GGS #10: Politically charged

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that Jazz. On Tonight's Show:

• We go out with a bang this year by speaking with California Assemblymember Leeland Yee and his Violent Video Games Bill (AB 1179);

• Mario takes on Id with Prima Strategy featuring Quake 4;

• My One Night Stand(tm) with Animal Crossing for the DS;

• And because it's just too good to keep to ourselves, Top-to-Bottom(tm): Nintendo Peripherals;

Special thanks to our musical guests Minus Vince for our segue music. Check out this awesome SoCal skacore group at www.minusvince.com

Thanks so much to all of our listeners for supporting us these past ten shows. Next year is shaping up to be great and we'll be back in a few weeks with all new interviews, reviews, and giveaways.

Make sure to write us and let us know what games you're interested in for 2006 and who you'd like to see an interview with on the show. We'll listen to what you want and we'll make it happen. If not, I'll just continue to talk about Guitar Hero for another 20 or so shows!

Shameless Self-Promotion, I love Me

Quick Holiday Hits

From Russia With Love (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube; $49.99; Rated T for Suggestive Themes/Violence; 007.ea.com)

(three stars)

Though the likeness of everybody’s favorite Bond is dead-on and the fact that Sean Connery reprises his role, the remake of the favorite 60’s film falls flat. It’s all glitz and glamour, with relatively flat and uninspired gameplay.

Battlefield 2 Modern Combat (Xbox, PS2; $49.99; Rated T for Language/Violence; battlefield.ea.com)

(four stars)

The PC hit comes console-side with an incredibly arcade-like and addictive single-player mode. “Hot-swapping” places long distances to a fellow comrade in your line of site is almost as much fun as the addictive online multiplayer that keeps fans coming back for more in one of the most solid shooters for either system.

Call of Duty 2 (X360; $59.99; Rated T for Blood/Mild Language/Violence; callofduty.com)

(four and a half stars)

Fantastically frantic action and an incredibly visceral experience make this WWII shooter stand tall above the thousands of others out there. If this is what a 1^st generation Xbox 360 game looks like, I can’t wait until the developers have a better understanding of what to do with the hardware.

GUN (PS2, Xbox, X360; $49.99, $59.99 on X360; Rated M for Blood/Core/Violence/Sexual Themes/Language/Use of Alcohol; gunthegame.com)

(three and a half stars)

It’s “Grand Theft Auto” meets “Tombstone” as players set out to uncover the murky history of protagonist Colton White while experiencing the brutality of the Old West in a free-roaming environment. Save the extra $10 and pick up a copy for an older system- the Xbox 360 version is, unforgivably, graphically on-par with its PS2 cousin.

Review- Guitar Hero

Hello Cleveland!
(PS2; MSRP $69.99; Rated T for Mild Lyrics; guitarherogame.com)

(five stars)

There are two gaming items to consider for gift purposes this season: the first, obviously, is the Xbox 360; the second is not Sony’s PSP, it’s not Nintendo’s DS…

It’s Guitar Hero.

This game rules on so many levels, it is difficult for me to write a review of it without wanting to plug it into my PS2 and rock my socks off right now. Thinking about this game gets me giddy, playing this game channels something that dwells deep inside me, triggering my inner-Hendrix and my need to make love to steel strings.

Though a rhythm-based game in the same vein as “Dance Dance Revolution” or “Donkey Konga,” “Guitar Hero” stomps on those games with a steel-toed boot as it lifts its axe on high before the Altar of Rock. “Hero” is played with the included Gibson-styled guitar controller. Players will select one of over 50 head-banging hits to strum color-coded chords on the frets of the controller matching the ones on screen.

Add the fact that the controller has a built-in whammy bar and tilt sensor to add style points to your song, and you’ll be rocking out to bands like The Ramones, Bad Religion, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Boston until your lame parents yell at you to turn that racket down.

And when you finally tire of leading guitar by your lonesome (you won’t), plugging in another guitar controller allows two players to solo off against each other in the awesome “Axe Battle” mode.

For those about to rock- I salute you.

Review- Perfect Dark Zero

Six Years in Development, huh?

(X360; $49.99, $59.99 collector’s edition; Rated M for Blood/Language/Violence; perfectdarkzero.com)

(three and a half stars)

Microsoft’s much-coveted launch title is actually a prequel to the original “Perfect Dark”- a Nintendo exclusive back in the days of the N64. Six years later, players continue to follow the exploits of femme bounty hunter Joanna Dark, as she fights against the corporations who have taken over in the year 2020.

Aside from the ironic underpinnings that this game’s plot is released by a subsidiary of Microsoft, “PDZ” is a solid first-person shooter experience in its single player campaign and is backed by an equally solid multiplayer experience over Xbox Live.

“PDZ” isn’t going to blow anyone away from a graphical standpoint: its textures, though very nice to look at, aren’t exactly the photorealistic polygons we were all hoping for in the next generation of gaming. Though Ms. Dark looks substantially better than she did back in the N64 days, the entire game has a very animated feel to it, which isn’t a good example of the powerhouse capabilities of the 360.

