The fact that we’re still talking about PlayStation 2 and still talking about new games being made only for the PlayStation 2 in the 2008 holiday season speaks volumes about what this console did for our industry. Today nearly 100 percent of children and teens play video games on some level.

Here at Blast, we’re big into nostalgia, but we don’t necessarily look to Pac Man and Space Invaders for our retro fix. PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64 and PC games from the 90s have given us a litany of content to draw from, especially with the entire reviews and news database from ReviewCenter.com.

Here is The Review Center’s PlayStation 2 Launch Guide from February 2000
By Tom Carroll, Review Center Staff

If you haven’t had the chance to play all 28 PlayStation 2 launch titles, now you don’t have to. Nobody has the disposable income to invest in crud, so we’ve taken the liberty of snagging a bit of the cream from the skim. We’ve got the skinny on which titles are phat and which fall flat.

Refreshingly (and unlike the Dreamcast’s launch, which was mostly made up of driving games of dubious distinction) the PS2 launch has a few candidates from each of most popular genres: action, sports, racing, and, surprisingly, RPG.

We also realize that no one wants to read too much at launch. Full reviews of each launch title will follow in short order. For now, strap on your helmet, grab the ol’ dual shock controller, and get ready to have your horizons expanded:

Armored Core 2
Agetec
From Software
Action
1-2 Players

The PlayStation’s main mech, or AC, is back in action with the best-looking ACs ever in a game of this sort. Armored Core 2 is the fourth in the series, but the true sequel to the first game, and the first of the series on PS2. With literally hundreds of parts to improve and alter your mech, and dozens of single player levels to battle in, players can enjoy lone play time, or they can venture into two-player split-screen action. While it plays much like previous games in the series, Armored Core 2 looks fabulous.

DOA2: Hardcore
Tecmo
Fighting
1-4 Players

If you’re only going to buy one fighter for your PS2, this is the one. It has more of everything than anything else out there. You want characters? It’s got ‘em. You want costumes? Ditto. You want arenas, breakaway walls, dramatic falls, slaps, punches, kicks, combos, tag elements (that leave you breathless), well, DOA2: Hardcore lives up the hype and continues shoveling it on long after the others have quit. This game is the sine qua non (for those of you classically challenged, that means, “the bomb”) and it easily tops Namco’s best efforts to date.

Dynasty Warriors 2
Koei
Action
1 Player

If you like your action fast and furious, DW2 may just be the game for you. You take on the persona of one of eight ancient Chinese heroes, each with different skills. Navigating via a huge map, you get to ride a stallion, battle bad boss guys, and formulate a strategy that leads to success. No other game will have as many characters simultaneously on screen, which may be frightening at first. This explains the furious part; the game is also a tad short in terms of gameplay — which explains the fast.

FantaVision
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Puzzle
1 Player

When Konami wanted to have one of its teams learn the PS2 development environment, it said, “Make an update of Gradius III and IV,” which is what happened (the game will be released within the month). When Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI) wanted the same thing for one of its teams, it said, “Make me a colorful puzzle game that involves fireworks.” Fanta Vision is the result. You link together same-colored fireworks as they fall from the sky to achieve various point totals. It is a beautiful game and one that will keep adult gamers interested for roughly the same time as a first-run movie. You do the math — movie = $8.50; Fanta Vision = $53.00 (tax included). See you at the movies.

Eternal Ring
Agetec
From Software
RPG
1 Player

Eternal Ring is a Japanese game in search of a US following. Its story involves science and magic, but the uninspired story makes it difficult to imagine that anyone will stay engaged long enough to plumb the more than 100 spells that are available. Less than inspired visuals and localized voiceovers drop this title to the bottom third of the bunch.

ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding
Konami
KCE Osaka
Sports
1-2 Players

While SSX is the snowboarding king, it is a fanciful look at the sport. For the serious snowboarder who wants more realism in his/her gaming, there is ESPN WXGS (that’s Winter X Games Snowboarding, but we’re tired and we’re not typing that out any more). This game has the real deal: trademarked boards; signature riders; courses modeled after real terra firma. While the controls for this game don’t disappoint and the tricks are the bomb, there are times when you wish this game would just bust a bit more loose. Kudo to the Create-A-Boarder feature; it’s a winner.

Evergrace
Agetec
From Software
1 Player

Now that RPGs are back in vogue for console systems, isn’t it nice that the PS2 gets a capable one at launch. Darius and Sharline are the two main characters in Evergrace. They get involved in some pretty dark deeds, but it’s the game’s unique “Free Growth System” that stands center stage. Using the FGS, you can allocate experience points to any of a number of abilities. Not to be outdone, the game’s “Full Dress System” allows the player to dress his/her character from head to toe prior to battle, all of which affects the way the character fights. While Evergrace is the only true RPG in the launch bunch, you wouldn’t be disappointed if you gave it a try.

Gun Griffon Blaze
Working Designs
Game Arts
Action
1 Player

This should actually be called Fun ‘n Gun Griffon Blaze, becaue it’s a fast start boullion of battles and blasting. The worlds aren’t going to set your hair on fire (because the geometry and textures are somewhat simple, but what a rush it is to fly at one opponent, blast it into smithereens, then jet over to another hotspot and start blasting. You’ve also got a cool zoom feature for targeting that involves speed blur and such. Hot action; cool tech.

Kessen
Electronic Arts
KOEI
Adventure
1 Player

PS2’s launch lineup has room for everyone and everything, it seems. Even Kessen. One of the few original launch titles in Japan, the powers that be must have gone through some real gyrations before deciding to localize it for Western tastes. The results are generally good: the graphics and cinemas are first-rate; the strategy portions, while competent, are a bit tedious. If you measure your gaming pleasure in hours instead of emotions, Kessen may just pass muster.

Madden NFL 2001
Electronic Arts
EA Sports
Sports
1-8 Players

Electronic Arts’ Madden 2K1 is one of the most sophisticated games to launch with the PS2. It has to be. It’s football, for cryin’ out loud. But this is one console that goes much deeper than a new coat of paint and some new spark plugs in the engine. The amount of precision that you have to have to compete has been increased (now you have to not only hit the open man, you have to hit him when his head is turned back toward the passer when the ball is in the air). Skill, fatigue and injury are more of a part of this game than any before because the engine and graphics renderer have the ability to actually turn concepts and theories into gameplay actions. By making launch with more than just a collection of pretty helmets, EA has served notice to Sony’s own that an ordinary GameDay 2K1 will just not do.

Midnight Club: Street Racing
Rockstar Games
Angel Studios
Racing
1-2 Players

Somebody once said, “I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” Perhaps this is true of Midnight Club. At first the visuals and audios impress one as less rather than more. The opening movie is a shambles; the vehicles shine as though they were carved from blocks of plastic. Play the game for a while, however, and the personality of the thing starts to show through. The taunts really do get under your skin; the challenges are easy enough to catch your attention but become tough quickly so as to hold it. If Midnight Club succeeds at all, it will be because substance triumphed over style.

Moto GP
Namco
Racing
1-2 Players

It’s a shame that some games have to betray their roots as quickly as they do. Moto GP is a game that can be mastered in no time, which makes it a disaster for the home market. Such a shame, too, because you’ll never see a prettier game on any platform. The bikes are sweet; nearly every surface is awash in somebody’s logo; tracks are totally trick. If Moto GP succeeds (and racing games are often more popular than they deserve to be) it will be because style triumphed over substance.

NHL 2001
Electronic Arts
EA Sports
Sports
1-8 Players

Both Madden and NHL 2K1 show EA’s desire to deliver more of the “good stuff” right out of the gate. The problem is that sometimes higher polygon counts and richer textures mean a gummed up renderer unable to cope. Such is the case, especially with NHL 2K1. It’s a pretty title, to be sure, but the lack of snappy moves and an AI that’s too cagey with the difficulty setting ramped up will surely doom this game — fast in the past — to a slow start out of the PS2 gate.

