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Thursday, August 7, 2008

VIDEO GAMES

“Civilization Revolution” is a heavily streamlined version of its PC counterpart. In some areas, in fact, it is polished to the point of wearing away most of the depth of the original. While the initial experience captures a lot of the fun of the original (particularly for those new to the series), this entry lacks much of the ability to replay of previous games.

“Final Fantasy IV” for the Nintendo DS has a lot to live up to in terms of its heritage. The original was a trailblazing classic, setting new standards of quality for storytelling and presentation. The latest remake succeeds admirably in bringing the spirit, if not always the style, of its predecessor to a new generation of consoles and players.

“Battlefield: Bad Company” is a solid, if not particularly groundbreaking, first-person shooter. At first glance, there’s little to differentiate “Bad Company” from all of the other shooters that seem to be flooding the market, but it does shine in a few areas.

Activision has introduced its newest baby to the world of guitar-wielding gamers, “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.” The game features more than 25 Aerosmith songs, including hits such as “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk this Way” (with Run DMC). Lenny Kravitz, The Cult, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and several more artists are featured as the opening acts for the main Aerosmith event.

Hideo Kojima, the primary creative force behind “Metal Gear Solid 4,” clearly knows how to make a great video game. It’s therefore a shame that he spends so much time in “MGS 4” trying to make a movie. The basics of the game are simple and completely familiar to any fan of the series.

One of the annual signs that football season is getting closer is the release of EA Sports' "NCAA Football". The '09 version (the NCAA Football titles are numbered the way new cars are designated) hit the stores July 15 with an emphasis on improving the gameday stadium atmosphere.

Video game tie-ins are inevitable for animated movies these days, and “Kung-Fu Panda” is no exception. Most tie-ins are really half-hearted attempts at game-making, relying on the influence of children over their parents’ purchasing power to sell a few copies of a bad game.

“The Incredible Hulk” is aggressively mediocre. It starts with promise, but quickly loses the player as repetitive gameplay and distractingly bad storytelling take over.

What goes into a creating a computer video game? Joshua Wascom and Nicholas Scheurich can tell you, since they were on the team that made the adventure game "Aristeia." The two took part in a computer game design course offered through LSU where they created the game and took top honors in a design competition.
•What is ‘Aristeia?’
 Aristeia trailer
•Q & A with Gabrielle Allen
•BR’s growing video game market

As the latest entry in Nintendo’s games for non-gamers, “Wii Fit” stands out as much as “Wii Sports” did before it. The basics are simple -- the game uses Nintendo’s latest peripheral, the Balance Board (and sometimes the Wiimote), to track the player’s movement and center of balance. It then uses this data to track performance through a combination of aerobics, yoga, strength exercises and balance games.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the 12th century doesn’t really sound too exciting, but Ubisoft has managed to bring a good bit of fun, flare, and brutality to the PC with “Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut Edition.”

"NBA Ballers: Chosen One" is a game with a little bit for everyone. While it doesn't entirely embrace basketball's traditional style, it wins you over with its entertaining and addictive type of play. There are several kinds of games in “Chosen One,” and while there are plenty of other variations, the roots of this title are in the playground.

Eight hours into "Grand Theft Auto IV" (Rockstar Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99), I've stolen 17 cars, run over 20 people and killed another 15 (some of whom had it coming). I've shaken down a couple of store owners and beaten up an old lady. I've driven while drunk and, perhaps worse, while talking on a cell phone.

Nintendo's Wii has dominated video-game hardware sales since its debut in November 2006, and it shows no sign of slowing down. In March, U.S. stores sold more Wii consoles than Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s combined. And now that shortages of Nintendo's machine seem to have abated, there's nothing to stop its momentum. Or is there?

Can the stylus be mightier than the sword? Maybe not in a real battle, but it serves as a formidable weapon in "Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword" (Tecmo, $34.99), a visually stunning fighter that pushes the Nintendo DS console to its graphical limits.

While not being a full-fledged fan of ABC’s hit drama “Lost,” I found myself wondering what the point really is for the new Ubisoft game “Lost: Via Domus.” The main theme of the game isn’t so much adventure as it is story and dialogue.

Before the dawn of the century, when video games like Street Fighter and Tekken were the undisputed kings of the fighting genre, HAL Laboratory, Inc. crafted a fighting game unlike any other.

As a fantasy-loving nerd who came of age in the '80s, I was fascinated by the role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons." Fortunately, I didn't know anyone else who cared, so I didn't get drawn into the cult. But I've been a sucker ever since for the electronic games that were inspired by it, from 1981's "Wizardry" to the ongoing "Final Fantasy" series.

Video games are all about action: shooting aliens, slaying dragons, crashing cars. But the industry's focus on high-octane mayhem means a lot of other genres — romance, say, or comedy — are neglected.

If the video game on your TV screen looks awesome, sounds amazing and everybody in the family wants their turn, it’s probably Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The genius marriage of a dazzling video game, great music and lots of action, the Guitar Hero series has been around for a little over two years. Its latest incarnation is Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

No matter how many people are playing "Halo" or "Madden" at any given moment, you can bet that many more are playing solitaire, poker or Uno. And not with a $5 deck of cards — they're using the awesome processing power of modern computers to play the games their grandparents loved.

At a recent industry conference, "Parappa the Rapper" creator Masaya Matsuura urged other video-game designers to move away from "games that motivate the player to use physical attacks as a way of establishing superiority." He wasn't really taking a stand against game violence; rather, he was urging his colleagues to look for more creative, constructive ways to play.

If you've ever been in an automobile accident, even a minor one, you know there are few noises more sickening than the sound of metal crunching against metal. No matter how bad a day you've been having, that noise means it just got a whole lot worse.

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