

Just when you thought the beloved plumber Mario might be nearing the twilight of his more-than quarter-century career, Nintendo comes out with a game for the Wii that pumps new life into two retro video game genres.

“Super Paper Mario” (Rated E, $49.99) combines the charm and action of an ’80s side-scroller with the depth and creativity of a solid role-playing game.

This hybrid of sorts of “Super Mario Bros.” and “Paper Mario” features an elaborate and well-written back story that’s explained in detail during a rather long opening sequence.

Here’s the quick version: The villainous Count Bleck captures Princess Peach and forces her to marry the spiked-shell turtle Bowser, which creates a rift of dark energy.

Mario and his friends must gather eight “pure hearts” to restore the universe to its normal state.

Mario begins his quest in the town of Flipside, which seems a bit sparse at first glance but grows dramatically in size and usefulness as the game progresses.

This is base camp, where you can explore the different shops, chat with residents and buy items between quests.

Dialogue comes in the form of scrolling text — which is usually clever and downright funny at times — but, unlike turn-based adventures, all of the game’s action and battles are real-time.

“Super Paper Mario” embraces its retro roots from the start.

Control comes from the standard Wii remote rotated 90 degrees to the left, which emulates a rectangular NES-style game pad with a four-directional stick and three buttons.

The game follows the well-worn formula of four levels per chapter, with each chapter culminating with a boss battle that features one of Count Bleck’s cronies.

But by the end of the opening level — which begins as a two-dimensional tribute to Level 1-1 of the original “Super Mario Bros.” — the game starts to show its depth.

Mario embarks on his journey with the help of Tippi, one of an assortment of fairy-like “pixls” that give the characters special abilities.

If it seems you’ve exhausted your options, point the Wii remote at the screen and Tippi will reveal secret doors, blocks or staircases to help you move on.

Mario soon learns how to flip worlds into three dimensions, and this is where the game really sets itself apart.

Levels take on entirely different looks, as some objects and bad guys remain as paper-thin 2-D sprites while others take on a 3-D form.

It’s an odd concept at first, but it becomes second nature within a couple of levels.

This power is limited, allowing Mario to flip to avoid a large rolling bad guy or get around a tall pipe, then return to 2-D before the meter runs out.

As the game progresses, Mario is joined by friends who each boast their own special ability. Luigi can jump higher than his brother, Princess Peach uses an umbrella to float to higher destinations and Bowser can inflict heavier damage on opponents.

The ability to flip between dimensions is limited to Mario, but other “pixls” allow all the game’s characters to grab enemies and throw them, become paper thin or place bombs.

The role-playing side of “Super Paper Mario” moves the plot forward, but having to continually press buttons to scroll through text when you’re itching to do battle can grow tedious at times.

But that’s about the only gripe.

“Super Paper Mario” seamlessly blends two genres and splashes in enough humor and obscure references to provide hours of fun.

Three and a half stars out of four.

Source

Format PC
Developer Bethesda Softworks
Publisher
Genre Role Playing

“You don’t need to be mad to quest here” yells an increasingly unbalanced Will Porter. “But it helps!”
As job interviews, go it’ll be short and relatively painless. It’s just you, a disinterested chap named Haskill, a bare room, a desk and a chair. After such an imposing entranceway, surrounded by otherworldly vegetation that’s leeched through its tableau of linked screaming faces into the lands of Cyrodiil, you were perhaps expecting something a little more grandiose within.

Then, as the interview concludes, the dull, featureless walls melt away into a cloud of butterflies. And then it happens: you’re somewhere slightly mad.

The setting is the torn realm of the daedric Prince of Madness, one Sheogorath, if you haven’t been keeping tabs on your Elder Scrolls lore. Bethesda’s stated aim is to create a new self-contained land where the characters are more tightly defined, where dialogue is richer and where their quest designers can stretch their imaginative powers to the full, under the broad canopy of the insane, the unstable and the downright psychotic.

The Shivering Isles represent madness itself – eternally split both physically and politically between the bickering forces of Mania (wild-eyed, unhinged) and Dementia (paranoid, gloomy, depressed). Sheogorath rules over them all, but his realm is in danger – under threat from the blank conformity of the Knights of Order who have begun to appear on its fringes. And guess what? That’s where you come in.