Orphen
Activision
Kadokawa Shoten
RPG
1 Player

Orphen tries to be a hybrid of RPG and fighting game. Taken singly or as a whole, it is a failure. Orphen is an unappreciated and underrated sorcerer trying to make his way in the world. He joins up with various folks for various reasons, ultimately taking him (and them) to Chaos Island for some showdowns with various bad guys. The game looks nice, but the battling system is repetitive and boring, making an otherwise engaging story not worth the bother. Save your yen for a better game about some other lost cause.

Q-Ball Billiards Master
Take 2
ASK
Sports
1-2 Players

This game is pool as it’s often played: by the book and with little panache. The physics are steady and the player is given more than enough control to attempt any shot, even if they aren’t all accomplished. If you’re looking to play a bit more fast and loose with the “sport,” try Konami’s Real Pool.

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2
Midway
Sports
1-2 Players

If you liked the first game in series (on whichever platform you played it on — wasn’t it ported to play on cell phones?) you’ll love the PS2 sequel. All the previou modes are retained; added are a tournament mode and career mode. You can also fight against a teeny slate of celebs — which was better for pre-launch marketing teasers than it actually is in the game. While R2R Boxing: Round 2 won’t be the only boxing game on PS2 forever, it will always be tops in kooky fun.

Ridge Racer V
Namco
Racing
1-2 Players

Namco is guilty, guilty, guilty — of a little bad judgement. The company decided to take a luke warm PS2 J-launch title and seve it up even colder to US audiences. The game lacked antialiasing and had problems with framerate flickering when it was being played in and around Tokyo (and in our office, too, of course). Such techno bugaboos could have been eradicated for the US launch, but Namco decided to put its efforts elsewhere. RRV is a good racing game, especially for those who’ve fallen for past incarnations of the game. However, front end be damned (and the game’s start, selection, and option screens are drop-dead gorgeous) can’t cover over this game’s warts.

Silent Scope
Konami
Shooter
1 Player

A gun! A gun! My kingdom for a gun! This stiff, ultra-formal remake of the arcade hit is just that . a remake of an arcade hit. It suffers mightily from control, as the sniper rifle that made the arcade version so infectiously fun isn’t anywhere to be found (and don’t look for some desperate hardware manufacturer to make one on a whim, either). If you enjoyed the arcade title so much that you want to burn up $53 to have it at home, you won’t be disappointed. If you played all the way through the arcade shooter, you probably don’t have $53 to your name any more . but you really won’t need to bother with it either.

Smuggler’s Run
Rockstar Games
Angel Studios
Racing
1-2 Players

This game is getting good word or mouth because you get to be a smuggler and haul illicit cargoes around various (somewhat) scenic locales. It’s getting good media attention because the environments are humongous and the game’s draw in distance (the farthest point you can see without needing fogging, etc.) is so far. Smuggler’s Run seems to be selling because of both of these reasons, as well as because it’s well crafted and addictively fun. Smuggle one home yourself — if you can find a copy…

SSX
Electronic Arts
EA Canada
Sports
1-2 Players

SSX (we assume that stands for Super Snowboarding Extreme) is the hottest of the 28 launch titles. It’s highly original and addictive. The character and track designs completely blow away everyone else in the pack. The boys (and girls) at EA Canada are to be congratulated on creating a game that will play just as fresh in Boulder, Colorado, Heidelberg, Germany, or Yokahama, Japan. You take you place at the starting line as one of six contestants from far-flung corners of the world. You have to master each course’s layout, flesh out your own skills as ‘boarding and trickstyling, while finishing in the money at the end of each race. Along the way you’ll unlock other characters, new courses, and better equipment. There isn’t a game around (since MTV Snowboarding of a few years back) that allowed you to catch such air and flip out over the tricks like SSX. The game should become one of (if not the) top seller for EA Sports because it has equal appeal for women as for men. Watch out Madden, this one’s gonna leave you stuck in the powder.

