Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x Developer: NeverSoft / Treyarch Publisher: Activision Extreme Sports / Platformer - XBox Hard Drive Backup - 3 Saves 1 player

I played the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater back on Dreamcast way back in the 90s, when it was all the rage. I have to admit. I totally didn't understand it. Controls seemed clumsy, and there seemed to be too many moves with no point. Then the owner of the game showed me how the game was supposed to be played and things were never the same again. Playing this game 10 years later only confirmed my feelings back then: This is the greatest 3D platformer ever.

What most people don't know is that THPS is a 3D platformer disguised as an extreme sports game. It has all the elements of 3D platforming I like, and adds the necessary ingredient missing from most: skill. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x is an Xbox port of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2, but adds 3 additional stages. Visuals are slightly upgraded for the Xbox, but it more or less looks and plays like the Dreamcast version.

Like other 3d platforming games, the game puts you through different stages where exploration is encouraged. The structure is sort of free-form, but there are 5-8 goals per stage. Complete a set number of goals (not necessarily all of them), and the next stage opens up. Each stage is timed, but as long as you fulfill a goal within the time frame, it's counted toward your total. Goals are generally of the following types:

• Obtain a certain score
  
• Collect / Find Items
  
• Perform a specific trick

The collecting of items is my favorite part of the game. The brilliance of THPS is that often times you'll see the item that you want - maybe in the distance, maybe way up high. But there's no immediate way to get there. Figuring it out requires exploring the stage to the fullest, and experimenting with what you can interact with in order to reach it. Or sometimes you cannot see the item you want at all, which means it's being concealed somewhere. In stage 1 of THPS2, for instance, you have to grind on the helicopter rotor which triggers it to take off and crash through a window, revealing a secret area. In a lot of ways, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is like a puzzle game. Every stage is a new environment with quirks to discover.

The skill system also keeps things interesting. Being based on extreme sports means that tricks are a major emphasis for scoring. Tricks are pretty easy to initiate, using a direction on the D-pad + one of the face buttons, but executing them requires some delicacy. If you're doing some mid-air trick, you better make sure your skateboard is perpendicular with the ground when you land or else you get docked points for mediocre landings. Even worse, poor landings cause you to fall, making you lose all your points for that trick. Similarly, grinding also requires some precision. If you want to grind, jump and then position yourself in mid-air so that you're aligned with the object you want to grind on. Once you're grinding, you have to maintain your balance, or else you'll fall off. Points are rewarded for pulling off these tricks. The more dangerous the trick, the higher the score. Chain multiple tricks together for multipliers.

Often, performing tricks and exploring a stage go hand-in-hand. There is a secret tape in every stage that is one of the goals. As an example of how to get that secret tape, you may need to perform a couple of tricks to build up speed, launch off a ramp with enough height, land on a set of cables and grind, jump, land on another set of cables and grind until you reach the tape. Doing these kinds of things requires the utmost precision, where a single mistake in a string of maneuvers means failure. That's the sort of thing I love. The game rewards those who master it.

No discussion of THPS is complete without mentioning the gaps. Gaps are optional "discoveries" that are stage-specific. It's hard to explain, but they're basically specific type of tricks such as grinding a particular rail or hopping from one place to another. It's become the series trademark. You'll know when you've triggered a gap, because they're displayed with your tricks and have names like "IT'S COLD OUT HERE" in bold blue font. The game keeps a record of all the gaps you've found for you anal types. They're definitely not required, but they're fun to find, and they contribute to your score multiplier.

If there's any flaw, it's the music. Not that it's bad - most of it rock music, with some hip-hop thrown in. It just plays songs randomly, so you'll be hearing the same stuff in stage 1 as you will at stage 8, so it gets tiresome. They don't even change the music as you play through 2x and 1.

As far as the different games included, THPS2 has larger areas, more goals, and more secrets to discover. It's more challenging too. But the one thing I really like about the original is that there are a few stages that force you in one direction (downhill). That kind of design means that you more or less get one chance to execute what you need to do. I also felt like the overall design (item locations, goals, etc) were better thought out. But 2 definitely offers more of everything, and 1 is so incredibly easy after playing 2. Luckily, with this compilation, you get both, so you don't have to choose. The extra stages are a decent addition, but are quite inferior in quality to the stages in the normal games.