“Well it’s a geographical split to start with – there’s a giant ridge that runs the breadth of the island,” explains Shivering Isles lead designer Mark Nelson when I quiz him about Bethesda’s new psychological leanings. “The highlands are the lands of Mania and the lowlands are the lands of Dementia.

Art-wise, Mania is a lot more vibrant, colourful – almost over-saturated in parts. In the lowlands, in Dementia, it’s really more of a creepy atmosphere. A lot of mosses hanging out of dark trees and stuff – it’s a very claustrophobic feeling that’s meant to evoke more of a hard feel to it. Obviously we don’t do survival horror, but it’s a creepier place in general.”

MENTAL AS ANYTHING
This ridge even runs through the capital city of the isles, New Sheoth, splitting it in two in true Berlin Wall-style. The stunning fountains and impressive waterfalls of Mania’s half of the city (known as Bliss) are a sight to behold, yet they drain into the half ruled by Dementia (known as The Crucible), and there the water congeals into dank, stagnant piles of sludge in the arse-end of the city.

It’s a land split between Alice In Wonderland-style exuberance and the type of ancient and gloomy forests in which hobbits always seemed to be getting lost in the Lord Of The Rings movies.

“The people themselves are very different too,” continues Nelson. “The residents of Mania tend to be, well, manic. You get a lot of obsessives, bizarre artists and the like, who are insanely creative but insane nonetheless. Whereas in Dementia you find the psychotics, the paranoid – people who are afraid of things they’ve created in their own minds.” And who wouldn’t be a little disturbed, for example, if you lived in the town of Split on the Mania/Dementia divide where suddenly there are two versions of each resident?

OFF TO MEET THE WIZARD
Once the fog of butterflies dissipates, you find yourself in a walled area known as The Fringe, and to escape this there’s the small matter of getting past the goliath Gatekeeper that adorns this magazine’s cover – a terrifying construction of the body parts of various creatures whose job description provides a fair amount of the plot later on.

Once you’re past him though, you’ll find yourself searching out the man of the moment: Sheogorath. And once you meet him, alongside his loyal chamberlain Haskill (very much a Jeeves to the big man’s Bertie Wooster), the plot starts ticking.

“The first time you meet Sheogorath he says: ‘You know what? I need a mortal champion and you’re the only one who’s made it to talk with me, so you’re him.

You are my champion’,” explains an enthusiastic Nelson. “But you don’t really get an idea of what your real job is going to be. Sheogorath only gives you bits and pieces – he doles out information slowly. He’s the god of madness, and he tends to speak in unintentional riddles and go off on tangents about pudding.”

Right. So anyway, Sheogorath’s thought is that if you’re going to hold any sway in his court whatsoever, you ought to go out and start meeting people, helping them out, pissing them off and basically having a cracking role-play adventure. As with the various guilds and orders of Cyrodiil, your reputation with the houses of Mania and Dementia will rise and fall according to your actions, but there will come a point at which Sheogorath will ask you to make a final decision as to which side you will join and, indeed, of which you shall become leader.

This in turn will have ramifications in later quests and in whose support you’ll have as you battle the forces of the rival daedric prince Jyggalag (mentioned once in a book in Daggerfall, and apparently hotly discussed on the Elder Scrolls lore forums), who’s moseying into the madness uninvited.

He’s attempting to render a genocide of sensible-ness upon the Shivering Isles known as The Greymarch, an ancient event that occurs every epoch or two that Sheogorath is naturally anxious to avoid. As Nelson points out, it’s all very much created in the spirit of Neil Gaiman (author of the Sandman graphic novel series and novels like American Gods), with concepts like sanity and madness being given form and personality, and having them clash against each other while mortals like you and I toil away beneath them, subject to their every whim.

One of the key things Sheogorath wants you to do is help create another guardian for the Gates of Madness. As such, searching out the original guardian’s creator and helping him fashion a new one out of body bits is an important part of the main quest, but the chirpy Mark Nelson is reluctant to reveal much more in terms of storyline – and not just to lessen the risk of spoilerification.

