Music Reviews

Madden '04 is great! The franchise mode with the owner mode part is cool. Set your ticket price, food, etc. This is great for the people that really like the aspects of managing a real team. Even move it to Alaska! Bad part is that u could get a carrer ending injury to a player like Culpepper. It's optional though. You kinda get tired with Madden's repeated commentary. One problem is that Rookie is too easy, but the next level is hard. Play maker control is GREAT! YOu get points for achievements, which eventually lead up to cool cheats. Couple of lineup issues, but this game is great. Excellent graphics of stadiums,

The next Instalment in the Madden series is here with Madden 2004. But what new features are added to make us pay out our hard earned money?

New Playmaker Control: Make pre-snap adjustments to your receiver routes, direct receiver routes during a scramble, direct blocking down field during a run, or read and react to the offense to deliver a crushing tackle.

New Owner Mode: Hire your own staff, set your team's ticket prices, build your own stadium, reward key players with signing bonuses and boost player attributes in Mini-Camp drills.

All-New Game Presentation: Keep your players on the field during the play-calling screen. Watch all the highlights in split-screen replay and revel in new player accuracy details like dreadlocks, tattoo replicas, and four new helmet styles.

Most Realistic NFL Playbooks Ever: Tons of new trick plays, multiple formation variations, and the deepest NFL playbooks from all 32 officially licensed Coaches Club Head Coaches.

New Animations and Enhancements: New QB scramble transitions to improve throwing on the run, stumbles, open field blocks, whirlwind defensive reaction moves, sideline wrap tackles, and out of bound pushes.

Do yourself a favour and pick up Madden 2004. It'll be worth the money!

ok first of all i actually own this game. Most these reviews are from people who dont even have this game yet. First thing to understand when buying this game is that its Madden.... its what you expect from Madden. The camera angle, controls, game play, and graphics for the most part are the same as last year and the year before. But thats not a bad thing. Madden has become the ultimate football video game and I dont think those area need changes. As long as we got updates rosters, the rookies, and a few new features Im happy. So here is the overall review... the gameplay and controls are prettymuch the same. Dont expect anything new in this department. The main changes come in the owner mode. The first change is this time when signing players you can give out signing bonuses. This is nice cuz you can lower your players salary and increase his bonus to benefit yourself. Also, players will renogotiate contracts to save you money to allow you to keep other players. The bad part is it is considered a "holdout" but they will sometimes agree to less money than they orignally made. Also after the end of your first season you can sign coaches and coodinators... pretty cool,, other teams will even try to hire your coodinators on as their head coaches if you do good enough. The main new feature is you can set your ticket prices, concession prices, advertising and all the junk a real GM/owner does. the better your team does the more tickets you sell but when you riase prices too high it lowers sales its pretty cool, fun to play with. after a few seasons if you have the money you can build a new stadium and customize it yourself, renovate an existing stadium or move cities. Ok, another new feature is you can do "training camp" before every pre season... this involves about 10 drills. you can pick one player to do each drill and if they do it well enough you get to add points on to their attributes. This is awesome cuz you can takerookies you just drafted and earn them points and get them ready for the season. Or you can take younger 2nd and 3rd year guys and boost their ratings since you just lost one of your starting vets to free agency and you need the young kid to step up and start the next season. its pretty sweet.

ok so all in all if you are expecint huge changes to the gameplay you wont like it. Madden has become classic and as the phrase goes "dont fix it unless its broke" Madden is a classi game series and they didnt try to "fix" gameplay controls or graphics cuz there was nothing wrong with it in the first place. When you buy this game you have no need to even read the instructions cuz the same buttons do the same things as every year,,, but thats not a bad thing cuz the game kicks A$$ every year. The changes are updated rosters, and the things i mentioned above which really only effect the owner mode. If you are someone who just buys the game the play friends in and mess around with then you arent gettin anything new. If you are like me and go DEEP into owner mode (in 2003 madden i played like 12 seasons deep) then youll love the new features. its a great game

Star Fox Adventures is, a great game. It has many mechanics used in the Zelda games and follows basically the same format as those games. However the game just doesn't have that natural sparkle found in a Nintendo game, that youd come to expect.