Street Fighter EX3
Capcom
Fighting
1-4 Players

If you read any of the reviews of the uninspired PS2 J-launch title, this game ain’t changed much in the interim. Fans of the title’s other better efforts will no doubt pick it up so they can have them all on the shelf, but don’t look for this fighter to set anyone’s knickers on fire.

Summoner
THQ
Volition
1 Player

Summoner is a sprawling mass of RPG gaming. It may have a good story line, but it shows its feet of clay by not being able to render large terrain objects that are really amazingly close to your action. Because of the nasty draw in distances and insane fogging, the summoning part of this game should have been your character summoning huge masses of hillside to appear and dissapear merely by walking toward and away from them. Interesting game design … bad implementation.

Swing Away Golf
Electronic Arts
Sports
1-4 Players

Swing Away Golf is to the game of golf what cotton candy is to a filet minion steak. To say it’s golf lite is to demean the word “lite..” All this having been said, it is a fun little romp with anime characters and a mean little physics engine that really does the job. Other than the game taking a nasty little hop when going from when you use the swing game to the time your character actually swings, it’s all pretty sweet. One word of advice, choose the knowledgeable and sympathetic caddy characters; the others are grist in te wheels of life — at least as far as Swing Away Golf is concerned.

Tekken Tag Tournament
Namco
Fighting
1-2 Players

While this game ain’t no DOA2: Hardcore (see above), it is the best Tekken game ever made. It’s doubtful that Namco set out to set the gaming industry’s collective hair on fire with this one . they just had to give the gamer all the Tekken they wanted without messing up the look, the controls, or the framerate. In this, they have succeeded and this title will sell well because of it. The US version of the game is essentially the same as the Japanese title, allowing Namco to devote its resources to other titles that will appear at or near launch. Caution: If you’re looking for something more out of this game than “Just Plain Tekken” you may be disappointed. If you just want an update and a new coat of paint, it’s the game for you.

TimeSplitters
Free Radical Design, Ltd.
Eidos Interactive
First-Person Shooter
1-4 Players

In the wake of the PS2 launch, TimeSplitters is one game that’s getting noticed. Speed kills and TimeSplitters delivers it at Mach 10. Modelled a bit after GoldenEye and Perfect Dark (no surprise since most of the developers are ex of Rare), this game allows you to be a free radical (pun intended) running and gunning around throughout the halls of history. Split time, not hairs — this is a fun game to play, with or without your friends.

Unreal Tournament
Infogrames
Epic Games
Action
1-4 Players

You want it, you got it, Sony. A launch with a bunch of no-name titles isn’t as much fun as inviting a few of the big boyz to join in. Unreal Tournament (along with Madden 2K1, Tekken Tag, and Ridge Racer V) fills the bill nicely. It’s a lush implementation of the original PC game with bows made to console controls. Various configurations are available, including keyboard and mouse set-ups. Have a lot of spare TVs around, hook up four units, four games, four TVs via I-like and you’ve got a UT party. You don’t even need the Planter’s Peanuts.

Wild Wild Racing
Interplay
Rage Software
1-2 Players

Tired of the same old modified ovals? Ready for a game that has some real off road teeth? Wild Wild Racing is the anti-Ridge Racer … it’s so good at times that it’ll shake you. Interplay’s staff modified the game’s Japanese control setup to emphasize power sliding. The result? You can fly around these off road race courses and hit the turns without

X-Squad
Electronic Arts
Action
1 Player

Inevitably, for every SSX there is an X-Squad. This game really needed a little more time in the bullpen to make it a more complete player. The game has some flashes of competence, but a monster contingent of weapons plus a minimum amount of fun inter- and intra-squad play doesn’t make for a complete game. Visual style aside, the art also needed to be much better to compete with other games (including EA’s own) in the ultra slick PS2 launch lineup. More later on this one . but you really get the picture in a paragraph.