ASYLUM SEEKERS
He’s equally excited, you see, about the little people – the NPC characters lower down the food chain who may not hold the future of an entire daedric realm in their hands, but are at least entertaining in their own little mentalist ways. There’s the chap you come across who’s afraid to sleep in his own house in case the walls fall in and crush him, for example, who asks you to find him a truly safe place to sleep. There’s the mad woman in the wilderness who is obsessed by having one of everything in the world – from creatures to objects – and whose whims you can only satisfy if you’ve got a couple of aeons to spare.

A more professional obsessive, meanwhile, runs and gives tours around the Museum of Oddities, to which you are asked to become a donor as the amount of bizarre and useless objects in your inventory starts to build up.

Speaking of which, more obsessive fans will be delighted to hear that Shivering Isles is due to be the first Elder Scrolls game to find a use for calipers – the heretofore useless household implements that have been found (and left) inside the barrels and chests of Tamriel for countless ages.

There’s no particular good/bad divide in gameplay this time round, but more of a mottled hue of morals and loyalties. You’ll come across a bloke in New Sheoth, for example, who’s absolutely desperate to kill himself but can’t, since topping yourself is seen as such a crime that there’s even a dank, depressing place called the Hill of Suicides for their ghosts to hang out for all eternity as punishment. So it is then, if you choose to help out, that you must figure out an inventive accident to ensure that this poor chap snuffs it without it looking like he’s asked you directly.

Seeing as you’re climbing up the chain of nobility, meanwhile, you’re also expected to grow a healthy disdain for the tiresome adventurers who keep bundling into the realm with the intention of slaying beasts, looting treasure and generally making a nuisance of themselves. As such, one of the main quests is a direct homage to the venerable Bullfrog box of fun that was Dungeon Keeper.

Sheogorath, you see, has a spare dungeon in Xedilian that he uses partly for testing people and partly for keeping unwanted mortal visitors busy. Once you’ve worked your way through its intricacies yourself, it’s up to you and a vast array of booby-traps, pits and heavy swinging objects to deal with one such party of have-a-go adventurers who are dead-set on stealing its fictional treasures.

What’s more, what happens in the torn realm of Sheogorath stays in the torn realm of Sheogorath, so you could be chief goody-two-shoes back in Cyrodiil and a filthy murdering bastard here and none will be the wiser.

THINGS THAT ROAR
And what role-playing expansion would be complete without a fresh menagerie
of monsters – and weapons to repeatedly hit them round the head with? As with
the art style and demeanour of the locals, creatures differ according to which subsection of insanity you’re adventuring in.

A typical beast found in the over-the-top lands of Mania, for example, is the Elytra – a giant ant-like insect with garish oil-spill rainbow patterning, beady red eyes and furiously jabbing pincers. A similarly feared denizen of Dementia meanwhile would be its representation of Hunger – a ghastly pale figure not unlike the tentacle-mouthed zombies in STALKER, whose emaciated yet muscly figure roams through rural areas picking off livestock and farmers. Other foes that could be mentioned include the big (the Baliwog that seems to be half crocodile, half frog and more than a little Jabba the Hutt), the small (this season’s goblin replacements are known as Grummites) and the ones with sexy chests (“Helloooo, Dark Seductresses!”).

As for tools of smitage with which to destroy this evil (and sexiness), Nelson doesn’t want to go into too much detail for fear of having to talk to me all week. He does, however, mention a sword known as Dawnfang, that gets powered up the more souls you dispatch – essentially levelling up alongside you. Unfortunately, it resets itself at night, when it also changes its name to Duskfang, but it’s a great idea nonetheless. If you’re a particularly magical character, meanwhile, you’ll be interested to hear of the addition of what Bethesda are calling ‘point-blank area-effect spells’, that explode spectacularly around you when they’re cast.

CONTENT IS KING
Personally, I didn’t have too many problems with vanilla Oblivion. I enjoyed every last drop in fact, but I know a fair wodge of people who had one or two reservations. Some of them I have the misfortune of working with on a daily basis. First and foremost, if you didn’t like the levelling system, with its insistence that when you got stronger then so did all the bandits hiding behind the trees, then don’t expect a magical ‘fix’ in the expansion.

