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Magical
TETRIS Challenge
The fact that this game is backed by Disney and has all the classic
characters present (you know, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie and some
baddies), is irrelevant. What makes it spectacular is the fact that
its main focus is that straightforward, addictive puzzle game common
to the known world, Tetris.
The backing story of Donald finding a magical stone that lands in the
hands of Big Bad Pete, using it to control everyone is also hardly relevant.
When going through the story mode, though, you'll have to weave on through
it and take part in Tetris
face-off challenges in order to progress. Up/Down Tetris,
Endless Tetris and Magical Tetris make up the rest of the
modes and while differing in many ways, it all boils down to the same
thing. And what a thing it is! If you're unaware of the Tetris
concept, you must've been hidden away somewhere for quite some time,
or recently born. So, if you have no clue, do yourself a favour and
pick this up.
5 / A
- PB
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MEDIEVIL
When an evil sorcerer Zarok reeks havoc with his evil powers, the only
one fit to save Gallowmere is deceased knight, Sir Daniel Fortesque.
Sir Dan, an old Zarok adversary in fact gets accidentally resurrected
by the evil one! This 3D adventure is filled with action, and humour
as you trail your way towards thwarting the Sorcerer. Some cool original
scenarios face you for some well satisfying gameplay.
4 / B
- PB
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MEDIEVIL
2
Yep, our bony, heroic knight is back. It has been 500 years since Sir
Daniel Fortesque defeated Zarok & his evil plan of Eternal Darkness.
A bad industrialist, Lord Palethorn, unleashes terror with a Book Of
Black Magic. By waking the dead, he also resurrects Dan! Finding the
missing pages of the book which Palethorn is after, is but one of your
tasks (besides swishing & swashing zombies & beasties!). Equipped
to save the day, again, ol' Sir Dan has a whole bunch of new features,
challenges, weapons, thrills and laughs. Get ready for a new improved
adventure with added characters and pleeenty of playing hours to be
had.
PS. If any of you were lucky enough to get your hands on the special
limited press box set, you'll know what a beautiful piece of work that
is - shaped and functioning like an ancient book with 3D lettering and
velvet bag with the disc imbedded behind the pages.
5 / B
- PB
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MICRO
MANIACS
This fun little racing game places you in the flighty feet of a weird
mix of toy-like characters, speeding around huge household areas. The
principle is exactly like Micro Machines, but crossed with the
legging of Running Wild. Similarly, if you lag behind the bunch
and go off-screen, it's restart.
3 / B
- PB
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MILLENNIUM
SOLDIER - Expendable
Remember
the 8-bit game Contra? This could be seen as a 3-D enhanced shoot-em-up
of that concept. Co-operatively with a friend, you are emotionless killing
machines out to destroy whatever alien slime-bags get in your way. With
20 missions in 6 different environments, there's a whole lot to blow
to kingdom come. Crazy power-ups and upgraded weaponry add to the excitement.
In essence it's an arcade adaptation that's nothing new, but which is
pretty hard to put down once you get cracking.
3 /
A
- PB
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MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE
At first this mission seems exactly that. But, as you start thinking,
using your special ops and secret agent brain, you'll figure things
out and not get arrested every time. With a group of agents working
together you tackle a number of missions filled with mind sparking decisions
to be made, action to be had and innovative tasks to be performed perfectly
to avoid botching your mission. Not a wild shootout or laser paced chase
scenes, but a thinking man (& women's) game.
3 / C
- PB
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MONSTER
RANCHER
I don't know many people who got into that whole Tamagochi fad of a
few years back. Even the band Daze released a song glorifying
it in a post-Aqua Barbie Girl stab at easy cash. Monster
Rancher propells the whole set-up a little further. This fantasy
world has many strange, weird and wonderful creatures sealed in disc
stones. They can be freed, trained, combined and improved. Presented
in a cute Japanimation style, you register as a monster rancher with
some cash at your disposal. You must first qualify as a rancher and
get an assistant who guides you through the whole endeavour. You can
travel to town, the market and various other locations like the tournament
area. Your monster can be trained, fed ,taught, punished and rewarded
at your discretion, but also needs to be executed in a fairly logical
way - eg. if you punish him when he's been good, it'll count against
you. Each monster has his own characteristics. Going through the process
seems like it could be a drag, but it's fun. An added wild feature is
the creation of new monsters by inserting any of your own discs, the
frequencies coming up with new random monster designs! The ultimate
goal is to tune your monster to the optimum level to kick ass in the
tournament. It whiffs a bit of Pokémon, but is hardly as irritating.
Its deviation from the PS norm gives it a bit of an advantage over your
regular titles.
3 / B
- PB
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MOTO
RACER WORLD TOUR
There are not enough motorcycle racing games - as I often say... This
one is like a two-flies-with-one-swat spectacular. Giving you both scrambler
and road bike options, you get to have a blast with the best of both
worlds. Arcade, World Tour and 2 player options
can be accessed. Arcade mode is OK, as you have to take the tracks
and bike you're given. Very basic. World Tour is where it's at.
You get about a dozen racing areas (from around the world), split into
road- and off-road tracks. For your high-speed road endeavors, the Isle
Of Man is a world class favourite with three respective areas including
road, town and hill locations. Suzuka and Eastern Greek are two of the
others. For the scramblers you get to kick mud in Barcelona, USA Park
(an indoor stadium course), Stade De France and Belo Horizonte. You
get to pick a bike from 8 choices (in each class), all with varied grip,
maximum speed, acceleration and handling. Obviously you need to find
the right little niche for your requirements (and hand eye co-ordination
abilities). Split screens are never too hot, so I suggest you rather
hit the time attack and take turns racing against the ghost of one another
(or even your own). Moto Racer's coolest part actually awaits
your unlockin'! The hidden areas include Traffic, Dragster,
Freestyle and Trial bike lunacy. Well worth pushing through
to try out.
4 / A
- 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 brainteasers, 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 young'un or two, they'll not
only get the above mentioned 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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