Star Fox adventures takes place 8 years after Andross has been destroyed. Wondering around in the Lylat System is something that the Star Fox team is just not into anymore, with Peppy have retired, and Falco to do his personal things, Fox and Slippy haven't been able to keep up with there old ship. So when General Peppers comes in with a job for the old crew, Fox and CO. come into the rescue. They soon learn that they will need to help out a place called Dinosaur Planet, a planet that has been semi taken over by a lizard named General Scales. He has made the planet break up into a few diffrent regions, and your job (as Fox McCloud) is to find Spellstones and Krazoa Spirits to make the Planet return to normal.

In my oppinion, it's a pretty good story, and definitly is alot like LOZ:OOT. The Graphics in the game are next to perfect. the fur effects (which was thought to only be able to be on the xbox) are amazing and very realistic. Fox McCloud is very realistic, and the world are very very well done. The music is all new, besides some of the old school Star Fox songs, which appear in the game a few times. The controls are solid as well, but once you play the game (especially if you've played LOZOOT) will all seem like the same, and you'll be thinking hmmm, have I played this before. In fact the game feels just like LOZOOT. I think that's the huge problem with this game, the controls and mechanics, and even the whole purpose of the game is all old, and it's been done before. Not to mention that in my oppinion SFA has maybe the worst ending I've ever seen in my life (when/if you beat the game you'll see what I'm talking about).

So overall SFA is solid if you somehow missed LOZOOT and it's a great game, with some huge flaws that really hold it back. The whole conecept of the game of find this, put this here, collect this stone has all been done before in LOZOOT and it doesn't need to be done here.

Unfortunatly, not many games that have appeared on the Cube can rival the graphics of Starfox Adventures. Take on a totally different adventure, compared to those seen in Fox's earlier titles. Dinosaur Planet is in trouble and Fox has come to save the day!

Graphics 5/5 - Wow! The lighting, shadows, colors...everything. This game is so realistic. I felt like I had been transported to an animated movie. Watch out for the weather effects, they're awesome.

Sound 5/5 - The soundtrack is great. When Fox is in trouble you know it...when the situation changes so does the music. Well orchestrated.

Control 4/5 - Pretty solid. I hate the controls for shooting with the power stick.

Gameplay 4/5 - Plays like Zelda. Uses a similar button setup. I do have a complaint. The boss battles are dissapointing...I expected a little more from the end...but whatever...the game's still good. Oh yea...the stick that Fox acquires should do more during combat.

Overall Fun Factor 3/5 - Great fun playing the game but replay factor is not so great. You gotta find hidden stuff but aside from that maybe some multiplayer stuff could have given it a boost.

Buy or Rent? - Buy It.

Star Fox Adventures is the choice of a true GCN owner. You can't beat the graphics, it's so vividly detailed! Everything in the game is so realistic like the shimmering waters, the beautiful landscapes, the plants, and even the fur on Fox (which is using fur rendering technology)! The music is by far the best I've heard in any GCN game. The voice acting was very well done, and also the sound effects. You'll just simply be amazed with everything about this game. Though, I see a few people here already putting it down when they haven't even played it at all. As they say, you should never judge a book by its cover. Who knows, you might start liking it sometime. :)

Overall I can safely guarantee you 100% that Star Fox Adventures will be one of the best gaming experience yet, and therefore highly advise you to order. For those who think otherwise, you might want to get your head checked. Order it, order it NOW!

I really had high hopes for this title when I read about it on the Xbox website. The depth of a classic PC RPG combined with the Xbox's graphics prowess seemed like a match made in gaming heaven. Ten minutes into playing the game I had my doubts. Now, five hours into the game, I'm fairly certain that this title should have stayed on the PC. On the positive side, the graphics are pretty good (hence the two stars)and *some* of the voice acting is decent. This being said, the positives are tempered by interminably long load times after dying(get used to it - you'll be doing it often in the beginning)and sporadically poor audio quality in the NPC voices. The worst and most frustrating aspect of the game is the combat system. While the game is more cerebral than hackfests like Dungeon Siege or Diablo, fighting is a huge part of this genre. In MW-ES, combat goes like this: hero meets monster, player pulls right trigger repeatedly, hero/monster dies, repeat (or reload). The FPS-style of fighting is out of place in this style of game, especially since you have no idea how much you're hurting your oponent, and all the dying gets in the way of the role-playing. The PC has long suffered from bad ports of good console games, so I guess it was inevitable that the reverse would happen. If you really want to play this game, I would recommend the PC version which has a few more tools to make the game playable. If you want an Xbox game with a combat system based almost entirely on the right trigger, keep playing Halo - at least the left trigger does something useful too.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a good title that is almost worthy of being called a Killer App (to me). The only problems that I've found with it are these two categories: the combat and the character graphics.

