Music Reviews

This is one of our family's favorite.

We have a problem. We expect too much out of games. We expect every new platformer to somehow revolutionize the genre. This is why Pitfall has received little acclaim; it tries nothing new. And you know what? That's okay. Sometimes a simple romp in the jungle can bring hours of fun, which is exactly what you'll get if you just like straight platform action without having to deal with level objectives and collect-a-thons and "clever" takes which ultimately go bad. Pitfall stays true to its roots, packs a lot of charm, and is fun to the very end. Unfortunately, the end is sooner than I would like. This shortness, and a few bugs in the game, cause me to knock a star out, but I still highly recommend Pitfall as a weekend rental to adventure/platform fans.

This game ROCKS! Great graphics,sound, etc.... This game will rack up the hours. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. Alot of fun!! HINT: Pick up the follow along manual, you'll need it.

My 5-year old doesn't spend the same amount of time on it as she does w/Reader Rabbit, Madeline, or Dr. Seuss. It doesn't offer a lot places to visit...Basically just 4 games and that's it.

I bought this product for my 5-year old daughter who loves the Powerpuff girls. She loved it and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had successfully blended drilling exercises in math and spelling with a truly fun and interactive game. The only drawback to this CD is that it's a bit limited with only 4 games but it is definitely still worth the money and will provide hours of fun for young children.

My four-year-old daughter loves the Powerpuff Girls but so far it has just been for entertainment purposes. I assumed this would just teach hand-eye coordination but I was wrong. This has plenty of action and hand-eye coordination fun, and then it also teaches north, south, east, west with map navigation and several other academic chunks as well. She is not yet finished playing it after about three hours so far and she is learning new material. It really teaches her--leaving me time to read a book without too many interruptions.

Over all I'm inpressed with it after using it for 2 days. Beats using a keyboard to control a race car sim. Had trouble getting it set up with NASCAR Racing 3 though, it doesn't recognize all of the available buttons, so the shifter does not work in that program. The paddle shifters work fine though. If anyone knows a work around for that I'de like to know.

Over all nice product very heavy, feels quite sturdy. The clamp does not fit on my desk too well but holds enough to keep it in place. The force feed back adds a little bit of extra realism to the game and took no effort at all to get to work.

I would buy it again, nice product for a nice price.

This steering wheel is the best. I've used many different racing wheels, including others by thrustmaster, and they all worked well. The force feedback wheel is by far the most realistic wheel i have ever used. I used to do some stock car racing in my younger years and let me tell you, this wheel drives and responds like the real thing, assuming you have the force feedback options setup correctly in the game itself. When you get hit in the rear and go into a spin, you can feel every bump, spin and crack in the track. I highly recommend it!!!

My son loves racing on line with Nascar2003 and others...We have bought him many Logitech racing wheels. They are not bad, but the pedal shafts are made of plastic and break very easily. For roughly 25 cents, they could replace these with metal and greatly improve the longevity.

This Thrustmaster works better in every way. The shafts are metal and they last forever. The shifter makes for more realistic racing. If you have enthusiastic on line racers in your house choose this one, or keep buying new ones every 4 or 5 months. The first one we bought 18 months ago still works fine. Just bought another so two can race at the same time in our house!

This game is Awesome! For all fans of the Legacy of Kain series, it is an essential game. For all action/suspense fans, it still is a must buy. The action is top-notch, the puzzles will keep your mental wheels turning, and the game play is wonderfully smooth. Get this game while you can!!

