approvinatcly doiihlcx thc final ligiirc. l’lus w c cant ignoi'c thc fact that thc mo\ic industry lllille'\ iiioncy oll liccnccd gaincx whilc thc
llow thc othcr way (with thc c\ccption of a handful of \ucccssltil llllll\ such as .S'ir/u'r .llrrrrri li’mllir'rix. Iii/tr ('rii/I. Ii’i'xri/r'ril lii'r/ and .lliii'lii/ A'rriii/rirrl is limitcd. l‘orgct
lllL‘ llyltt‘. ttlttl lllL‘ ltc‘\\\ \[til‘lL‘x til
gaiiics company ‘partncrships' with
liliniiiakcrs: in cllcct thc ’ganic of
thc mox ic‘ is mcrcly a sophisticatcd l‘orm of mm ic mcrchandisc.
.\loiig\idc this. gamcs arc ad\ancing in lilmic dircctions all by lllL‘lll\L‘l\L‘\. and this accounts for thc \criousncss with which somc \taiidaloiic titlcs arc hcing trcatcd. ln I‘Nh' .l/mi'ir/i/m' hit thc \hclycs. t‘tlllllhlllg many gamcrs wondcring lll\1 whcn Illl\ ricw Brucc \Vlllls actioncr was to hit thc hig \ci‘ccns. 'l'hcrc was no iiio\ic. llc was just starring in a gamc using his lilxcncss and \oicc. .lct l.i rcccntly ‘starrcd' in Krw In lliiiioiri': hc'd immcrscd himscll lll thc gainc—making proccss with full body mapping and all his tradcmark iiio\c\ pi‘ogrammcd in but with thc play cr firmly in control of. lll\ c\ cry action.
'l‘hc \ctlucl. ()Illlllll\/I(l .i’. contiiiucd with .lapancsc actor l'alxcshi KilllL‘\llll‘t) \\ ho has appcarcd llt lllL‘ \L‘t'lL‘\ \lllc‘c‘ ll\ inccption. but this timc ioincd hy .lcan cho. chond thc stars
in\ol\cd. thc production \alucs ol‘
gamcs ha\ c inci'cascd c\poncntially and this gamc in particular pi'oycd
thc talcnt inyolycd with acclaimcd .lapancsc dircctor l)onnic ch and Yama/aki 'l‘akcxhi dirccting thc ('(il \cgucnccs and cut sccncs. .'\nd thcy arc truly hcautil'ul. 'l‘hc
forthcoming The .tlurrrt.‘ l’uI/i of
New is to ltc \cl‘iptcd and dit'cctcd hy thc \Vachowski hrothcrs. (‘onyci'scly. Microsoft is markcting its Hrl/r) scrics. w rittcn hy acclaimcd noyclist .'\lc,\ (iar'land. its a complctc packagc of script and l‘t‘attcltisc l'lgltts.
'l‘hc most acclairncd films of last ycai' (Lox! in 'I‘rrurx/rrlruii. Eternal Sunshine of the .S'prillr'xx Mind and The .‘ll'lrllrll'. l'or cxamplc) arc storics that could ncycr coiwcrt to thc consolc. Similarly. thc hcst gamcs may usc lilmic dcyiccs such as grcat camcra anglcs. plotting and lighting. but thcy also undcrstand thc indiyidual nccds ol' gamcs. Now of last ycar‘s hcst gamcs l(i’l§l: Sun xlm/I‘r'rlx. Ila/r) 2. Fable ctcl was hascd on films: gamcs and moyics arc distinct art forms and it takcs ycry LllllCl'L‘lll dynamics to makc cithcr work.
’l'hc potcntial of cross-pollitttltitm of film and gamcs is hccoming morc and moi‘c olwious. l-‘ilms will lcad to stltltc grcat gamcs and you ncycr know ~ wc might gct a grcat film hascd on a gamc soon. But thc hcst of both worlds will always hc distinct: thcy f'ill two cntircly tlll‘liL‘l'L‘llI llL‘L‘tlx.
Constantine (TI-IQ) PSZ/Xbox/ PC coo
Reviews
ODDWORLD: STRANGER’S WRATH (Electronic Arts) 0....
\J(1l. ’ “ )‘<1i A ii. H
ilittl' i.
series has s'i stir‘rit:s§:‘.ill, created a l'\.l.'ltl, l)lr'£llll-."tl_ fixtitiria' nor-i: Tit h‘ s. hitch. lull (rt reiwsitrit:w'eatuies |ll'.",l‘.tr(l in a struggle between the hapes and
thehaxe riots.