Truly one of the few Western games that I think deserves more recognition than it got. Sure it was popular, but even so, I'm sure it got ignored by a lot of people who couldn't think anything good could come from an extreme sports game. Yet, I can think of no better 3D platformer in existence.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance
Stealth Action - XBox
HD Backup
1 player

From where I stand, MGS2 is the sole reason Sony dominated its rivals. At least from internet fandom, it seemed as if everyone wanted a PS2 simply because MGS2 was being made for it. It was one of the most hyped games ever in the history of gaming. I was never really taken in by Metal Gear Solid, unlike everyone else. Sure it was enjoyable, and for such a mainstream title, it did have interesting scenarios and gameplay mechanics. But I still felt it was too skim on game, and too much cinematic experience. So I was curious as to where MGS2 would go with the franchise.

True to its roots, Metal Gear Solid 2 follows a similar pattern of play to MGS. While you could simply shoot everyone you see, the relative scarcity of ammo and wealth of sneaking abilities would go to waste. Hiding, observing enemy patrol patterns, and sneaking up behind them to hold them up or snap their neck seems to be the more prudent route. But be careful. If you don't drag corpses away, that would tip the enemy off that there's an intruder on the premises and backup is called. The thing about this game is you can play the game however you want. You can go with guns blazing. You can evade all enemies. And you can do a little of both, and everything in between. You're given all the tools, and you can play it as you wish.

To that end, MGS2 feels more focused as a game than MGS. The game consists of two scenarios. One takes place on a Tanker ship. Another takes place 2 years later on a Waste Treatment Plant. Each location envelops you in its surroundings. You get a good sense of the scope of your missions. There's a lot of attention to detail. If you spend the time to study your surroundings in 1st Person view, you can see idol posters, secret passages, and even cockroaches :( Traversing through each situation is quite the task. The bosses put up a lot of fight too. Ultimately MGS2 is more refined, and much more challenging than its predecessor.

There is a lot of criticism leveled at MGS2 because of Raiden. The Tanker scenario plays out in usual fashion. But the Plant scenario features Raiden as the central character, instead of Solid Snake. But I don't really understand the criticisms, because you pretty much play him the same way. Raiden has all the abilities Snake has, except for one critical detail. Snake has an automatic radar so you always have a map and a guide to the enemy's patterns. With Raiden, you need to find computer terminals (Nodes) to download that building's schematics before you get radar. That means that up until you find the Nodes, you have to be more careful of where you go. I actually liked that aspect, because it made me more conscious of my surroundings. It forces you to look in 1st person for a longitudinal view that the camera obscures. It forces you to proceed slower and study what threats exist all around you. The other aspect I found interesting about playing as Raiden is the team dynamic. Although you face many obstacles and enemies along the way, you're not doing it alone. While you're at one task, other characters are at others. Although games have trained us to be the one-man hero, in MGS2, you are only PART of the solution. Tasks that other characters partake in affect you, and vice versa. The mission is bigger than you are.

But for all of that, the game is ... well... kinda boring. I really enjoyed the Tanker scenario, as it showcased all the strengths of this type of game. But the mechanics started to wear thin as I played on. First of all, the bulk of the game takes place in one location. That means there's little variety in the locales as you see the same type of structure over and over and over again. The amount of backtracking in the story ensures you'll be sick of it all. The other major thing is that MGS2 is nothing more than rehashed MGS. You can justify it all you want, but it just feels like Kojima and company said, "Hey, everyone liked our MGS game so let's just do the same thing again with better hardware!" So you have a sniper scene, torture scene, your guided missile through airducts scene... If I wanted to play MGS, I would have. MGS2 relies way too much on nostalgia.