let me tell you the game is sweet, and very awsome to play, the gore is awsome, running people through with your weapons is awsome, sucking there blood is sweet. But just incase for any of you out there that has not played it yet, one thing you hae to watch out for, they put to much information in it, so it skips alot, not skipping like a DVD does, but it stalls sometimes for like a sec. or 2 most of the time and so if you like to own this game, you gotta live with it if you want to own, just to tell you all before you ever buy it. But don't get me wrong, the game is awsome, there is a couple of partsinthe game that are mess ups, if you put in the code for hime to have the best suit and his soul reaver sword, sometimes when a video hits, it have the sword through his shoulder and at the very end when he is talking to the boss, I can't remember his name, but it will cut off on them talking and it gets very annoying but after a while I'm sure you won't care, and also at another part, at the begining when you are talking a fellow vampire you will get cut off and she will finish talking and then at the last second, you will finish your sentance like you never got cut off, it is weird, but hey I've played it so much, I don't bother with that anymore, I just like to kill people, the inocent poeple and suck there blood and run people through with my sword, hope you all enjoy it.

You are Kain, a vampire. You were defeated two hundred years ago by Sarafan, your enemy. In that time, you were the lord of the land of Nosgoth. Two hundred years later, you awake. The world has changed and you no longer have power, but you still have allies. Now it's your task to kill the Sarafan for good.
- Graphics: The graphics aren't that great but there's nothing to complain about them. I mean, they're very clean and have no serious problems, the character's expressions are good... Believe me, if there's nothing to complain, then the graphics aren't bad. The enviroment is also very good, reminds me of London of 19th century or something...
- Sound: This game has the best voice acting ever, believe me. The voices are awesome and Kain's quotes makes him one of the best characters ever from a videogame. The soundtrack is also great, and the song changes when an enemy is close to you (reminds me of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell in this point).
- Fun: What makes the game fun is the fact that you play as Kain, a character that nearly every gamer (myself incluided) would like to be. Intelligent, wise, fearless. The puzzles are also easy to solve, so you don't really get pissed (I hate hard games) because you can't solve one.
- Educative: No, this game is not any educative, it's undoubtedly a Mature game. You kill helpless victims, there are lots of blood and violence. If your kids are easily impressed by violence, this is not your game.
Overall, this is one of the greatest tiles ever for your GameCube. A must-buy if you're into mature games. If you're not, well, stay away.
One more thing, a little hint for you all... This cheat is only avaliable on the GameCube version... Press Z, R, L, B, X, Y in the main menu and you can start the game with the Soul Reaver (very powerful sword) and with the ultimate clothes (that protect you from most wounds).

"Bloody Roar 4"....It is definately a game that fans will most likely appreciate a little more than someone who has first laid eyes on it. However, I personally became interested in this series in the third edition. Mind you that the third Bloody Roar is far less in superiority to Bloody Roar 4 in many ways. I was attracted to the game's original theme of humans being an alter ego of something else (i.e: Bakuryu: -The Mole-, Xion: -The Unborn-)And THAT is why it is seperated from the other fighting games. It is this theme that you should decide is right for you, and not the "Superiority" in the commericialized games like "Tekken 4", and "Soul Calibur". This game has more of a unrealistic, cartoonish theme. Yet it still posseses the nobility of a story to ponder. I'm pretty sure the creators of this series are obviously focusing on this original theme more than anything else to stay in the competition. So, I repeat: The THEME is what you should ponder. The modes are basically the same as any other fighting game, so realisticaly....look at the only difference that makes this game stand out, or look for another game. It's what will make or ruin this game/series for you. And I can promise you, they're probably not planning on changing it. To do so would be stupid.

Bloody Roar 4 is actually the 5th bloody roar game (6th if you count the arcade game Beastorizer) to be released. There was Bloody Roar, and Bloody Roar 2 for the Playstation, Bloody Roar 3 for PS2, Bloody Roar Primal Fury for Gamecube, and now Bloody Roar 4 for PS2. And while it is a great game, I'm just not so sure that it deserves five stars.

Unlike Bloody Roar 2, there is no real story version. (even though the story version in Bloody Roar 2 was kind of weak, it was kind of a cool premise) Granted the arcade version does lead you through a bit of story at the end, but it is long, drawn-out, and slightly confusing/anti-climactic.

