games@list.co_.uk
PS2
MEDAL OF HONOUR FRONTLINE (Electronic Arts) £39.99 0...
HaVing started life as a PlayStation title. Medal of Honour committed sacrilege when it transferred to the PC for the impressive Allied Assault. As some form of recompense. this latest instalment of the World War II shooter makes an appearance on Sony's latest machine. ThOugh it doesn't quite gel together as well as on the PC. it is still v-rorth a look.
Because of the limitations of the PS2 compared to a state of
the art desktop. each level seems to have been pared back a little. and though this does nothing to alter the action. it makes it feel like less of an epic. But the bones are there and that is enough to make this a decent purchase for any PS2er Without a PC. The combat is hectic. the missions are involving and taking part in an amalgam of every WWII film you have ever seen has to be a good thing.
CAMPCUBT
PIK
(Nintendo) £44.99 0000
You've crash-landed on a strange planet. You have enough oxygen
PC SOLDIER OF FORTUNE II
(Activision) £34.99 0..
for 30 days. The 30 parts of your ship required to leave are spread far and wide. What are you going to do? Well. you're going to enlist the help of the local population of cute. colourful characters known as Pikmin and rebuild your ship. But there are a couple of problems. The rest of the world
Any gamer who didn’t play the original Soldier of Fortune will no doubt have seen this first person shooter in action. Chances are that at least one of their friends did buy it, which means that the sentence ‘Holy moley, you gotta see this game and its blood and maiming and you can blow off their arms and the headshots are cool’ will be very familiar. The story may have been poor, the levels uninspired, but the sheer wow factor of the violence sold a ton of copies. Well, big sales demand sequels and hey presto, here it is.
Not unsurprisingly, the violence remains brutal. There are dozens of injury and death sequences, triggered by bullet entry, and the first few combats are a celebration of delicious experimentation. But, like children with spider legs, the mutilation soon becomes boring. Which leaves us with the game
proper.
The story is East v West, terrorist and counter-terrorist, covert operations and plausible deniability. You are a mercenary hired to do the dirty deeds too dirty for Uncle Sam, beginning in Czechoslovakia during the late 805. The story is obvious but fun and, well, there has to be a reason for the carnage. And what a lot of carnage there is. Even though you are given a noise meter to aid in creeping about, and a few of the missions instruct you to ‘sneak’ into a building, everything ends in a bloodbath. The enemy has eyesight any hawk would be proud of. Poke your head round a corner and it will be shot at immediately by enemy you cannot see because of foliage or distance.
Which is a good example of Soldier of Fortune Il’s problem. Some enemy in plain sight cannot be shot because they are required to follow a set path. Others have preternatural combat abilities. Events are triggered to crank up the paranoia yet only draw a ‘that makes no sense!’ This leaves a game full of random and often unfulfilling combat.
Soldier of Fortune II is not for the easily irritated. (lain Davidson)
seems to eat Pikmin. And not all Pikmin can do all things. Depending on colour. they can swim or are immune to fire. so it takes a bit of thought to get the correct creatures to do the correct things.
But the challenge is enjoyable. with many a twis and turn. and there is a strong feeling of elation whenever a starship piece is rescued. Weird. silly and puzzling P/kmin shows Why people love Nintendo.
GBA
LEGO FOOTBALL MANIA
(Electronic Arts) £29.99 O
The GaiiieBoy Advance is not the place for fancy football titles. The small screen cannot update fast enough to maintain playability. leaVing the game pedestrian and clumsy. Which is exactly the problem With Lego Football Mania. All your favourite Lego genres are here. from pirates to spaceiiien. all competing on a variety of silly pitches.
But the actual football is so slow. dull and unresponsive that you begin to hate Lego. You hate the bricks. the mechanical sets and Danish people for that Legoland place. And this is a crime for such a ioyous toy. If only they had tried something less ambitious. A truly addictive football game. even one aimed at kids. would be a Winner on the GBA. But Football Mania turns your hands to claws from punching the sofa rather than constant use of the tiny controller. llain Davidson)
ALSO RELEASED Freedom Force (PC EA £29.99) Will this ever appear?
Gran Turismo Concept (PS2 Sony F2499) A bonus for CT fans. Downforce (PS2 Titus 5239.99; Who needs F1 to be faster?
Warcraft 3 (PC Blizzard 579.99) Stick an ()rc in it!
Mafia (PC Take2 5229.99; SWIm With the
Internet
internet@list.co.uk
TIME WASTER
www.urban75.com/ Mag/bubble.html
Described as “the ultimate time-waster”. this website provides perpetual bubble wrap for yOu to pop by trailing your mouse across the screen. allowing unlimited access to that most coveted of packaging materials.
FROMAGE HOMAGE www.cheeseracingcom
A revered institution since 1997. this website tells you all you need to know about the sport of cheese racing. such as the impressive safety record With /ero fatalities so far. Athletes must toss a wrapped slice of processed cheese on to a barbecue: the first to inflate. wins. Paradoxically. as the site reveals. the plastic covering, while fragile enough to be torn open by a small child. is yet fully compliant with UN Security COllnCll Cheese Directive 4019B.
RUDE FRUIT MACHINE
www.urban75.com/ Mag/insult6.html
Here we have a fruit machine with 250 credits and expletives to match up instead of
fruit. As With most
puggies you lose all your money. but with this one you end up insulted too.
POLITICAL STREET FIGHTER www.urban75.org/usel ess/fighter.html
\
/ F
t This one is v fun. Not 'Street Fighter“. but “Downing Street Fighter“. Instead of Chun-li, Pyu. Blanca et al. you get to see the likes of Gordon Brown and Robin Cook kicking the shit out of each other. Wicked.
DEAD ANIMALS
www.petloss.com
A 'gentle and compassionate website that helps us deal with grief incumbent on the death of a pet. Sections such as 'Healing and Inspirational Poetry' (titles include Puppy Paws. Heaven's Doggy Door etc) particularly hit the Spot as do articles such as 'Dealing With the Gurlt' by Ginger-Lyn Summer.
(Sarah Bouvet)
Scnuéfig l0 yaa - 2/28/88
00 gnu know how much I (ave gait and miss uou‘.‘ It (‘5 mow than 1 can expne.55 (n mane “(Md-S. Only my heart! and bout can 6w? the depths 06, mt; (ow (on gau. . .and l (hurl: that you do know. 1 mass youh C(ttt’e mqu and putt” and l moss you Cthth up bestde mu. 1 "M 5-5 500th leu (.w in (If! 06 gout 6(1U0’ttte pfacu. But most 06 at! I just mrM bnouung that you would alum/A be theme (on me. i wtt’t’ always [ow qOu my 4W0! SC’tu‘él/ and I know that 60m? day we an?! be .wumted at the Rainbow Budge.
lci .l.i. YUP." THE LIST 117