To offset the boredom, MGS2 also offers plenty of irritation. Like MGS, most of the communication in the game is done via codec, some nanotech radio thing. But unlike MGS, codec communication is far more frequent. So you'll be walking around and all of a sudden you'll get a radio buzzer going off. Finish that conversation and a few steps later, you may receive another one. In concept it sounds ok, but its ample execution here frustrates. The Plant scenario in particular doesn't know when to stop with the communication. It interrupts the flow of the game far too frequently for my tastes. Also off-putting is that the codec communication often reminds you that you're playing a game. It'll tell you to "Push the Action button" or "Get into First Person view". To top it off, they'll display video captures of Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid, or MGS2 footage as a self-tribute. But in the end, all this does is patronize the player and shatter the illusion of immersion they tried to create. As far as gameplay flaws, whenever you are caught by the enemy and trigger a red alert, there's a set amount of time before all the alarms clear, and the enemy stops searching for you. Sometimes you can find a perfect hiding spot that's completely out of view, so the enemy can't spot you. But you still have to sit there for 2 minutes or whatever until the red & yellow alert clears. I know that from a consistency standpoint, they shouldn't reduce the wait time. But it's certainly a nuisance when you know you have your safe haven and yet have to just stand there, doing nothing but watching the seconds count down. Maybe I'm not really much into this stealth thing at all.

Finally, there's the cinematic story. There's a whole cast of characters that are each secretly working towards their own goals. There are conspiracies, betrayals, coverups, blackmail, the whole nine yards. It's all interesting enough, but the story's self-importance is its downfall. Just like the codec communication, there are a lot of cutscenes in the game. Each and every clip screams: "Lookit me! This game is full of awe and wonder!" But the only thing I'm wondering is why Kojima thinks his writing and directing is so amazing. I felt as if every cinematic sequence was pretentious, as if they wanted to be taken seriously... but tried way too hard. The latter parts of the game try to tackle philosophy, sociology and existentialism. Although the themes are decent, they've been done elsewhere, and executed far better.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance contains the original Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty, as well as a ton of extras. There's tons of VR missions, game scenarios, supporting storybooks, boss attack mode, etc. If you enjoyed the game, the extra content in Substance offers many additional hours of playtime. I appreciate the wealth of extras included in Substance. But for all its MGS rehashing, irritating design decisions, and contrived cinematics, I didn't enjoy playing Metal Gear Solid 2 very much.

Fatal Frame 2

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Survival Horror - Xbox
Backup memory - 8 save slots
1 player

Coming off the awesomeness that was the first game, I had high expectations of the second. And they were met. Sort of.

Going through the game, I can see they improved a lot. The only real complaint I had about the first is specific to the English versions - voice acting. Thankfully the acting in Crimson Butterfly is much better than the awful performances in the first. However, the male characters could still use more emotion. Their monotone lines sound like they were just read off a paper. Nevertheless, it's a marked improvement. It matters because it makes the whole environment more authentically spooky.

Speaking of spooky, the production values of Crimson Butterfly are much higher than the first. I love the Japanese directing style of flashing disturbing imagery in between footage and you can definitely tell Tecmo went all the way, making it just short of a full-fledged horror film. Creepy scratchy audio in full 5.1 Dolby Digital surround further accentuates it.

FF2 begins with two sisters, Mio and Mayu, visiting a spot in the wilderness where they used to play. Mayu gets distracted by something and wanders off. Mio follows and they find themselves at a forsaken village, which had vanished in one evening. Why did all the townspeople disappear and why is Mayu always going off on her own?

The game pretty much follows the same conventions as the first game. You unravel the mysteries in typical survival horror fashion by retrieving items, backtracking, finding documents that give more backstory, and by solving puzzles. What's new with this outing is that you can also find stones that you can listen to, for some audio backstory. And what's survival horror without things to scare you?

The ghosts are back and this time, they are more likely to travel in groups. But Tecmo has tweaked the camera-weapon to be much more complex and engaging to handle the situations. Whereas in Fatal Frame, spirit stones were one-time use items to use special shots, FF2 incorporates special shots into the core gameplay. This is done by adding a meter which charges up whenever you snap pictures. It's a great change because now I actually use Slow, Stun, etc. FF2 adds a few new abilities that weren't present in the first as well.

