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Act 3
11/07/2002
Lock and Load. It's time for another grandiose adventure into the Realm that is the QuickTake. I think I really enjoy doing these quick little reviews. They let us (yes, there's officially three people behind the Database now) review a lot of games really quickly and fill up our review quota faster than anything else has to date. In fact, I think it's about time for Draco and I to go up against each other. You see, we agree on how good or bad a lot of games are, but we also disagree quite a bit. So, starting now, I'm gunna occasionally go back and take a look at something Draco has already reviewed, and put my own spin on it. Don't worry, I'll still be reviewing games I haven't yet reviewed…and whenever Draco gets around to doing his QuickTakes, he can dispute my calls as well. So, without further ado, welcome to QuickTakes: Act 3.
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Play Time: I Own It.
Gaming Status: Beat it about Four times... played the heck out of the multiplayer.
Worth the $50 I payed for it? Yeah.
If you want an oldschool, fun game to go back and play with a friend, then this is it. It's not the one player mode that started at Super Bomber Man 2 and the Game Boy games, heading for a more puzzle side of things, no. This is old school Bomberman. Best of all, it can be played with two people all the way through all the game's levels. If you've got a little while, and you're pretty good at Bomberman, then this is the game to sit down and play. And, like the Ninja Turtles games, if one player dies completely out, they can come back and keep playing by taking one of their friend's lives. All in all, the big bosses, and the great music and settings, are really nice. If you've got this game, go back and play it (with a friend if you can). If you don't, then head off to Funcoland and pick yourself up a copy. Highly recommended.
Bomberfan lights up an explosive 9 out of 10.
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Play Time: Two Rentals
Gaming Status: Unlocked all Tracks, Cars, and Modes of play.
Worth the $12 I payed for it? Yes.
Hey, I was right. If you liked the first one, then you're going to love this one too. This game makes all the right corrections in all the right places, and adds more where it was needed. The cars crash bigger, the races are more balanced (though I do miss those fifteen minute, three lap races from the first game), and the traffic is smarter. They will dodge, weave, slam on breaks, flash lights, and any number of other things to avoid hitting you, or to warn you not to hit them. There is a long list of cars, including "The Supercar" which has maxed stats in nearly every category. There are thirty-two tracks (sixteen, and then the reverse of those), and there are twenty-one cars, seven of which are "secret".
There are two things improved of in this version that were missing from last year's PS2 game. This year you can select your buttons to be digital (which was just about my biggest gripe about last year—analog PlayStation 2 buttons so you had to hold down the button so hard just to go full speed), and the game is now Anti-Aliased, so you don't see so many jaggies as last year. I remember the city courses with the white striped median in the middle…used to give me a headache as I drove by. Also, as an improvement across all the consules, this year's version has better music. I liked last year's just fine, but this year the music will actually pick up, and speed up when you hit Boost. I really like that, and it adds something to the game.
There was just so much I enjoyed about this game, it's hard to say just what I thought was the best. I liked how if you were behind you would rezz up faster, and if you were in front, it would take longer, as if it was waiting for other people to crash into you (which they sometimes did). There's bonus modes like Pursuit where the first player is the cop (in any of the cars), and the second player is the one they are chasing. There's also Crash, where you get in a car, go really fast, and slam into an intersection as hard and as fast as you can to cause a massive pileup. About the only mode of play this game is missing is a four player split screen. After all, there are already four cars driving in each race, so why not make them all human? I suppose that's what to wish for in the GameCube and X-Box versions of this game.
I have high dreams for Burnout 3, since it says at the end of the credits "The Burnout Team will return." All they have to do now is add more players in the Multiplayer, Championships, and make it so you can custom-up your own car. I really liked Top Gear Rally 2's custom paint shop. You could design the decals and color of your car, save it to memory card, and then load it onto your car so you could drive in it. Besides making the traffic even more realistic (and adding even more cars), and making the crashes bigger, there's very little left to improve on. Oh, and I do miss my fifteen minute races. I'd like those back please.
"Burn Baby, Burn" gives the game a 9.4 out of 10
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Play Time: I Own It.
Gaming Status: Beaten it on Easy. Played the heck out of multiplayer, and cheated to see the rest of the game.
Worth the $30 I payed for it? Yes.
Back in the day, there was this little game that came out called "Goldeneye 007". It was the first First Person Shooter I ever really played. Seriously. And, looking back on it, it's still as fun as it ever was. It was an action game at heart, and I never really knew before then that I could have so much fun in a shoot'em up game. Heck, it wasn't really even like that. There were missions with objectives, and they all made sense and got harder as you went on, and as you upped the difficulty. The multiplayer was fun, and all the modes had their own special things to them. I really liked how you could earn Cheats by going through a game quickly, and a lot of other things. In fact, if you turned on Fast Mode, the game would actually run in hyperspace, if you had an Expansion Pak. I think that the designers made it so that if the game had more RAM, then it would use it, and that's what happened. I liked that.
There isn't to much more to say, though. It's Goldeneye, and if you haven't played it, you're missing something.
Huntermun gives Goldeneye 007 am invincible 9.2 out of 10
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Play Time: Rented it about Four or Five times.
Gaming Status: Beat the Fighting Game, and Unlocked all the Characters. Played the Party Game and Beat it. Did not beat the RPG.
Worth the $30 I payed for it? Yes.
This game was fun. Mostly a 3 in one game it had fighting game, action adventure style RPG and party game like modes. The Real selling point of the game was to be able to play as the characters from Final Fantasy 7. While only Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth were available at first (as well as several other game exclusive characters), you could unlock Vincent and Yuffie as well. The problem was that the controls in the fighting game mode were hard to use. But even though the Fighting game and Party Games modes were good and fun the best part of the game was the action adventure RPG. Vaguely reminicent of Zelda with Elements of FF7 thrown in the mix the RPG is best described as an epic archiological dig. You play as two characters: An older man reminicent of Indiana Jones and a Tifa-like girl. Both Archiologists deside to explore the ruins they find themselves inside. The story. Well ... there really isn't one. Delve deeper into the monster filled dungeon and find things as you go ... you find messages and other things.
This game gets 3 scores. As a fighter its about par...so a good strong 7 is what I give it. As an RPG, however, I loved it: a solid 9. However, as a party game (which I didn't go into much), it wasn't very good. That I give a 5.
Overall the Game's a 7. Buy it if you can find it.
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Play Time: I Own It.
Gaming Status: I got to Level 5 before getting lost.
Worth the $60 I payed for it and the Explansion? It was.
The Epic online adventure for the Personal Computer, EverQuest, is an Open Ended RPG with no plot and a lot to kill. You run around being a character in a fantasy world. The massively multiplayer game features pretty good Graphics, Expansive worlds and numorous monsters and Guests for characters of all levels. Creating a Character is easy as well but the game has many expansions, the latest causing may players to have to upgrade their computers to play. Many things have changed in the game and some people don't consider it for the better. However, it is Still a good game none the less. If you want a large game with an expansive following that you can literally lose yourself in, then EverQuest is a game for you.
I Give it a 8.
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Earthsaver QuickTakes © Tyler N. Sewell
Draco's Reviews in QuickTakes: Act 3 © Ben C. Broome
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