This add-on is all about the content, and not necessarily the belt and braces of the gameplay. Having said that, if you were of the opinion that interaction with the residents of Cyrodiil was a touch on the shallow side, then to an extent Bethesda agree with you. Nelson himself regrets that they “couldn’t quite get to the meat” of NPCs in the original, but with a smaller cast list of around 60 or 70 (excluding monosyllabic guards and the like), the plan is that each will be a fleshed-out and well-rounded individual. Bar the insanity, obviously.

“We’ve had more time to really get into their heads, to write them up and really
be in this realm of madness,” claims the Bethesda man. “Some of them are simply quirky – you’d meet them on the street and you wouldn’t realise they were insane. Others are just psychotic.” And thankfully, as these screenshots more than attest, NPC faces are a bit less puffy this time.

And there you have it: the realm of Sheogorath. One card short of a full deck, not quite in the pink, missing a few screws and most certainly more than slightly mad. Around 30 hours of play on a mad island around a quarter the size of the original game’s Cyrodiil.

The very best parts of Oblivion were the ones where its designers were clearly given carte blanche to create something crazy – the stolen ship, the painting quest, entering someone’s dreams or watching burning Alsatians rain down on a village of cats. This time, under the expansive banner of madness itself, they’re cooking up ingenious and barmy quests as a matter of course. The lunatics have taken over the asylum, and long may they reign.

Source

The list of inexpensive Xbox games.

Aggressive Inline
Arx Fatalis
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
Beyond Good & Evil
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 – A great co-op game to beat.
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Burnout Revenge
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Burnout 3: Takedown
Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth – Had a cool and weird story. It’s not difficult to beat, but it has some sticky parts.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay – You get to play as Riddick. How cool is that?
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Darkwatch
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Deathrow
Doom 3 – Fight the forces of hell this holiday season.
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes – Fun action game with the same feel as Gauntlet.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Fable: Lost Chapters
Far Cry Instincts – Fun and beautiful, this FPS will bring the beast in you out.
Fatal Frame – A game for those who hate themselves. This scary game offers a sluggish camera view making it that much scarier.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Director’s Cut – Embark on a journey through a haunted Japanese village in the sequel.
Fight Night Round 2
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
Forza Motorsport
Freedom Fighters
Full Spectrum Warrior – Tactical, 3rd person, squad based, modern shooter controlling American soldiers in the Middle East.
Genma Onimusha
Gladius
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
Half-Life 2
Halo: Combat Evolved
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Hunter: The Reckoning – Grab a buddy and a keg and go zombie killin.
Indigo Prophecy
Jade Empire – Explore an ancient oriental based world fighting toad and fox demons alike as you hone your martial arts.
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future – The sequel to a great Dreamcast game.
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Lego Star Wars – Go through Star Wars Episodes I – III as cute little Star Wars figurines.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Travel through Mordor as the Hobbits, Gandolf, and well… everyone else.
The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age
Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
MechAssault
MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf
Medal of Honor Frontline
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Mercenaries
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks – Journey through the dimensions as Liu Kang and Kung Lao facing off against evil.
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Ninja Gaiden Black
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath
Otogi: Myth of Demons
Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
Panzer Dragoon Orta – The highly anticipated return of one of the best games of the Sega Saturn.
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II – Missed it on the Dreamcast? Give this great multiplayer game a try this weekend.
Phantom Dust – Play in a ruined world as a telepathic fighter to regain your memories.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – Missing a the great dungeon crawling action games of old? This wall running, backstabbing Persian does not disappoint
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Project Gotham Racing 2
Project: Snowblind
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Psychonauts
Rallisport Challenge 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War
Serious Sam – Kill hordes of monsters. Then kill some more hordes of monsters. You thought you beat the game? Well here are more hordes of monsters.
Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
Silent Hill 4: The Room – Need your fix on weird stuff? This graphic game will have make you overdose.
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Soul Calibur II
SSX Tricky
SSX 3
Star Wars: Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront II
Star Wars Republic Commando
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Syberia
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
TimeSplitters 2 – Best Golden Eye style game since Golden Eye.
Thief: Deadly Shadows
The Thing
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Top Spin
Unreal Championship
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict – This popular shooter has a combat system that far surpasses any other game of its genre.
The Warriors
World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International
X-Men Legends – Join the X-men in their fight against Magneto.
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse – Can’t have the TV to play games by yourself? Then bring those selfish being who call themselves your friends and smash some crates.