Finally, perhaps the most dramatic change is the addition of the Fatal Frame. When fighting ghosts, there is the most vulnerable moment for them. And if you shoot them at this time, you will get a Fatal Frame. Not only do Fatal Frames do more damage, but it automatically gives you a chance to shoot again. Time it right and you can do 2 or 3 shot combos. This gives Crimson Butterfly far more involvement in the combat than the previous game.

But there are downsides to it too. Because FF2 is about waiting for Fatal Frame chances, fights are slowed down dramatically compared to the first. It involves patience and sometimes requires an enemy to appear and disappear multiple times before it gives you an opportunity for a Fatal Frame. Enemies also travel in packs more often too, which slows it down even further. But for all it's worth, the changes to the camera system are fun.

I come away with FF2 less impressed than I was with the first. Even though it has nicer visuals, more convincing audio, and better directing, I felt kind of immune to the scares because I had already played the first game and knew what to expect. The gameplay changes definitely make Fatal Frame 2 enjoyable. However, I don't necessarily think they make FF2 better. Just different. FF1 had more of an action-y feel to the whole game, and as such, has more intense and more difficult battles. FF2 has a more strategic approach, and its slower pace suits it very well. Both are great for what they try to accomplish.

Fatal Frame 2 ends up being a worthy sequel.

Panzer Dragoon Orta

Panzer Dragoon Orta
Action - Xbox
Battery Backup - 1 slot
1 player

When Panzer Dragoon was released for the Sega Saturn, it was an immediate hit. There you flew a dragon with limited mobility on a fixed path, hence the name of the subgenre: "rails shooter" because it's like you're moving on rails. It was unique in that it allowed full 360 degree targeting so enemies could literally come from any direction. Panzer Dragoon Zwei followed it up with more rails action, but this time there were multibranching paths to each level depending on where you pointed your dragon. It also added a berserker attack in which you unleash a barrage of beams when your meter is full. Azel Panzer Dragoon/Panzer Dragoon Saga was the third entry to the system, and although it was a RPG, it still had the same atmosphere, and combat was inspired by its rails shooting roots. In a strange move, Orta is the fourth entry in the series and brings it back to the rails shooter it started off as - but with some major twists.

Let it be said: Orta isn't quite like the old Panzer Dragoons. The elements are still there - flying on rails, multibranching paths, 360 degree shooting. However, two additions to the gameplay change it completely. The first is the ability to change dragon forms on the fly. There are three types with their own strengths and weaknesses. The base form allows you to lock-on to the most enemies. The heavy wing form is slow but dishes out heavy lock-on damage. And glide wing form gives you the most mobility and a automatic-homing-cannon which is best used against incoming projectiles. The way the game is designed, you really need to switch between the three to optimize each situation you come across. The more you play a level, the more you'll get a feel for which is ideal. I like the strategy the forms add to the game, particularly on boss battles. Each form has its own version of the berserker attack as well.

If the form-changes weren't enough, there is another component that is just as important. Your dragon is able to "glide" in both base and glide form. By pushing X, your dragon speeds up for a moment, ramming into any objects along the way. It's a good way to clear an area infested with lots of little enemies. By pushing B, your dragon slows down momentarily. Both the speed up and slow down glides are useful for avoiding gunfire or even attempts of enemies to ram your dragon. Essentially the glide gives you more control over the rail speed for moments at a time. Every use of the glide depletes a notch on your glide meter, which automatically fills up over time. In addition to avoiding damage, there is another use for gliding. Similar to Azel/Saga, many bosses will have weakpoints. By gliding forwards or backwards, you can navigate around a boss to find its weakpoint. By being in the right quadrant, you can dish heavy damage to a boss. By being in the wrong quadrant, you could be on the receiving end of a devastating attack.

All of these new mechanics add up to ... well... an overwhelming experience initially. I remember popping in the game and getting rocked right from the get-go. You can only go so far by using the basic techniques of the old Panzer Dragoon games. But as you get familiar with the stages and the buttons, form-changes and glides become more and more second nature. The moment where it all clicks together, you realize the brilliance of it all.

