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Halo 2

I was initially excited about the release of Halo 2. The original Halo was a solid first-person shooter that needed a bit of polishing. It was still plenty of fun - just a couple issues that needed ironing out.
On the plus side, the graphics are fairly nice, the game challenge is reasonable, and the draw distance is fair. The motion capture isn't bad and the weapon design is ok. An alternate perspective for the covenant side was also introduced, and that was probably the best innovation. The only other thing of note was the introduction of two-weapon fighting for sub-machine guns and smaller.
The minus side? The environment is boring and static and samey. The map design is woefully dull. On any given level, it's like a repeat of the same room over and over again. You constantly ask yourself: 'Have I been here before?' as the only way to tell if you have, is the collection of bodies and blood laying on the floor. It's like they spent two years designing one different room for each level of the game, and then just Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, repeat ad nauseum to fill up the MASSIVE area on the maps. The levels are large, they're just super-boring. Despite the introduction of the two-weapon fighting system, you cannot perform a melee attack while holding two weapons. How lame is that? By what possible distortion of logic would someone need to drop the gun in one hand in order to hit someone with the gun in their other hand? That's just truly retarded. One of the best bits about the original system was the whole - get too close to me, and I'll knock you the fuck out - attitude of the combat. Sure - you can still parade around with one gun, and hit them, but you feel like you are being short-changed from the double-destruction lead shower smackdown that two-weapon combat offers. Same thing with grenades. You wanna toss a grenade, you need to drop a gun. I understand the logic behind needing a free hand to throw a grenade, but why not simply holster the weapon, toss the grenade, and grab the weapon again. The fact that each time you threw a grenade meant that you had to pick it back up off the ground breaks the flow of gameplay, and while not entirely unplayable - It's just something that sucks and would have been easy to fix. This is absolutely a contender for the 'gheyest sequel of the year' award.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

This is the sixth installment of the immensely popular GTA series. You are CJ, a gangster on parole. You arrive back in your old hood on Grove Street to find your mother murdered, your brother insanely angry at everyone and your old crew destitute and strung out on crack. It's time to get things back in order. Fighting rival gangs and corrupt police, trying to re-unite the old crew and 'get shit back to normal', it is Cj vs the world. The explorable environment is the size of a small state, and you have 3 major cities to traverse with desert, bushland, military installations and a dozen small towns in between. The dynamic scope of your character's life options has never disappointed in the GTA series, and this game is no exception. With RPG-like statistics for dozens of different skills and personal traits from handgun skill and piloting expertise, to raw muscle mass and sex-appeal - there is plenty of room for you develop CJ from a weedy little five dollar wannabe - to a super pimping Hitman with deadly proficiency, and several million in the bank and land owner of half the state of San Andreas. The story is far lager than the previous installment, and the side missions also are far more plentiful, with an assured many many days of exciting playability. Many new methods of transport are available, with garages for you to 'pimp your rides' and even a private airport to park your stolen Harrier Jump Jet, and experimental alien jetpack. Your appearance is completely customisable with Barber shops for haircuts, Tattoo parlours for skin art, and assorted clothing boutiques to really get some of those tight threads happening. With plenty of cameo appearances by characters from previous games in the series - and an all-star cast for voice talent with people like Samuel L Jackson, Nick Penn and Axl Rose excelling in their chosen roles. There's plenty more I could tell you about it - but you're just going to have to play it yourself.

Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

The original Prince of Persia was - as many of you will know - obscenely popular. It was a pioneer in platforming. It set a precedent in gaming that many many designers followed in such titles as: Flashback, Another World, and the more recent Oddworld.
Last year - the gaming world was stunned, as this hero of gaming's golden age was thrust into his own fully 3D adventure 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'. If you have somehow managed to miss out on PoP: SoT, then buy a copy immediately - I'll say no more about that.
'PoP: The Warrior Within' is the follow-up to last year's awsome title, and nearly everything that made the last one great has been kept intact. The platform action is still brilliantly innovative, as each room has only one solution, and a critical mind and a keen eye is required to arrive at said solution. The actual fighting has had a complete overhaul. You now have the ability to wield two weapons simultaeneously, and the combat variations are far greater than in the previous installment. The gore has upped a notch, too - with such possibilities as decapitations available. Just to accentuate this - there is an automatic slow-motion camera view of the scene whenever a particularly gruesome death is caused. Now we come to the biggest change - the thematic change.
Out are the pantaloons and jewels, and in are the scars and curses. The prince himself has copped quite a makeover, and between that and the new gothic-type setting, and heavy metal music - the whole atmosphere is far more dark and macabre - all the better for an angsty teenage audience to appreciate. This doesn't bother me overly - as I'm a bit of a heavy metal fan myself. What DOES bother me is the lack of the prince's monologue throughout the game. In 'PoP: SoT' the sections were broken up with a witty dialogue as the prince struggled with his identity, the gravity of the situation, and his feelings for the female lead, Farah. Not so now. This is a real pity - as the dialogue was something that greatly contributed to the character and charm of the first game. I understand the need for the thematic change, as 'PoP: SoT' although brilliant and critically acclaimed - was not a big seller. No doubt the mainstream market thought the hero a little 'poofy' with the pantaloons and all. The marketing team have evidently instructed the designers to drag the image through a gothic filter - with death, destrution and big-titted women - and that's just what they did. That said - it's still a game that is not to be missed - I just don't feel that it had quite the charm of the last one.

