championship, while the weather effects and pleasantly meaty sounds are never short of remarkable. Yet it is the driving experience that lets the whole thing down. It could be completely realistic but this is irrelevant when it does not match the gamer's expectations. Simulation games should be based on assumed rather than actual experiences and WRC just feels far too twitchy.
PS2
007 AGENT UNDER FIRE (Electronic Arts) £39.99 0...
While the argument over who is the best Bond rolls on. the best Bond game has been undisputed since Go/deneye hit the N64. The first person creeping and shooting was beautifully realised for the console generation and the multiplayer was Sublime.
Well. the new Bond game Agent Under Fire tries to follow in this tradition and for the most part succeeds. All the gadgets. girls and guns make the basic exploring and combat great fun. while the story is Suitably Bond-esque. The addition of some driving stages is not to the detriment of the first person style and it all holds together well. Yet it lacks the charm and subtlety of Goldeneye. leavrng it as a polished. challenging game that wrll sell well. It just won't provoke that tear of nostalgia two years from now. (Iain Davidson)
ALSO RELEASED Jak and Daxter (P82 Sony £39.99) Crazy Character Craziness. Max Payne (PS2 Take2 £39.99) Bring the Payne! The Sims Party Pack (PS2 EA 8 7999) Small but perfectly formed. Ghost Recon (PC Take2 £24.99) Silent but deadly. Pool Of Radiance (PC Ub/Soft £24.99) The new RPG king?
internet@list.co.uk
THE MILKO MUSIC MACHINE www.fjallfil.com/englis h/index.htm|
There has probably never been a better time to get the Shockwave Flash plug-in. Ever fancied writing a song for a cow to sing and then direct it in a music video? Alright. the answer‘s probably no. but this is not to be sniffed at. This site lets you do just that and it is quite amazing. Create a bovine rapper, fully rendered in 3D and it is putty in your hands. There's also a facility to email the finished dancing cow video to your mates. (Winner of the Cannes 2001 Cyber Grand Prix).
LOOP LABS
www.looplabs.com
For those who are less impressed with such musical gimmicks. there is this masterpiece. Once again you need the Flash plug-in, but once you get it you have access to a fully fledged. mixing desk with built in samplers. You need to be more musical than me to use it. but then. even Les Dawson was. Really quite amazing results can be achieved quickly with a very shallow learning curve. Even if you think it's not for you. try it anyway as it's a huge amount of fun.
DICTIONARAOKE
www.dictionaraoke.org
Described as “the fun of karaoke meets the word power of the dictionary“. That makes it blindingly obvious. doesn't it? More accurately. you can download pop songs that have been recorded using hundreds of distinct phonetic sounds from online databases. This still doesn't do it justice and it must be heard to be believed. Listen to 'Oops I Did It Again' croaked out by hundreds of artificial robotic voices Spliced together. No different to the original? Ouch.
Internet
DREAMCATCHER www.5eanmattison.com /dreamcatcher
The ultimate online community for people to discuss their (and others) dreams. Read all about trains going into tunnels. eating giant marshmallows. being nakedinthe
supermarkets. and throw
in your own bit of amateur psychology. Oh Dr Jung. where are you when we need yOu?
AD-AWARE www.lavasoftusa.com /down|oads.html
This may not be of use to everyone. but it‘s arguably imponant enOugh to demand a higher profile. The subject in question is 'spyware‘. software built into a number of free programs. that keeps track of your online activities and reports findings back to a central resource. It must be
stressed that this is not
as sinister as it may seem. but is used by
advertisers to tailor their ' service. It can. however. slow down your Internet
connection as information is passed on
I behind your back. ‘Ad- ' Aware' is a free program
that will scan y0ur system and check if you
have any such
: components installed. A
f warning though: a
minority of programs; may
refuse to work after
? they've been ‘cleaned'.
although there are
backup facilities available ‘ to put things back.
Protect your privacy.
SUPERSHAGLAND
www.3upershagland.com
1 December was World AIDS Day. so to heighten
awareness some smutty bunch have come up with this game. Game tactics cannot be discussed here. but suffice it to say it's a Super Mario Land type game. where the baddies are goodies. and
goodies are baddies. (Steve Blair)
DRAMA THE FAREWELL (15) 89 mins 00
It's about Brecht. but it feels like Chekhov. Jan Shutte's film is set three days before the playwright's death in 1956 as the German auteur (played by Josef Bierbichler) prepares to return to Berlin from his summer residence. His heart is playing up and.
as he mopes around the
woodland. he is distracted and introspective. Meanwhile. his entOurage of women — wife. daughter and several mistresses — keep an edgy. wistful eye over him. their pent- up emotion exploding in rare moments of
At last, a decent teen comedy
Video/DVD
video@list.co.uk
release. As an
observation of the deification of the
playwright. it's an intriguing study. but even fans of Brecht will question quite what the point of it all is. (Artifical Eye VHS and DVD retail) (Mark Fisher)
TEEN COMEDY JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS
(PG) 98 mins .00.
A real rarity this. a Hollywood teen comedy that's got a sharp script. sparkling performances and is directed with flare. The old Arch/e comic adventures of an all-girl rock band is updated for
the noughties as a clever j satire of the pop music
industry. When the brats of latest bland boy band are killed in an air disaster. Josie (too cute Rachel Leigh Cook) and her fellow band members are signed up by record company
execs Alan Cumming and Parker Posey and
undergo and image remould to appeal to the teen market. Great fun. though the film rather cheekin has its cake and eats it. (Fox Pathe VHS and DVD rental) (Miles Fielder)
EA Games
www.cagamescouk
95 one ...
GAME CUBE.
ll) Dec 7001-8 Jan 2002 THE LIST 109