On the otherhand, BR4 does have the career option, which gives you an arcade fighter meets RPG type of feel where you earn DNA points, and can buy extra activities to better your character (who you can later play in the other battle modes...similar to the Weapon's expert of Soul Calibur 2).

BR4 does introduce a few new characters, but the only one of mention is Nagi, the female psuedo-counterpart to Xion, the unborn. (Although I have NO IDEA what she is supposed to be...and calling her "the spurious" doesn't help that matter) The new character that is a duo, with a big guy and really tiny girl (who changes into a dog), is hard to play, and easy to beat...not an exciting addition. The crow is OK, but in my opinion doesn't compare to the phoenix/penguin combination (yes, this was just one character) of BRPF.

There are 5 characters to unlock, which is cool, but I know that at least 2 of them are repeat characters from previous games (I won't say who). The career mode seems to be where you unlock all of the characters (so far I've unlocked 4 there)...based on how many DNA points you have for ONE character.

All in all, the game is a must buy for Bloody Roar fans, and a should buy for any arcade fighting game fans. It delivers interesting characters, good animation, (bad dubbing), and a nice challenge.

Bloody Roar 4 is a great game. But if you don't like blood then don't get this. This game is fast and fun. If you are a bloody roar fan you know the games are great. It has all your fav characters from the other ones. Activision made the other bloody roars, but this time Konami made it. So that may be way they have the new "Zoanthropes Guage" thingy. There are three new characters, Ryoho & Mana, Reiji, and Nagi. Besides the bad voice overs the story line is good. You may not understand some stuff at first but once you play with all the characters you start to understand it better. At first the game looks easy but then it gets harder and harder after every battle. So I say if you get over the voice for Uriko you can start to love it.

I remember playing the original Pac Man on the arcade around the time it came out and since then Ive always been a fan.I also bought a Playstation back aroung 1994 and Pac Man World was my favorite game for that console.It just blew everything else right out of the water.If you still have a Playstation you owe it to yourself to get that game and while Pac Man World 2 is not as good as that it is still an excellent game.The main game isnt all that original but it is still pretty fun.I found myself liking the mazes more than most of the main game but since there a lot of mazes I cant complain too much.A few parts of the volcano levels can be pretty frustrating but overall its pretty damn easy.I still think its more fun than Luigis Mansion and Super Mario Sunshine because its more like a standard platform game in 3D which is pretty cool.You can also unlock old Pac Man games in the arcade room in this game.If youre a fan of platform games or just like Pac Man you should definitely go out and get this.

Yes, Pac is back in this 3-D world of adventure and fun that you just couldn't possibly put down. It starts off telling the story of how the ghosts steal the golden fruit from the tree that accidentally unleashes a ghoul ghost called Spooky that attacks Pac and his people. That is when you are sent on a journey into this amazing three-dimensional world of wacky fun and with a bit of old new twists. The game looks exciting, yet difficult at points in the game when you get further down the way. There's special mazes that you can go through when getting a special item that is pretty fun. Without a doubt, Pac-Man World 2 is a highly addictive game. Try it. You'll have fun.

The Pac Man video games were some of the first to be truly successful in the video game industry, so it's not surprising that Namco has revived the character in recent years. Pac Man has starred in a number of different types of games over the years, and here he stars in a three-dimensional platformer. The game has now been rereleased with a bonus multiplayer game! Read on for my review of the Pac Man World 2 Bundle.

-Pac Man World 2-

PROS:
-The graphics for this game very good, in particular those of the cut scenes. The cut scenes really must be seen to be fully appreciated.
-The controls are, for the most part, pretty easy to learn. You should be able to pick them up pretty quickly.
-There are a number of things to hunt down in every level, which slightly boosts the replay value of the game.