Tom Carroll was one of the top gaming writers for ReviewCenter.com. If you’re still out there, Tom, Blast needs you!

Minor spoiler warning. We’re not giving away anything vital.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that plays out like so:

You sit down at 5:30 in the afternoon to play the game. You open a box of Cheez-Its. You figure on playing the game for an hour or two and eating a few handfuls of crackers.

Suddenly the sun is coming up, the box is empty, and you’ve just gotten started in the game.

This caloric description doesn’t even begin to do justice to Fallout 3. Not only is Fallout 3 the best game of the year, but it’s one of the best games ever made.

That’s a lofty statement, but you’re reading a magazine that has a track record of telling the truth. So listen up.

The game takes place in post nuclear apocalyptic Washington D.C., and you’re one of the lucky few that got to live in the secure Vault 101, free from the radiation, deadly super mutants and certain death in the barren wasteland outside.

You begin Fallout 3 at the moment of your character (male or female) is born, and you age through the game in quick chapters until you one day when you wake up to discover your father, a scientist and doctor, has inexplicably left the Vault – a big no-no. Now the Vault director is after you, and your life is in danger.

Right from the start, Bethesda shows you the sheer volume of choices, side-quests, and adventures in Fallout 3. As you’re escaping the authorities, you’ll find that an infestation of giant radioactive cockroaches has swarmed the vault. You’ll run into a childhood bully begging you for help because his alcoholic mother is being attacked by the roaches, and he’s too scared to do anything about it. You’ll find that your father’s assistant – who was like an uncle to you – has been murdered for information about dad’s disappearance. Seeking revenge, you’ll find the vault director, but wait, he’s the father of your potential love interest and childhood best friend.

And that’s all before the game really even starts.

Leaving the vault, you’ll then spend the next, oh, month of your life exploring and re-exploring a visual masterpiece. Washington D.C., the surrounding area, and all the monuments have been reconstructed and then devastated by nuclear war. It’s eye-popping to walk through this virtual world and see the Washington Monument in ruins as you approach it and the museums of the Smithsonian in various stages of decay, squatters taking up shelter in their strong construction. It’s not just up-close either. From far in the distance, you can see the Washington Monument or the Capital Building, and it’s eerie.

Let me tell you what else is eerie: listening to the radio stations in the background. From the start, you’ll have your choice of Enclave Radio, the propaganda channel for a faction that claims to be the resurrected United States Government, and the rebel free radio wasteland station and its eccentric disc jockey, Three Dog.

You have the choice to be good or bad. You can be a hero, defending the helpless, saving cities and having townsfolk shower you with gifts (that does happen). You can walk into the slave trader’s village and kill all the slavers. Or you can be an asshole. You can exploit children, beat up women, destroy towns. You can be evil, corrupt, and terrifying.

That all starts when you’re a kid or when you’re escaping the vault. Your best friend steals a gun from her father to “aid” in your escape. When the childhood bully begs you for help, you can help him, save his mother and be the hero.

Or you can shoot him in the head and put two in the mother for good measure.

These are your choices, and don’t let emotion get in the way — yes, it’s just a video game, but we’ve all been there.

Even your own health is a series of carefully balanced choices. If your hit points are low, you can drink water from a stream or sink or even down a soda from a vending machine, but this increases your radiation level, which is bad for you in the long run.

You will also encounter a variety of drugs and chemicals that will raise HP or boost your abilities temporarily, but if you take too much, you’ll get addicted and dependent on the drug. If you run out, you’ll go through withdrawal and lose abilities.

The game is bloody, gory, violent, and full of sexually suggestive and explicit dialog. But the game doesn’t include swears in the same way that Kane and Lynch did — just for the hell of it. Fallout 3’s dialogue is tactfully woven together.

There are a lot of little things that I would have liked to have seen built up more, like sitting at a bar and ordering a drink, settling up two lovebirds and then going to the wedding, going to restaurants. These features all happen, but could have been a bit better designed. You don’t have food delivered to you or a drink poured for you; you just buy it and it appears in your inventory.