Fans of “Halo 2” who attempt to play this game with the same strategy and control scheme will be sorely fragged over and over again until they can adjust themselves to the duck-and-cover aspect of the game. This is especially apparent in large, 32 player multiplayer matches where gun-butting an enemy is an imprecise and dangerous endeavor.

Even if it’s not the next “Halo,” the hallmark of the series has always been the variety of weapons and their unusual secondary functions. Expect tons of new firearms, plus some old favorites, to make your missions loud and carnage-filled.

Review- The Matrix: Path of Neo

Whoa? No.
(Xbox, PS2; $49.99; Rated T for Blood/Language/Suggestive Themes/Violence; Atari.com)

(three stars)

After the deplorable “Enter the Matrix” was released glitch-filled and Keanu-less, the developers at Shiny Entertainment went back to the drawing board to release a game to please the fans of the most confusing trilogy ever made.

After playing “Path of Neo,” I feel much like Cypher: why, oh why, didn’t I take the blue pill?

Better than “Enter the Matrix,” which isn’t saying much, “Path of Neo” sets out to accomplish a lot. Like the films however, it collapses under the weight of its own grand scheme. Players fill the black boots of Mr. Anderson himself, as he progresses through the trilogy and becomes The One. As this game is all about what Neo experienced, any events from the movies in which he was not directly involved, are not featured- which means the highway chase from “Reloaded” is out.

Jaggy graphics, clipping, and an irritating camera system frustrate an otherwise cool combat system. Like his movie counterpart, Neo can switch in between Kung-Fu, melee weapons, and guns on the fly when dispatching enemies. Signature slow motion effects highlight some very cool moves that players can pull off with well-timed button combinations. Ultimately though, the camera becomes more of an enemy than Agent Smith, as players will constantly be disoriented in trying to find the chock-full action that is taking place around them.

Fans of the series should rent this title; the rest should just re-watch the first film- and burn the others.

Review- GTA: Liberty City Stories

Life in the Fast (and Portable) Lane
(PSP; $49.99; Rated M for Blood/Gore/Violence/Language/Sexual Content/Drug Use; rockstargames.com)

(four and a half stars)

When Rockstar Games announced they were bringing the most notorious game franchise to Sony’s pocket player, fans were drooling with anticipation of drive-by shooting while in the drive-thru of their favorite fast food joint. “Liberty City Stories” successfully delivers the “GTA” experience of the home console, onto the small screen of the PSP.

Players lead protagonist Toni Cipriani through the rough and tumble of Liberty City as he makes his way up the food chain in the events leading up to the seminal “Grand Theft Auto III.” This prequel allows Toni to do everything his protégé has done on the PS2, and that’s where the impressiveness of this title lies.

A full “GTA” experience is in the palm of players hands, from causing rampant lawlessness at the drop of a hat to free-roaming around the huge landscape for hours in between missions, everything players have come to expect from the franchise is translated into portable gameplay, and done with very little load times- only at the beginning of missions.

The story is tight, the graphics are on par with the PS2, and the death-and-destruction is familiar. It’s the same “GTA” parent-groups have come to hate, only now it fits perfectly in a book bag.

Xbox 360 Quicky

($299.99- Core System; $399.99- Premium System; xbox.com)

Chances are you still don’t have an Xbox 360, unless you plunked almost $400 down last Spring on a pre-order, camped outside a Best Buy with the other jobless nuts, or mugged a sleep-deprived jobless nut of theirs.

And because you may have to wait until 2006 to play Microsoft’s monster of a machine, the question may be growing stronger every day: is this system really worth your money?

Xbox Live, the fantastic online service that was pioneered in the days of the original Xbox, makes up about half of the experience of the 360. Being connected at all times displaying an up-to-the-moment “Gamerscore” gives players a persistent presence for all the gaming public to see. The Xbox Live Marketplace adds a lot to the next-generation experience by being able to download music, movie trailers, game upgrades, and even classic arcade games to the system with the push of a button.

So if players are not online with a broadband connection, spending the money on the system short-changes them by leaps and bounds- this is a system that’s meant to have you connected to the world, even if you’re not playing them directly.

Though there is no “Halo”-like, must-have game for the system right now, the launch games show the potential for the future. By the time the PS3 launches, the 360 will be into its 2^nd or 3^rd generation of games, and then you’ll start to see the sparks fly.

Oh, and please don’t waste your money on the cheaper, but hard drive-less “Core” system- you’ll end up needing the HDD to play old Xbox games and download new ones.

GGS #9: Royally Awesome!

Fat, rested, and ready to go; on Tonight's Show:

• Where are all the Xbox 360s?;
• We rap with producer Ben Mattes about Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones;
• Mario learns us some new strategy;
• Plus the Top-to-Bottom: Xbox 360 edition;
  

All that plus another One-Night-Stand and listener mail!

Make sure to tune in next week when we chat with California Assemblymember Leeland Yee about his new Violent Videogames Bill which was recently signed into law by Governor Arnold. It's a politically rife "Game Guy Show," next week!