CONS:
-The control scheme has a number of problems, which are particularly noticable when you're in the heat of battle, or trying to make a virtually impossible jump.
-Much like the recent Sonic games, the camera is pretty lame. It has a tendency to get stuck on pretty much anything and everything, which can really hurt your gaming experience.
-The swimming controls flat out suck, mostly due to continually-shifting camera angles underwater. You shouldn't include swimming stages in a video game unless you can get it right!
-In the end, this ends up being a pretty generic three-dimensional platformer. There are considerably better games of the same genre available. The game comes off seeming like something intended more for younger players.

-Pac Man Vs.-

PROS:
-This is an extremely fun multiplayer game. One player uses a Game Boy Advance to control Pac Man, while the other players control ghosts on the TV who try to defeat Pac Man. This is a great new twist on an old favorite, and you can do two, three, or four players.

CONS:
-This game REQUIRES a Game Boy Advance/Gamecube link cable, and a Game Boy Advance. That means that it could ultimately end up costing you over a hundred dollars just to play this game!
-It's multiplayer only. There is no single-player mode!
-As with any game, it's funnest with as many people as possible, and there usually won't be that many people around who are willing to play.

OVERALL:
Overall Pac Man World 2 is nothing special, and in my opinion is only worthy of a three out of five. Pac Man Vs., on the other hand, is a multiplayer masterpiece, and it bumps this package's score up to a four out of five. And at the extremely low MSRP, you can't lose with this set. Just make sure you have all the necessary equipment to play Pac Man Vs. BEFORE you buy the game!

This game is okay. You play the role of a Mech joke in a war between two island deweling nations.

Basicly your the great hero that is suppose to lead your nation to victory.

My main compliant is how easy it was for a giant mech to be taken down by enemy tanks. Around six hits will do it I belive. Also your viechle can bearly fly makeing it tought to race to the front and fend off tanks then fly back to base to stop bombers.

But other than that the game is great. Your base will send out tanks and infantry as long as the right buildings are there as well the enemy base. Tank out there production buildings to hurry your sides victory.

The story is VERY lineal. Win or lose. If you win with all side missions accompliesed you get a harder version of the next mission if you want.

That's about this game in a nut shell.

Think of Star Wars Starfighter (or comparable game). Now, think of any arcade car-combat game (Twisted Metal, for instance). Now, think of a 3d RTS game (Battlezone style). This is the odd amalgamation that comprises Battle Engine Aquila. The basic setup of BEA is that you are piloting a prototype military vehicle called the Aquila. Aquila is designed to both fly like a jet and walk like a six-legged mech, and switch between either mode on the fly. Aquila is the newest weapon in a long-lasting war between two archipelago nations. The thing that separates this game from most other shooters is that, though you are an extremely powerful weapon of war, you are not the only one. Battles in Aquila are really battles. That is, it's not you vs. an army, it's an army vs. an army. You can literally stand back and watch the war go on (though you won't win this way). This game is designed so your job is not to win the war, but to fight in it.

Gameplay:

Gameplay in BEA is similiar to Jedi Starfighter, but you can walk too. You basically have a mission goal, be it invasion, defense or target elimination. All of the game's missions take place on either islands or over the sea (the world of BEA consists entirely of archipelagos, groups of small islands). At the beginning of a level, you are given a mission objective, choice of Battle Engine weapons layout (starting later in the game), and choice of wingmen. You are then let free to basically complete your mission as you see fit.

Throughout the battles, you are given a small map of the island with a two-color overlay to show you in real-time who controls what part of the island you're on (missions over the ocean have no map, since there's no land to control). This lends a bit of strategy to the fights, since you can always tell where the relatively safe or hostile areas are, as well as how close your side is to winning or losing the island. Herein lies one of the problems with this game, however: there's not enough strategy to make the game really all that much deeper than Starfighter (though, if you enjoyed that game, you'll probably like this one).

Your Aquila is fitted with three weapons, a shield and some armor. Your three weapons are usually a rapid-fire weapon, a more powerful but slower energy weapon, and a missile/bomb weapon. Ammo is refilled at designated pads, which can even sometimes be placed on larger flying ships. Your are protected by an energy shield, which only operates while you're walking, and serves as a measure of how long you can stay aloft while flying. In the air, you're only protected by your armor, which can be repaired at the aforementioned pads.