Def Jam: Fight for New York

Just for a little background, Def Jam: Vendetta (of which this is the sequel) was simply a wrestling game. A fantastic wrestling game - but simple, nonetheless. Def Jam 2 truly is a superb game. It's a unique hybrid of fighting and wrestling into the one game. A feat that has been attempted (UFC) but never perfected. Until now. In story mode - you create yourself a fighter from scratch, choosing basic genetic traits and body size. It doesn't have the same level of customisation as say, 'Smackdown! vs RAW', however the actual character model you end up with is vastly superior to any other 'create' character in any other game. The graphics are simply realistic-looking and beautiful - with your custom character even appearing in the various cut-scenes throughout the game. Classy.
The fighting system itself is somethng to behold. You essentially have four attack buttons, two grapple buttons, and a block button. Grapples are reversed with a well-placed strike. The character roster is impressive - with over 40 different rappers to choose from, and the fighting styles and attack properties are varied from fighter to fighter. There are Five basic combat methodologies, being Streetfighting, Kickboxing, Power Wrestling, Martial arts and Submission Wrestling. Your character can have any one, two, or three of these styles under his belt in any combination, eg: Primary style Kickboxing, Secondary style Wrestling, Tertiary style Streetfighting. The possible different style combinations you potentially end up with are of such a great magnitude, I can't be bothered to work out exactly how many there are.
The voice talent is fantastic - as each rapper/model does the voice-over themselves. Chris Judge, Busta Ryhmes, Method Man and Snoop Dogg lead an all-star cast. This is an awesome game, and I look forward to a possible sequel.

State of Emergency

First impressions of this game were initially promising. Plenty of fast action and gratuitous violence to keep even the most bloodthirsty punters happy. There are constantly plenty of sprites onscreen, any of which can be engaged in combat at pretty much any time. The game is mission-based, and at any one time, you usually have a couple of different options for which mission you choose to do next, though you end up having to all the same missions anyway, with some limited control in terms of the order you choose to do them in. For the first few hours, the game is quite addictive, and plenty of head-stomping fun. That's about as far as the fun lasts though, with each hour growing weary of the same enemies, and same combat system, though you get a new weapon every now and then. If you have played the game any longer than a few hours you know well that the stomping of heads starts to get older and older. The levels are quite small, and the territory is too familiar for any great amount of exploring. You cannot - as a rule - enter any of the buildings, and you end up running around in literal circles doing the same tasks over and over again. There are initially only two selectable characters, and the completion of each scenario unlocks a new one until you finally have 5 selectable characters. That would be great - if they didn't all feel pretty much the same, differing from each other only mildly. If you ever choose to heed my advice, now is the time to do so. Please do NOT buy this game, but rent it overnight instead. One night is plenty enough time to finish the game, and get sick of it.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

I can find no flaw. I must point out, that although the graphics are 2D, (even quite rare when the game was released some 7 years ago) the smoothness, artistic value and downright quality of the sprites far outweigh any desire for 3D graphics. The backgrounds are rich and varied, as the hero Alucard (son of Dracula) battles his way through 2 gargantuan castles, one an evil reflection of the other. The game starts at the end boss of the previous game (Vampire's Kiss) though it is incorrectly called 'Bloodlines' which was the most recent release in the west. From there, Alucard is confronted by Death himself, and loses all of his equipment, and the powers that go with it. You are then reduced to a poorly equipped, and low-ability fighter - but as you make your way through the many dungeons of the evil castle, your abilites increase exponentially in every imaginable way. With over 300 different equippable weapons and items each with special and/or magical properties, many magical spells, secondary weapons, magical abilities and morphosis into many forms, helpful familiars - each with their own special skills and spells, and individual equipping and control of left and right hand, Alucard finds no task to difficult for the skilled player. (not to mention that although the game control system is intuitive - there is certainly quite a learning curve to become adept and masterful at skilled combat against overwhelming odds.) This is perhaps on par with the finest games ever released. I certainly think it holds a place of honour, in any case.

Soul Calibur 2

Soul Calibur 2 has to be one of the most refreshing new titles for the PS2 this year. Though this game was long anticipated, I'm sure that many agree it was worth the wait. With a horde of characters, an absolute FUCKLOAD of different modes and playing options, and possibly the deepest fighting system this side of Virtua Fighter 4, SC2 is truly a gamer's game. This is before I even mention the outstanding graphics. The graphics are by a long shot the most impressive on the system, and as PS2 owners know, that is saying quite a lot. The control style is intuitive even on the PS2 pad, but for some real arcade action, you are far better equipped with the Namco stick. Even the most inexperienced player will have plenty of fun with this game, as many of each character's special moves and combos are performed very easily, but the meat of the fighting system is in the advanced moves, combos and tactics. An expert player really has alot to sink his teeth into. Games of this calibre (pardon the pun) are exactly what the video game world needs.

Halo 2

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within

Def Jam: Fight for New York

State of Emergency

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Soul Calibur 2