Panzer Dragoon Orta has ten stages of rails action. Believe me, that's quite lengthy and more than expected. It is by far the most difficult of all the Panzer games. It also includes a Pandora's Box which has additional scenarios with different characters and different vehicles. They're not as elaborate as the main game, but adds an extra touch to the world. But perhaps the greatest inclusion is the original Panzer Dragoon. After finishing Orta, I started playing PD again and realized what was missing in Orta. Simplicity. I adore the original Panzer Dragoon and playing a little of it again reminded me of why. It's simplistic in that there are no meters to charge, no forms to change, no speed boosts to monitor. Your path is already predetermined. So you concentrate on locking on and using your cannon to take out enemies, gun turrets, etc. You can see from the design of the game that it works quite well and is very fun despite lacking all the bells and whistles.

But this is no knock on Orta at all. Orta does not have the same emphasis as PD or PDZwei, but it forges a new path by incorporating Azel/Saga elements. It changes what it is, and there's nothing to be ashamed of. It is an excellent game where the additions are substantial, and level design revolves around those changes. They are not just gimmicks. So hats off to Smilebit for their most polished title to date. With an awesome new type of Panzer game and the inclusion of the original Panzer, this title comes highly recommended. A must-have for all XBox owners.

Conker Live & Reloaded

Conker Live & Reloaded
Platform - XBox
3 Save Slots
1 player / Multiplayer

Conker L&R is a remake of the N64 game, Conker's Bad Fur Day. I confess that I've never had the opportunity to try it. But that's exactly the reason I picked up Live & Reloaded. A remake with a total graphic overhaul? Sign me up. What I didn't count on was getting a game completely different from what I was expecting. But sometimes that's not a bad thing at all.

I've always thought Conker was a third person shooter. I've seen clips of Conker here and there with references to The Matrix and Saving Private Ryan. Little did I know that these scenes are at the very end of the game, and that for the other 90% of the time, Conker is a 3D platformer. The way it controls reminds me of Rayman 2. Both have loose control. Both have a helicopter-glide move that extends jumping distance. And both have clunky combat. Your main weapon is a bat. If you time your attacks, you can perform a combo to defeat enemies in fewer hits.

By far, most of what you'll be doing is jumping and gliding over a large expansive world. As you progress, you'll be able to go further and deeper into the areas. The thing that impressed me the most is that Conker consists of a series of puzzles. Everything from how to proceed to how to defeat bosses requires some brain-work. I first noticed this on the initial boss fight with an angry bull. There were healing items all over, and even when consumed, they would reappear after a little while. It finally dawned on me that this wasn't a game to be conquered by outlasting the boss, but rather by discovering the opponent's weakness. All bosses seem impenetrable, but as you try different things, the game will alert you when you're getting warm. So the game gives you a few clues, but stops short of holding your hand. It's a nice change of pace and many of the boss battles are quite clever.

One of the most talked about things about Conker is its humor. There's a lot of cursing in the game, mostly bleeped out, and there's a lot of wrongness too. I can't think of any other games where you push a ball of feces which grows bigger as you roll it over the diarrhea-covered ground in hi-res glory. I also appreciate its neverending list of film references. They're really just icing on the cake.

Conker is one of the most original games I've played in a long while. I had a blast going through the game and its variety of playing styles. You'll sneak, jump, push, whack, fly, shoot, pilot, and swim your way through the stages - and what pretty locales they are. The effects and graphical power of the Xbox really make the graphical update worth it. It's one of the nicest looking games on the system. But what I enjoyed most of all really are the puzzles. Some of them are quite a challenge. Once solved, they're rewarding. There's something about having it click that gives you a feeling of accomplishment. Funny how perceptions of what a game is like can be so wrong. This time though, I've been pleasantly surprised.