The game’s inventory system works exactly like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls titles. You can carry items up to your strength limit, and then you have to drop stuff strategically.

The game world is massive. It takes many, many hours to go through it, and you can bet that expansion packs and downloadable content is coming.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m a little biased in favor of the post apocalyptic genre. I grew up playing and reading Shadowrun for Genesis, Super Nintendo and tabletop — still have all the books. I number Blade Runner, Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. in my list of favorite movies.

But forget about the genre for a bit. The visuals are unparalleled and the audio is sublime. Walking down a bombed out road in Washington is that much creepier when “America the Beautiful” is playing in the background, seriously. The controls are intuitive and can be inverted or adjusted for sensitivity. The plot is complex and gripping.

When I discovered Interplay’s Wasteland in the early 1990s, this was how I imagined the game would look in real life. Technically Fallout 3 is the fourth installment in the franchise. Interplay made Wasteland and then Fallout 1 and 2, as technical sequels. They also made two spin-offs: the combat-heavy Fallout: Tactics on the PC in 2001 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (the first console Fallout title) in 2004. Interplay started making Fallout 3, (see Van Buren) but they were broke and struggling. Bethesda scooped up the Fallout franchise last year for just under $6 million. Bethesda completely threw out Interplay’s work and built this game from scratch.

It does use the same gameplay engine as The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Fallout 3 is artistic and timely. It has a message to it — a frightening message. But unlike other games with a social context, Fallout 3 doesn’t push these factors down your throat.

It is, however, a quiet indictment of corrupt politics, unscrupulous foreign policy and an increasingly insular American populace.

Blast tested the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Joe Sinicki and Terri Schwartz of the Blast Magazine staff contributed to this report.

After years of development, Bethesda Softworks, makers of the hugely successful “Elder Scrolls” series, is at the E3 Media and Business Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center this week to show off “Fallout 3,” the latest chapter in the post-Nuclear apocalypse role playing franchise, due on shelves in the fall.

Interplay’s release of “Fallout” in 1997 was a breath of fresh air to an otherwise depleted RPG game gene pool during a lackluster several years for RPG’s. Then, in came this real world, guns and rockets departure from dungeons, dragons, wizards, and elves.

That kind of history will give “Fallout 3” momentum, but Bethesda has sometimes been looked at as a step-parent to Fallout since buying it for $5,750,000. They completely remade the game, throwing out the work Interplay had done on its own version of “Fallout 3” before selling it off.

The company’s other titles have been mixed. It’s “Elder Scrolls” games and expansion packs for those games have sold millions of copies, won countless awards, and enjoyed nearly unanimous critical approval. That success has carried them despite less successful titles like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie games; semi-failures like their half dozen or so Star Trek titles; and miserable failures like the 2006 “IHRA Drag Racing” simulation game.

Still, Bethesda likes to gamble, and it usually pays off.

“We took a lot of risks with ‘[Elder Scrolls:] Oblivion’ and learned a lot doing such a massive game,” said Todd Howard, executive producer for Bethesda, during Microsoft’s E3 briefing Monday. “We’ve learned a lot.”

Bethesda hopes to market the game to hardcore and casual gamers – a very fashionable trend in the video game world today.

“Lots of people want an experience that is fun and well-executed. So that group is everyone from the most hardcore to casual gamers who buy 1 or 2 games a year,” said Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda, in an interview Monday. “Our marketing strategy is to hit those consumers in a lot of different ways, at different times.”

Fallout 3 will be available for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this fall.

Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Boogerman and Clayfighter will be available for download in the coming months, confirmed Luke Haase, spokesman for the game developer. Haase could not confirm a release date on the games.

Interplay is on the verge of a comeback. They are one of the oldest operational video game developers. They ran into serious financial troubles in 2004 and stopped developing games shortly afterward. In November, they announced that they would use the proceeds from selling off their property, Fallout, to Bethesda Softworks — of Elder Scrolls fame.