Barry’s Picks.

>The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Journey accross the land of Morrowind, a province of the Empire, chasing after clues to the mysterious “Neravarine,” a messiah for the dark elves of Morrowind. Get lost in one of the most immersive RPGs of all time.

>Fable: Lost Chapters
Good or Evil? You decide with every choice you make in this truly dynamic game. Highly customizable character system and an incredible story make this game a must play.

>Halo: Combat Evolved
This revolutionary first person shooter brings a great story and a great AI to bat. Life-like foes and allies, incredible graphics, and beautiful environments make this FPS like no other.

>Hunter: The Reckoning
A bit clunky but fun none the less! This is a blast of a zombie killer game. Face endless vampires, werewolves, zombies, and bosses! Each of the 5 classes is a thriller.

>MechAssault
Classic giant robot warfare typical of the long line of Mech games. Battle with and against Mechs, think tanks on legs, for control of a backwater planet with a mysterious secret weapon! This FPS style giant robot fest is a fight tooth and nail for all out domination.

>MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf
A fitting sequal to the XBOX installment of the Mech Series. It’s a Battle for survival when your drop ship crash lands on an unfriendly planet, and as always, the Word of Blake is there to make things hairier.

>Soul Calibur II
Namco delivers with this arean fighting game! Develope your own style with each character. Play through a story and win gold prizes. Unlock new weapons, costumes, and secretes on your quest for the Soul Edge, the demonic weapon the world seeks.

>Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
A real D&D style RPG with a team of allies. Fight as a Jedi who has lost his memory and choose the fate of the galaxy. The way of the Jedi, or the Dark Side?

>Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
A fantastic sequal to KotOR. You are an outcast Jedi that is fleeing from Sith Lords and must either forgive the council that exhiled and restore the Jedi order or sentence them to death at your hands. Once again you decide, the Jedi way or the Dark Side?

>The Thing
Fashioned after “John Carpenter’s The Thing” starring Kurt Russle. A team is sent to investigate disapearance of all personel the research station where “The Thing” was found and contained. You lead the team and try to piece together the clues and fight for survival against the doppleganger. Who is infected?!

The holiday season has come once again, and there are games galore. With such a large amount of games being produced every year, and the new consoles, some games are bound to escape our clutches.

Here is my list of cheap ass games for what ever reason either escaped my claws or good games that most people probably never even tried.

Aggressive Inline
Alien Hominid - A fast paced action game that’s hard as heck, but makes for some fun.
Animal Crossings – Only for the socially inept.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean – One of the best card based games I’ve played. Beautiful scenery, story felt fake, but I still plan to beat it.
Battalion Wars
Beyond Good and Evil – A much better game than I thought it would be. 3rd person action RPG that’s worth going through once.
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem – Beat it 3 times just so I could see each ending. Definitely one of the top games for Gamecube only.
Extreme-G 3 – Love futuristic racing games, but don’t like F-Zero? Well here you go.
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles – 3rd person action RPG made by SquareEnix. Controller for 1 player, or multiple Gameboy Advance systems for multiplayer.
Fight Night Round 2
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Freedom Fighters
F-Zero GX – Fast, Furious, and not a movie. For people who need insane speeds and psychedelic colors.
Gladius
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Hunter: The Reckoning
Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer – Grab a buddy and a keg and go zombie killin.
Ikaruga – 3rd person flight simulator that is absolutely amazing, beautiful, and difficult.
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
Killer7
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures – Need a party game? Well make sure your friends have Gameboys, cause you need them for multiplayer.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - A much loved and hated sequel to the Zelda series for its Ocean Exploration system.
Luigi’s Mansion - No love life? No friends? Well call up Jack Daniels for Friday night Luigi’s Mansion.
Madden NFL 2004
Metroid Prime – Another Nintendo Game that was much love and hated because of its transition from 3rd person to 1st person playing style.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – A beautifully plasma-tic scheme of colors sure to enhance your brain to a whole new level of existence.
NBA Street V3
NFL 2K3
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II – Missed it on the Dreamcast? Give this great multiplayer game a try this weekend.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – Missing a the great dungeon crawling action games of old? This wall running, backstabbing Persian does not disappoint.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Super Mario Sunshine – One of the few games that more beautiful and fun than actually going out to the beach.
Super Monkey Ball 2 – Party Party Party all the time!
Pikmin – A fun semi-puzzle/sim game with weeds that sing.
Pikmin 2
Resident Evil – A remake of a classic survival horror game that look great and has new bosses and puzzles.
Resident Evil 0 – Find out how the T-virus started out.
Resident Evil 4 – One of the best games of all times that featured the Gamecube’s hidden hardware capabilities for a disturbingly realistic and graphic game.
Soul Calibur II – In this you play as Link, and spanks people with his sword.
SSX Tricky – S S a rock a rock its Tricky! its Tricky!
SSX 3
Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rouge Squadron 2
Super Smash Bros. Melee – Getting tired of all the Street Fighter Alpha remakes? Have your childhood heroes beat the crap out each other in this humorous, party, fighting, knock-em out game.
Tales of Symphonia – A beautifully cell shaded game from a very popular series of games. Engage epic real-time fighting against gigantic fantasy creatures.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
TimeSplitters 2 – Best Golden Eye style game since Golden Eye.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe 2
X-Men: Legends 2 – Can’t have the TV to play games by yourself? Then bring those selfish being who call themselves your friends and smash some crates.