Halo 2

Halo 2
First Person Shooter - Xbox
1-2 players campaign / 1-4 players deathmatch

As the sequel to one of the most beloved recent franchises, Halo 2 has a lot to live up to. Even though Halo 2 follows most of the conventions of the first game, Halo 2 carves up its own game. Unfortunately, I just don't care for what it has become.

Let's get the good out of the way. Supposedly Halo 2 is awesome on XBox Live. I don't have a subscription so I never tried it out. But from what I hear, Bungie concentrated on making it a blast to play online against other people. The interface, maps, balance patches, etc are all geared toward an awesome competitive experience.

But for all the work they put into the multiplayer, I'm a campaign player. And I just didn't enjoy the experience. Most people bash on Halo 2's ending, but that's a non-issue for me. In fact, I thought the ending was one of the highlights of the game. Not that it was great. It just wasn't that bad.

Halo 2 feels like a totally different game than its predecessor. It's faster paced and more action-focused. I'm sure some people would appreciate the change, but I personally played Halo for its emphasis on strategy and resourcefulness. Halo 2 is more of a blast-a-thon in that the situations are more wild. You have to run around like mad shooting enemies left and right. In Halo, many times you would want to be more discreet and sneak behind enemies to whack them on the back of the head. Halo 2 isn't any more difficult because of the action emphasis. It's just different.

Nevertheless, Halo 2 does have some cool aspects. Vehicles play a bigger role here than in Halo. There are more types of vehicles that you can ride, and you find yourself having many more vehicle-vs-vehicle battles here, distinguishing it from other FPS. Halo 2 also has a lot more weapons to play with, although a lot of them are unnecessary.

The big thing Bungie was plugging for Halo 2 is the ability to double-wield, and I have mixed feelings about it. Basically for the smaller weapon types, you are allowed to hold two guns simultaneously. They don't have to be the same weapon, so you can mix and match at will. And with each gun mapped to the L and R triggers, you have perfect control over them. The nice thing is that dual-wield has a cost. With two guns, you give up the ability to perform melee attacks and the ability to throw grenades. So there will be times in the game where you'll dual-wield, drop a weapon, toss a grenade, pick up another weapon, and starting firing out of both guns again. Nevertheless for all the trouble, it mostly feels gimmicky and propagates the action-oriented experience of Halo 2.

There are other changes to the game that I don't like. The guns have been rebalanced - but not always for the best. Now rocket launchers can shoot homing missiles against vehicles. In Halo, there was a certain sense of satisfaction that I got when I perfectly aimed and timed a rocket to blow up a tank. In Halo 2, you just home in on an enemy and press the trigger for effortless killing. It just makes the game less challenging. Halo 2 also gives up what I was most impressed with in Halo - the scope of the environments. Whereas Halo had these expansive immersive worlds to explore, Halo 2 is very confined. Sure, Halo level design had its issues, but Halo 2 is completely uninteresting.

I admit that I am sorta biased because I played Halo on Normal and Legendary and had a blast. Halo 2 I've only played through on Normal, and didn't find it challenging at all. I'm sure if I turned up the difficulty level, it may force me to be more strategic. But even after finishing Halo on Normal, I knew I wanted to play it on Legendary. The fact that I don't want to play Halo 2 again speaks volumes about the changes implemented in the game. Bungie pointed the series in a direction I don't enjoy. I'm skeptical, but I hope Halo 3 makes Halo proud.

Halo Combat Evolved

Halo Combat Evolved
First Person Shooter - Xbox
1-2 players campaign / 1-4 players deathmatch

Yup, I'm quite a few years too late, but that's ok. Bungie's Halo series is well known, and probably THE reason that most people bought an XBox. It's a celebration for console owners, because there's been a great gap since the phenomenal Golden Eye 007 for a quality FPS. Is Halo all it's cracked up to be? Well, yes and no.

Let's get this straight. Halo is pretty darn good. Multiplayer is what everyone talks about and yes, it's an awesome party game. A variety of locales, weapons, and vehicles make each stage unique. The controls are extremely tight, and I especially love the intuitive dual analog control. Makes sniping people an absolute hoot.