On April 8, Interplay confirmed it was working on sequels to Dark Alliance, Earthworm Jim, Descent and MDK.

Interplay is responsible for not only those titles in video game history but also Baldur’s Gate, Battlechess, Descent and Alone in the Dark.

Nintendo’s Virtual Console makes games from NES, SNES, N64, NEOGEO, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx 16 titles available for cheap download and play on the Wii.

Bethesda Softworks has released new screenshots for the upcoming postapocalyptic RPG sequel that they resurrected after the demise of Interplay.

The game is coming to the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms at the end of the year.

Fallout 3 pits you against hordes of irradiated mutants as you seek out your missing father. It was a cult classic in the Interplay days and looks to be a top holiday season title this year.

By John W. Fletcher

Messiah is probably one of the more unique games I have seen in the last few years — being completely original by not only how it is played but an amazing array of new quirks you have never seen on the PC before.

In this game you are a cute little baby angel named Bob. You have been sent to earth, quite against your will, by God to fight the growing evil of Father Prime.

Despite his cute appearance he can be as much of a bastard as your inner devil wants him to be.

There are some quirks. He has a limited ability to fly — which can get you out of some tight situations. Second, and my favorite, he can possess anybody! You can fly into the back of any unsuspecting victim and take over his soul, forcing him to do whatever hideous evil you want him to do (don’t get any ideas you pervert).

Since there is a massive array of characters the game can get extremely interesting. To get certain places or better weapons you have to possess certain people, which can be good and bad (you’ll see when you play). For instance: As a weak scientist you can’t hurt people for shit but you can get into a needed-entry room. As the biogenetically altered 8-foot tall behemoth you can tear anybody a new asshole.

You can get a lot of gameplay out of this since it is a two-disc game. It took me a long time to beat it. The levels are huge and the difficulty of all the possessing and everything can drive you kind of nuts after a while.

As you proceed you have to do these kind-of maze-like paths to get where you want to go and possess a lot of different people. You even have to possess a rat! It’s difficult because if they see you they will kill you and if they suspect you they will kill you. It’s not as easy as it seems. You have to do a lot of flying puzzles to get places and that is difficult with little, chubby baby wings.

All the weapons you can use are awesome too. You have things like a bazooka you can use, or a harpoon that spears your enemies to a wall! It’s disappointing that Bob himself can’t kill anybody but the fact that you can be a pimp in a club and beat somebody to death with your cane — it’s all forgiven. Overall, it is really fun but very confusing.

You get to all of this in amazingly created and huge levels which are incredibly realistic and make your experience just that much better. I strongly suggest usage of a very fast computer. All of the characters have amazing detail and the scenery is pretty cool too. In the game you are playing from a third person point-of-view which you can toggle close or far. It has an interesting sound system by that there is no music and only fx until you get into fights — when it starts blasting Fear Factory so you can barely here the fighting itself! However, you can here some pretty cool tracks if you pop into your CD player. As for controls it is very good and you have to use a mouse-keyboard combo which can be slightly annoying at times.

Now the bad news. NO multiplayer — sorry, it’s strictly single player. Also it can drag on and on after a while. All the puzzles get really annoying and somebody is always killing me. When you are a cop none of the other cops seem to like you and will kill you if you do so much as sneeze wrong. It seems you can never survive too long — maybe this is just me, somebody try it and tell me because I can never seem to survive in some guy for more than 3 minutes. You always seem to be walking through a war zone in some areas where there are opposing factions and you are always on the wrong side.

I guess that’s part of the game but it just gets to me by the 20th reloading.

Overall it is a very unique and good game. I suggest you give it a spin.

Download the demo free from Blast Magazine.

Quick hits:

Publisher: The late Interplay
Developer: Shiny Entertainment (David Perry’s outfit. They also made Earthworm Jim)
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Action/Adventure
Players: 1
Launch Date: March 31, 2000

Playability: 4.5 out of 5 stars
User friendly: 5 out of 5 stars
Support: 5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Ratings were determined in 2000