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DEMOLITION
RACER
In the vein of Carmageddon (excluding bloody hit & run excursions on
pedestrians), Demolition Racer is a fun orgy of automotive mayhem. Slamming
your opponents are the order of the day, but the trick is to still try
and reach poll position before your car damage catches up with you and…boom!
With 16 opponents in each race, there's plenty of bang 'em up to be
had, be it in a parking lot, along highways, along speedways or even
no-road destruction derby style arenas - last man standing. Suicide
racing has eight cars on each side heading for a collision course. The
Career mode covers ten different leagues where you can upgrade with
cash winnings. You can access 12 testing tracks with jumps and figure
8's. Many great cars and tracks need to be unlocked, though, so it's
no breeze-in. Once you got the crash & burn out of your system, you'll
then decide to start winning to get more furious machines and more hectic
courses. Like Carmageddon, the main musical choice is the mighty Fear
Factory who also gets included in the amazing opening video clip which
plays like an antiquated driver's education reel.
4 / A
- PB
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DESTRUCTIONS
DERBY RAW
In the shade of Demolition
Racer,
this smash, crash & burn spectacular does pale a tad. For one, the vehicles'
maneuverability is quite stifled and a bit unrealistic. Sometimes even
if you wrench your poor little Dual Shock knob all the way over, threatening
to snap off, you still plow into walls as if the response didn't even
register.
3 / B
- PB
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DINO
CRISIS
In this
case, "the less said, the better" is used in the most positive way possible.
If you're the kind of gamer who loves the likes of Resident
Evil and
Silent
Hill,
you absolutely cannot miss this one. Not surprising, Dino
Crisis
is from the Resident
Evil creators
and to be expected there are loads of suspense, intrigue, action, violence
and gore! Lovely! This intense bit of gaming genius places you in the
sexy boots of governmental agent Regina who parachutes onto an
island with a team of experts to find a missing professor messing around
with dodgy experiments. This is heart stopping stuff with more realistic,
improved actions and reactions (like bleeding after being attacked and
dinosaurs that stalk you, burst through doors and whack your weapon
from your hands). This simply has to be a part of your collection. Fantastic.
Horrific. Epic.
6
/ B
- PB
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Disney's
Aladdin - NASIRA'S REVENGE
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Disney's
THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE
It goes
without saying that whatever Disney animated feature they churn out,
it is bound to get a PlayStation tie-in title. No wonder then that this
slap-hip (slapstick / hip) flick followed suit. The movie is very much
like Hercules in its modern attitudes and annoyances set in a time long
past, but the game is a more free roaming platformer than the Herc PS
title. Our idiot turned Lama runs around getting up to all sorts of
crap, some more silly, others less funny. Cool for the kids but serious
gamers might pass this one up.
3
/ B
- PB
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Disney's
Action Game featuring HERCULES
With movie tie-ins reaching universal proportions, it's no wonder they're
infiltrating the PlayStation market - that is, if they manage to churn
out pictures with more or less one interesting element (a task which
seems to dwindle by the year). Hercules might not be the best Disney
movie of recent times, but at least they put together a decent game
based on it's varied characters and heroic story-line. A great, animated
opening sequence from the film as well as a "music video" starts you
off, before hitting a Mario Bros. style set-up, ie. running, jumping,
dodging, slashing, punching; collecting coins, energy and special weapons
- the usual schpiel, but it's the graphics (as usual), scenery and background
which set this one apart. Loads of surprises lurk in this little number
where you'll hear no end to the hits from the movie - a point I need
to make is that the American Gospel thang and '90s hip doesn't gel too
well with Greek mythology - in my opinion anyway. Be that as it may,
the game has a bit more depth in the sense that you can travel further
into the screen or more to the foreground with special paths, in stead
of a mere left to right scroll. Loud, colourful and fun-filled, with
enough levels to keep your little thumbs busy for a while.
3 / B
- PB
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Disney's
TARZAN
Based on the popular animated movie, the game takes you through most
of the tale via a Mario Bros style platform coin collection scenario.
