Nintendo Reviews

One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is The Haunted Mansion. I am not the only person who enjoys this ride and all the others at Disneyland. For some reason, no matter how popular this park or its rides are, not many games have been made out of these rides. I recall playing a title on the NES that went through all of the rides at Disneyland but I do not remember the title or if it was a popular game. So why should I bring up a game I can't even remember the title of? This shows just how underused the Disneyland franchise has been used in the game industry.

Connectivity -- it's been the subject of debate and criticism against Nintendo ever since E3 2003. Simply put, "connectivity" is the word Nintendo uses to describe connecting the Game Boy Advance with the GameCube for enhanced gameplay. However, Nintendo has received much criticism among gamers and journalists for what many people believe to be a lame concept. There have been plenty of examples to back up that view. Aside from just a few applications, most connectivity features have been rather gimmicky, only offering the ability to unlock content without adding any real interesting gameplay enhancements that could have been accomplished other ways. I have always been of the thought that the best, most fun uses of connectivity would require a Game Boy Advance as part of the gameplay, not just be an extra option. Pac-Man Vs. is an excellent example of this.

During the course of a WWE review, I guess I will have to admit to my past love of professional wrestling. I grew up watching the WWF in its prime. I saw many great matches, the introduction of many classic wrestlers, and watched the dawning of new shows like RAW and Nitro. For those of you wondering, I don't keep up with the sport nearly as much. I personally feel like things are not as good as they used to be. However, that said, I was looking forward to playing Wrestlemania XIX on the GameCube.

When Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader was released alongside the launch of the GameCube, it amazed critics and gamers. It was one of the first GameCube games, yet it already had some of the most amazing graphics seen on any console. Bump-mapping, dynamic lighting, volumetric fog, self shadowing, and more were all abundant in Rogue Leader as people were only just then beginning to learn what those terms meant. It was new, and it was gorgeous. Not only that, but it provided some great expansion on the gameplay of the original Rogue Squadron. Perhaps even more amazing, Factor 5 developed the game in just nine months. If Factor 5 could make such a great game in nine months, then what could they do in the nearly two years that has passed since then? This is why Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike bears so much anticipation.

I don't know about you, but I have fond memories of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Just typing those words brings that classic theme song to memory. I also recall being a big fan of the cartoon and arcade game. On the console side, the last Turtles game I remember playing was TMNT 4 on the Super Nintendo. The only downside about it was that it was very short. It has taken Konami a long time, but they have finally decided to try and relaunch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a title that is appearing on all 'big three' consoles.' The result is a fun but shallow action game.

Of course, The Simpsons has been known for providing great television entertainment. However, the same hasn’t really been true for video games. There hasn’t been a remotely good Simpsons game since the 16-bit era. Almost two years ago, developer Radical Entertainment and EA gave us The Simpsons Road Rage, a clone of Sega’s Crazy Taxi with a Simpsons twist. Despite poor reviews, Road Rage sold fairly well. This time, Radical Entertainment with publisher Vivendi Universal/Fox Interactive has drawn off of the gameplay mechanics of another popular game for The Simpsons Hit & Run.

With the last two hardware releases from Nintendo--the Nintendo 64 and the GameCube, there was much optimism surrounding how successful they would turn out to be. With the N64, Nintendo showed the world how to create a 3D game with Mario 64. That game was so far ahead of its time that it still is a shining example of how to create a 3D game today. But the N64 suffered from the lack of Third Party support and the end result was Nintendo coming in last place in the console wars.

The fourth true F-Zero game, F-Zero GX bears a lot of anticipation and expectations. The first game in the series, F-Zero, was released on the Super Nintendo in 1990 to much appreciation. It was the first game to use the new Mode-7 graphics to give the player a pseudo-3D experience. F-Zero was both a technical wonder and a well designed racer. Hovercrafts racing at death-defying speeds was an exciting proposition. Many would say that it is the "father" of all futuristic racers. The awesome (at the time) graphics and extremely fast racing was a new experience. It wasn’t until 8 years later that a sequel was produced for the Nintendo 64. F-Zero X successfully brought the series into 3D with wild courses that twisted and turned. It also featured an amazing 30 unique racers which could all be seen on-screen at once. However, F-Zero X lacked one quality that the first game had. Graphically, it was very bland (even for the Nintendo 64). The ships and courses lacked detail. There was almost nothing in the background. The game looked and sounded like a first-generation game. This was a disappointment to many, and despite good reviews, not as many people bought into it as they did the original. In 2001, to accompany the release of the Game Boy Advance, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity took the series back to its 2D roots. This time, it had more inventive track designs, and many more racers to unlock.

With the release of Soul Calibur 2 for all major consoles, the fighting genre is once again about to claim the hearts of most all gamers. By including exlusive characters for each console, if you own either an
xbox, ps2, or gamecube, there's really no reason for you not to own this game.

Def Jam Vendetta is a wrestling game from EA Big, the makers of SSX, NBA Street, and many other great games. Def Jam is a wrestling game like the Wrestlemania series and just like most WWE titles with the style of all EA Big games. The difference is the wrestlers and the music. The wrestlers are made up from all the rappers and
wannabes on the Def Jam label. The music is all songs arranged by their artists...
Hence the title... They have your typical modes in a wrestling game, the single player storyline, the multiplayer modes, and a photo gallery of extremely hot girls dressed trashy
(cough....strippers...excuse me, something in my throat).