Enemies consist of infantry, tank-like vehicles, flying vehicles, and walkers similiar to you. There are also emplaced guns, factories and training facilities, and various other buildings. Infantry are more or less cannon fodder, though it is sometimes fun to see them fight other infantry. Tanks and walkers are the majority of the enemy force. Enemies come from either factories (or training facilities, in the case of infantry) or flying transports. This lends some credibility to the large size of enemy forces, since you can actually see where they're coming from.

Overall, BEA plays like a very basic RTS style game, though its focus is pretty much entirely on action. Basically, if you liked Starfighter, you'll probably like BEA. The difficulty level is either middling or difficult, depending on whether you're playing the regular missions or their harder equivalents. This is dictated not by an options setting, but how succesful you are at fulfilling your secondary objectives. Do them all, and you'll switch to the difficult missions. Leave one undone, and you'll stay in the regular mode.

Graphics:
Graphics in BEA are pretty much average. Terrain is somewhat fuzzy, but you're never close enough to see extreme detail, and since you'll spend much of your time flying you won't really notice it. The islands are small enough that you can see from one end to another in the air, with ocean stretching past the coasts to the horizon. The islands vary in topography; from soft, grassy, hilly terrain to volcanic mountains. Trees are plentiful, decent looking, and can be shot down (one of the better special effects is seeing trees being felled by a travelling missile). Water also looks good, and seeing the frames of ancient buildings sticking out of the ocean is a nice detail.

Models aren't extremely detailed, but look pretty good considering there have to be hundreds active at once with no slowdown. All the vehicles are animated well, if somewhat basically, with moving turrets and treads. Textures are pretty detailed, and the actual look of different vehicles differ greatly depending on what side they're on. Your side is blue mostly, with the enemy as red. This makes it easy to see who's on your side and who isn't, even when flying. The most impressive unit feature is scale. Buildings are believably big, and being able to land on a flying fortress, while its in the air, to refill ammo is pretty neat. One of my favorite tricks, in fact, is to actually land on a flying enemy transport and blast it to heck while I'm standing on it.

Lighting effects are basic, but not bad. There are some particle effects, but not many. Weapons effects aren't bad, though, and seeing two armies exchange fire can be pretty impressive. The only real problem with BEA's graphics, overall, is their general generic appearance. Nothing's really going to make you whince, but nothing's going to take your breath away.

Audio:
BEA's audio is okay. Weapons effects are generic, but work. Music is nondescript, but not annoying. Again, it's the scale of the battles that'll get you. Nothing here's really bad enough to stand out, though. Just all pretty "okay".

Overall:
If you like Starfighter, get BEA. It's better. Otherwise, get it if you can find it for $... You'll definitely enjoy yourself.

This is one of the best games that has been released for Xbox. Battle Engine Aquila is truly revolutionary; there is simply no other game like it. The best aspect is that you know that you aren't alone on the battle-field; you are part of a whole. However, if you want to simply take on the whole Muspell army yourself, you will summarily beat down. You have to use your forces and realize that you are support for your team, and nd not the other way around. This game is the first of its kind, and is most definitely worth the money. BUY THIS GAME!!!

The graphics in this game are really good, and being able to play championship mode with two players is great, but the game takes entirely too long to load. $20 is a great purchase price, but save your money and wait for the new version of Rallisport (coming out 5/4/04).

At first, I was a bit scepticle of this game, being that it was $20. Normally, cheap games that are new suck. But this game is an exception. The graphics, amazing. The damage modeling is the best I have ever seen. When you are flying throungh the rain and you see little things like rain that goes to the top of the windshield, your jaw will drop. The gameplay is also great. If you do not choose the right car setup, your flying all over. Probably the only downfall of this game is that after beating all of the championships, it can get a little boring. The mutliplayer also isnt all that good. But this game still rocks. If you are a rally fan, this game is a must buy.