You can swing on vines, ride on an elephant's backs through the jungle
while his friends (and enemies ) pop up. You learn your way around the
jungle from a kid to a grown man, swinging, jumping and thumping your
way past forest foes, collecting and progressing. Danger is obviously
always around the corner. With several high quality clips from the movie,
colourful, fluid graphics and a lot of action and adventure, it's a
lot of fun for age groups across the board.
3 / C
- PB
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Disney's
MULAN
This Disney Interactive Story Studio is not only fun, but also educational.
Based on the Disney movie, you cover an area that includes Mulan's
village, her home, the temple, the army camp, a Mahjong tent, avalanche
slopes, the Imperial City and the Imperial Storymaker. Within all these
areas you need to collect containing parts of Mulan's story that got
lost, build up the missing parts of the tale and move along. By doing
this, there are loads of brain teasers, puzzles and fun activities with
which to piece it all together. Sure, it's for younger players, but
if I could enjoy it, why the heck can't you? It teaches younger players
reading skills, how to be creative and learn as they play. Most of it
rests on the point and click principle. Helping you on your way is the
dragon Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy. Besides gliding through the story,
helping it happen, you can do things like dress up Mulan (and Mushu),
create your own tales, do karaoke style sing-alongs with tracks from
the movie, solve some brain teasers, puzzles etc. What I really enjoyed
was the Mahjong section. I never had a clue how this ancient Chinese
game worked...until now! See, you're never too old to learn. And it's
quite an addictive game, I'll have you know. I won't need to go out
and buy myself a set as I now have one on disc! You can also play against
3 film-character opponents, alone or against a pal. To get back to younger
players, this game assists in strengthening their reading and storytelling
skills as well as build up their vocabulary (there is a dictionary and
thesaurus function for harder words). Even memory skills get tweaked.
If you have a youngun or two, they'll not only get the abovementioned
skills exercised, but will get an added grasp on technology (if they
don't know more than you already!).
3 / B
- PB
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DRAGON
VALOR
After a fierce dragon kills a young man's sister (and the brave hero
who wanted to get the beast), our regular guy turns into a dragonslayer
when he takes the dead man's sword. A fun instruction session prepares
you for the tough fight ahead. Essentially a platformer, you also have
a little quest at hand, meeting characters along the way as you swish
& swash doom upon those evil creatures who dare cross your path.
3 / C
- PB
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DRIVER
2
I've never had the pleasure of experiencing the original Driver game,
but reports were always favourable. If in fact it was on a par with
this sequel, I'm sure it was one hell of a thrill. Driver 2 takes the
racing game element a cinematic step further. This is not only the case
with the smooth, realistic animation of special agents having shoot-outs
with scum in sleazy bars or checking bodies in morgues, it's encapsulated
in the narrative of the gameplay. Your main geography in this narrative
is set in Chicago, Havana, Vegas and Rio. Cars range from Mustang muscle
monsters to finned Ford Fairlaine growlers, even trucks, busses or firetrucks
(in the Undercover mode you can switch cars to fulfil your objectives).
The varied handling takes a bit of getting used to. You get to pursue
assailants or be the one on the run. The Undercover segment (linked
like a violent noir flick) has you rushing across town (the map indispensable),
meet up with your partner and get to a witness, setting bombs, infiltrate
the mob ranks - all with time limits. Crushing a global crime syndicate
will depend on your driving skills. Every little crash counts against
you, not only in car damage, but time loss - ultimately leading to an
unglamourous forfeit - you don't want that, do ya? Take A Ride gives
you pretty much a free reign to either dodge traffic or go haywire.
The Driving Games give you wide options like Trailblazer, Quick Chase
or Getaway, Gate Racing and Survival. Multiplayer's main party modes
include Cops 'n Robbers and Flag Capture. If you thought it looked easy
to lose cops tailing you, there's a rude awakening hiding in this little
number. Spanning over two discs, the Undercover section is where it's
at.
5 / B
- PB
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