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Dial M for Mediocre
Sunday / 03.03.02 / 11:08PM / Joe
I'm highly amused by the resounding Thumbs Down for State of Emergency, which is getting worse word of mouth than Spielberg's A.I. If I had to guess - and I have to, since I haven't played it - I'd suggest that State of Emergency's biggest failure is a lack to live up to the Grand Theft Auto 3 standard. When I first read about SoE, I immediately likened it to Dynasty Warriors 2, which is a comparison I have yet to hear anybody else make. I mean, both games have hundreds of onscreen enemies that you have to pummel through to reach various goal points, right? Perhaps the noted redundancy of SoE - that appeared without warning to most reviewers - was the true killing stroke. We all knew Dynasty Warriors 2 would be redundant; that's why there's only 6 levels.
Still, the gulf of demographic separation between consoles grows ever wider. GTA3 and State of Emergency are PS2 games... M rated PS2 games, which does not always indicate a great game, as SoE owners are finding out. Max Payne? Personally, I have no desire to venture into that M rated PC port, since I'm not entertained by the whole Steven Seagal-era storyline. (He's a cop who's crossed over into the world of crime and corruption, to repay a debt and re-claim his sanity. Can you stand the pain... the MAX PAYNE.) And Max himself just looks constipated.
I have a theory that you could release all three of those games on GameCube, even a Special Increased Gore Version of each, and people would still call Nintendo the kiddie console. Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Turok, and freaking Conker's Bad Fur Day did nothing to alter the N64's reputation as a Marionly machine, so what the hell could? You'd need a Jeff Gordon-autographed Playmate edition with a dildo controller and actual working shotgun to alter most people's perception of Nintendo. |