This game is excellent, I don't know what everybody complains about. This is the best Rally game so far that is out. It has excellent graphics and the realism is great. The course details are amazing as are the car details and the damage is realistic. I'd highly recommend this game for any racer and for the price, it's a steal. 5 stars in my book.

This game really isnt anything special. Splinter Cell Pandora Tommorow is almost the exact same thing. But I will admit, The 3D Hub is pretty cool (The Part of The game that isnt a sidescroller). Just Because it is a not original it is still fun to play, But expect to cruise through it in about 6 hours.

While it doesn't boast any revolutionary features for a GBA game, Spider-Man 2 is still a fun game that GBA owners and fans of the web-head will enjoy. The game is presented mostly in a side scrolling view with typical 2-D GBA graphics fare. Spidey himself is smoothly animated, as are the various enemies throughout the game. The story is told by way of a combination of stills from the blockbuster film, some slickly 3-D rendered artwork, and text dialogue, and presents the story well while incorporating new villains (The Lizard and Rhino to go along with Doctor Octopus) into the mix. Spider-Man 2's only downside are the never ending generic baddies and repititous puzzles that can grate on your nerves, but other than that, Spider-Man 2 for the GBA is solid throughout. All in all, if you own a GBA, and whether you are a fan of the comic or of the movies, then give this a try.

Finally I found a game worth my precious batteries' litle lives. This game is sooooooo good. I didnt know my Game Boy was capable of such brilliant graphics or awesoem gameplay. My kid always wants to play but I can't find it in me to give up my turn. This game is the best game I have playe din quite some time and is definitely well worth every penny I spent on it. I goes everywhere with me and I can't stop playing it. Activision makes the best games. Check out Shrek 2 as well, that game is great too! Not as fun as spidey, but a def great game in its own right.
Take care, comb your hair!

I have owned the American version for about 1 week and I have been actively playing the game getting to several endings. I loved the first one. This one is far more complicated.This game is definately not for young children. There are themes here such as drug use, sex, and lots of violence. For the adults buying this game. Now back to the review although this game was far more expansive with many different characters, outfits and scenarios this game also has alot less fighting in most of the jobs that you must aquire to get money to buy goods. You start out by finding things like lost people, packages, or you have to strong arm people out of money. While this was a change of pace from the first one I found some of the jobs a little tedious often times boring. You have to complete several "find the baby/package/person/ before you get to the more complex jobs. So this is far from hack and slash. Its alot more talk and find and occasionally fight. Which is fine but along with the dialogue that I must put up with every time I start a new game it can get annoying.

I LOVED the first game, simply adored it! This one promises to be bigger! It isn't bigger, about the same. The only thing that really changed is that you can carry two swords later in the game. My only gripes are that you can't go anywhere or do anything (ie..You can't just kill anyone and change the story etc..like Morrowind) Another thing that I didn't like is that there aren't any pastures like the first game where you can just walk through and level up etc.. other than that the game is almost identical to the first but with new characters and more swords. Not a 5 yet but its getting there, lets hope for a Way of the Samurai 3 and hope it fixes the gripes I mentioned.

if you like swords in any way, get this game. i've played the first one and i liked that one a lot but it lacked what the second game has now and thats why this game is so great. graphics are great and two of the things i like is that you can choose a differnt way to play it everytime so you never get bored, and there are lots of sword. i perfer the bosses ones or leaders whatever you want to call them, theres like 15 of them, i've almost got all of thoughs but i still got a while to go. and once you get swords you can make them better by takeing them to the smith. another thing thats great in this game is that if you do something it can change the way all the characters in the game look at you, wich is pretty neat. the sword moves in the are sweet and you can always learn new ones.

like i said if you like samurais and swords, or just looking for a game with adventure get this one