There is zero puzzle solving in the game, except for finding new ways to inflict pain; always fun. One shot will not kill you, but you better find cover quickly. The game has a wonderful Co-op system which is similar to Brothers in Arms: one person takes cover and fires randomly at the air, while their teammate takes flank and opens up the Can of Pain. Of course, in these other games, I don’t remember using a chainsaw to decapitate an alien in half, thus spilling internal organs all over the ground. Nope I just don’t remember that happening, ever.

The cover system is beautiful. With just a quick tap of the A button the player will run, dash, or slide to the nearest cover. If held down the player will make a mad dash to cover that is further away.

With such simplicity, the systems does have its glitches. Many times I would be running for a specific piece of cover and get snagged on a wall on the way. The snagging takes only a few seconds to correct. Unfortunately, at the risk of sounding like a crappy DeVry University commercial: do you know what happens in a few seconds? You die in a few seconds. You’re best bet for surviving in such a situation is to frantically tap A and pull your joystick backward, inducing your character to perform a series of backwards rolls . I love that word “induce”, it’s always used for the most disgusting of circumstances. Other than the glitch of being snagged on everything in an exaggerated 10 mile radius, the cover system works better than any other game I’ve played. You only get hit by standing up, being flanked, or by a grenade.

The camera was a little frustrating. It works, but it could work better. In GRAW one could change which shoulder the camera was over. In GoW the camera rarely switches shoulders. This made it hard to see what was on my other side without turning my character. The camera is zoomed out to give the player a wide view. I played as a long range person keeping Locust at bay, but my teammate(Barry) had to turn his sensitivity up a notch for the shotgun. All in all the camera is great, but nothing beats being able to control it yourself.

Visuals:

It’s the Unreal 3.0 engine. What else is there to say? It may not be as pretty as Oblivion or Far Cry…… but it’s a war ravaged world. What do you expect, flowers? If anything, it is the most realistic looking game to date. The pale colors of the world are still strikingly beautiful in their own way. Also, unlike too many other games, the scenery in each stage was definitely unique.

Sound:

I never noticed a glitch, but I was also too knee deep in alien intestine to care. The music was uninteresting to me, but luckily I had a good .wma list playing from the Xbox Connect. “Mad World” (the song from the ubiquitous advertisement for the game) was played on a loop till I was sick of it. The voice acting was definitely good. Maybe not Pixar movie quality, but better than any other game I’ve played.

Cheats:

How well can you toss that grenade boy?

Value:

I have no regrets in my brother paying 60 bucks for the game.

Replay:

Beaten it twice and working on the third. Good enough?

Rating:

9.7/10 A very satisfying, must-have game with very minor cover and camera glitches.

Added: Specifics

The game has 2 player co-op through the campaign in the forms of Split screen and Xbox Live.