released October 2003, purchased October 2003
I was pretty excited for this one, because I liked what I saw of the funky art style and what I heard about the retro 2D gameplay. And I really wanted to know what the hell "viewtiful" meant.
But it turned into a disappointment. The kinetic Power Ranger visuals were great, until I found out that, under the mask, Joe is just a hydrocephalic, media-addicted Fred Durst. Add to that the fact that the bad guys repeat like crazy (including a far-too-hard duplicate boss sequence that sent me crawling to the corner in shame) and you have a title that took the old school homage a bit too seriously.
There were some fun quirks to the combat, namely a bunch of VCR-derived super-attacks that slowed down and/or sped up time... so it was totally playable. It just tried too hard to be a "HIT FRANCHISE" right out of the gate, instead of letting itself appear naturally cool.
And I still don't know what "viewtiful" means.
Memory Score: My young Joe...
| Mario Kart: Double Dash!! |
released November 2003, purchased November 2003
click here for my two-man review with Boris, written in December 2003!
A GameCube library must-have, and a terrific new take on one of the most abused genres of video games: the kart racer.
Aside from just plain looking great, aside from having a great (if short) series of unlockables, aside from being one of the most happily playable titles of the entire generation, the gonzo two-man kart concept is just incredible.
It's fun enough to manage two characters' item slots when playing by yourself, but it really shines when you're in multiplayer. You, the pro gamer, can play this one with your non-gamer pal, or your also-gamer pal, or your barely-gamer four-year-old son of your pal's wife's cousin. And all involved will enjoy it. It's a co-op or competitive multiplayer family friendly kart racer that scales up or down the ability chart. Astonishing.
The only thing you can say against Double Dash is that it could probably have done well with another one or two sets of tracks. Once you unlock the final batch, you are in no way satisfied.
Memory Score: HI I'M DAISY
released November 2003, purchased November 2003
click here for my review, written in February 2004!
Presenting a game-fied version of Tolkien's classic while riding the coattails of Peter Jackson's big movie epic, this was not a terrible game at all. It wasn't a great game, but you really wouldn't have expected that, would you?
The Hobbit is an adventure in the Zelda style, with plenty of item-fetching and easy combat and platform jumping. A pleasant enough diversion that stays true enough to the book while still cleaning out space for gigantic Tomb Raider-style puzzles inside the Lonely Mountain. It does nothing new whatsoever, but it does the usual quite capably.
Unfortunately, the game totally misses the chance to do something cool with Gollum, the ring-addicted little scene stealer of Jackson's movies. And the end boss fight is truly bizarre... but given that, in the book, Bilbo spends the final battle largely unconscious, I guess they had to come up with something.
Memory Score: I really appreciated Bilbo finding the black butterflies. Nice touch.
Next time: the Party is redeemed, the Legend is reissued, and the Pocket Monsters take a recess.