But as nice of a deathmatch game it is, I care more about the campaign. What makes Halo noteworthy is the 2p co-op. Yup, 2 players can have at it taking down Covenant scum, and certainly adds a new dimension to the game. But a partner isn't needed. At its heart, it's a fulfilling 1 or 2 player experience. It plays out like modern FPS where there are story cutscenes, but also in-game dialog between your character and NPCs/AI-controlled allies. Sometimes the action going on will impair hearing of this dialog, but perhaps that makes it more realistic.

Where it shines is the environments. The scope is unmatched of any FPS I've played thus far. The outside scenery is absolutely huge, spanning a lot of ground and height. Many of these stages give you ground and air vehicles in order to traverse them quickly. This gives the game a very epic and expansive feel that most other FPSs lack. There is a lot of wide open space for varying tactics. Where it falters though, is the interior environments. Level design for indoors is extremely repetitive and lacks personality. It comes off as a big disappointment because its contrasted by the amazing outside environments. One stage for example has the same floor layout for each of its 10+ rooms, and it made you wonder if you were really getting anywhere. Also it made me wonder if Bungie could be any lazier.

But getting past that one flaw, you'll see why Halo is so highly regarded. It's an excellent multiplayer game, whether campaign or deathmatch. And the amount of effort put into making this a living breathing world is incredible. While the game has lofty goals, the fact that it misses the target on the interior levels drags the game down a bit. Still, it's one of the finer examples of the genre on any game system.

Fatal Frame

Fatal Frame
Survival Horror - Xbox
Backup memory - 8 save slots
1 player

If you told me 5 years ago that a video game could scare the pants off of me, I wouldn't have believed you. Fatal Frame, or Zero, as it's known in Japan, is Tecmo's entry into the crowded Survival Horror genre. And boy does it do its job.

The moment you step into the game world, you live it. The lighting (or lack thereof), silence, camera usage and sparse use of ominous music all make for a perfectly crafted Japanese horror experience. You don't just buy into the world, you feel it. It also helps that the vibration effects in the controller helps to maximize that. It's everything I like about Japanese horror films - suspense, disturbing imagery that lingers in your mind, mysterious vibe, and that unsettling feeling - only extended for many hours. This is a game where you may have to turn the game off for the night. It truly is that creepy. The only sour point is that the English dubbing kinda hinders the serious feel, as there are definitely badly acted parts. I saw the Japanese version, and it's far more convincing. The dubbing is the only minus I can give to the game.

What's incredible is that it's not only the use of artistic direction that makes Fatal Frame scary, but the game mechanics support it too. Normally you walk about in third person, similar to Resident Evil or Silent Hill. It has normal controls meaning that up means walking up, down means walking down, etc, which I'm sure haters of the RE "tank-controls" will be happy about. However, the only weapon in the game is a camera, and when you want to use it, it puts the game in first person. The first person view enhances the claustrophobic feeling because it's not always easy to see where the ghosts are. It totally puts you into the shoes of the main character. The only quirkiness is that in third person, left analog controls movement of your character. But in first person, left analog is for controlling the camera and right analog controls movement of your character. It's a little disorienting at first to have that reversed, but you quickly get used to it.

It's a clever combat system though. It's like a slower-paced FPS, with an emphasis on timing and precision. See, while you can take pictures in rapid succession, you do the most damage when your camera is charged up. Charging requires that you point the lens directly at the ghost. So the longer you wait before you shoot, the more powerful it is. But the longer you wait, the more chance the ghost has to attack you and dish out a lot of damage. On top of that, the more accurate the photo of the ghost, and the closer the ghost is to you, the more points you get to upgrade your camera. So there is this system of maximum risk = maximum reward. It is by far the most sophisticated game system of all the survival horror games.

All of this is contained in nice package. Yes, it does come with more than one ending, an additional difficulty level, a score-based battle mode, and its fair share of unlockables. But at its roots, it's an engaging adventure game where you unravel the plot by searching for clues and solving puzzles. The fact that Tecmo coupled it with a frightening atmosphere and made a genuinely good game out of it puts this at the very top of my list. Definitely one of the greatest games to come out in this generation.