\‘r’hile Elf/{Hth v 'i.'."a.'.'i ritaiy leave the usual ()lt’lllOlll‘ {l(l‘.'(?llltlllll() behind, it still drips with that Odditror/d excellence. ’lhis is the ston; of Stranger. a bounty hunter in an analogous \‘x’ild West. as he rounds up the local bad guys for money. To heli) hiin Stranger has a double— barrelled crossbow that shoots live ainino. And that's ‘live' ainrho as in scurrying. bouncing or flying ‘.‘.r’ll(llll(3 that must be caught before they can be used, Fire a spider-like creature and the bad guy gets tangled in silk for a while. Use a skunk-like round and they are incapacitated “.‘i.’llll() they ‘.'()ll‘.ll ‘.’l()l(}llily'.
Stranger slowly gains more rnonei, for his bounties. spending it In the local shop to iriibr'oz'e his :anonm armOur. etc. Hog-.reyer. that is not the end of the story, because Stranger needs the ll‘iOllCV for
NFL/NBA/FIFA STREET (Electronic Arts) .0.
ila. l‘r’; Hat‘ii‘rt-tf iir‘. .tlri‘ttut v int Tllh); {irtiri‘tn- 'lr’)?" "lili‘fl arid (ltill‘tfl‘~ alike attwu’. :tz, ariiiiiai 'eivase schedule
it )l t :‘. t 7".
sports ililt' it
owns. it was about time that [:A did something else with its licenses, So now we have Street. a series developed out of the NBA line. Each title shares exaggerated action on 'urban' playing fields where rules are for wrinbs and all that matters is Winning ‘.‘.’|lll style. As shrunken \’(:Ff$l()ll.‘; of football. basketball and American football they all work (fllIClUllll‘, though with ‘.’Elll(f(l success. Best of all is still the NBA title. brol'iably because basketball has alrrays been an urban snort. Fast and fun, it is also well used to cashing in on its street cred so the more to console has reguired the least stretch. Football and Ariierican football.
ho .'.rever. suffer a little in the transition, and though they play OK.
TURISMO 4
(Sony) .0.
It" i it; ' r‘
V ' Ht ;“\‘_‘:{) extH‘H-fi. .i"\\"gt ‘t"e'
'i.'7 lil""§"‘itll l" ‘l‘it*l"*._ "l‘, r" givers; lhe w‘. l‘rnties .‘l‘ the
ti 13'»- {\t‘..'.t't'l‘ r‘\(‘lt‘l!l‘..} i i r i l"tnlllf;_ .iritt ~lll‘. l‘t‘lltn
lllt‘ l"l‘t‘llll‘.t’
tiriitui.itii iri'_
t)l()liill‘.ll.r )l‘. of tit iii This conflict entls ‘.‘.lll‘. on.- \f lllr' roost irhriortant lll‘iliillt'f} in the world tierrit) flt‘lillt“,t‘il lw lllr‘ tiltiriiateli, hurting both sides (Stab liars/no -.’ firiiily in the 'l)i‘.'irie Hecariitulatiori' ainrl lt has refined its "real (lll'ulllQ siiiiulator‘ to the point of bettiriiing alinost soulless. When other titles are exploring the lt)‘,’f; of suiteifast street drags or wild doughnut turns, (if -1 has focussed in Hard to produce a hugely detailed. lll(,l(3(l|l)l‘,' accurate experience. But the Al is still terrible and the difference between losing badli,
and ‘.‘/llllllll(_l (:élfill‘,’ is
negligible. It looks good and there are hundreds of cars to choose lUfll‘. but ‘xrhere's the fun? Where's the progress? Wandering arnong so llléllll,’ automobile manuals you can almost smell the librar/ burning. llain Da‘fldfifflll
COMPUTERS
The nexus-st slant on the urban nut.“ has to h»;- the hoax (fll‘all anti unis warning. So before ou delete that teddy bear icon‘ north checking it out on this extenssm index of all the
wast cert (non takes doing he
i8, .'.t??l ‘.
lt‘cilltlS.
www.vmyths.com
l l
MUSIC
Rockstar Games has launched a new 'Flashbased music sampler. sequencer and n‘ixer built to work in your browser. lt's a free system fOr creating dance tunes on eight tracks of seQuenCing. four tracks of looping and many other features including a s0urid bank provroed by the likes of Juan Atkins. King Britt and Matthew Dear. www.beaterator.com
110 THE LIST