First I'll talk about the fighting. I'm not really saying that I dislike it but I do feel that it's a little bit obsolete. It's the same kind of swing-miss-swing-hit scenario that we've seen a hundred times before. However, when spells are put into the picture you may find the fights quite enjoyable.

Graphics wise the backgrounds couldn't be better. Every building and bush is clear, colorful, and not choppy. Unfortunately though I can't say the same about the people. The faces and various other body parts are distorted and unclear. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what you are looking at.

What makes this game special though is the random weather patterns and accurate day and night effects. Character development is also revolutionary with the people around you changing their perception of you depending on how you treat them. Choices are also givin whenever you talk to someone important and don't be afraid to get assistance from the Imperial Guards when you need it (even though they will throw you in jail for a crime you did't know or mean to commit). Transportation is also a well implemented feature since they don't force you to watch those boring cinematic scenes when you ride from one place to another.

Loading times are another turn-off to the game but it makes up for it in the expansive world. All in all this is a solid title that takes good advantage of the Xbox and PC's power.

I bought this game about two years ago(around when it came out) and I still play it all of the time. In fact ive used almost half of my xbox's harddrive playin this thing! It's that good. It's too bad that this game didn't get the amount of attention that groundbreaking games like DOOM or QUAKE got because it sure as hell deserves it.

REASONS YOU SHOULD BUY:
-This game is HUGE! You'll almost never runs out of things to do.
-Graphics and detail is amazing.
-Vvardenfal, the fantasy island the game takes place on, is almost a lifesize continent. It would take you days to cover all of it.
- The amount of creatures and people to find, kill, rob or have a good chat with is neverending.
- Completing quests (main or side) and treasure hunting can keep you occupied for days or even months (it's that addicting).
- And the most important reason of all, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! In fact you don't even have to do the main quest if you don't want to(although you should because it's a good storyline and you get a bunch of skills, cash, and good items along the way).

Now you want to know the bad parts right? Well i can only think of one which is the fighting. The action in this game is pretty damn limited which turns alot of gamers off. But id still recommend this game to you action fans (like myself) who have never been a fan of rpg's because by the time your through with this game you will be.

My daughter received this as soon as she could sit up, and she is now almost 2 and still has no interest in it. The only thing she seems mildly amused by is the little star shaped music changer. I'll be packing it away pretty soon here. Kids are different, so the next one may like it, and yours may love it. If you can test one before you buy it, I highly recommend you do so. For now, we're having more fun with the pots and pans.

My child played with this toy very little compared to the other educational/activity type toys she has. She was bored with it very quickly. My daughter has a lot of the Leap Frog products, this one just doesn't compare to Leap Frog's other toys in the same age catagory. Keep shopping, there is something out there more fun for your little one.

My son likes it, but he hasn't learned anything from it. Oh, I take that back - he learned how to turn toys on and off - over and over and over and over again!! And how to turn the volume up!! He likes to pound it, but that's about it.

I'm not really a video game connoisseur, but I like Harry Potter so I tried this one. I liked the graphics though sometimes Harry did seem to walk right inside the wall, and the background music adds nicely to the atmosphere. The computer I run this on is relatively old with Windows 98 and loading the different scenes and walking through the save game books takes a bit of time, and if I play for too long, everything begins to slow down.

I enjoy wondering around the castle and the grounds finding secret passages and looking for things and collecting beans and wizard cards. I like the parts of the game that involve solving puzzles rather than beating someone up (like Malfoy or Peeves). The end sequence I thought was a little easy or pointless. You just have to move back and forth playing a flute (to put Fluffy's three heads to sleep) or casting insendio to make the Devils snare let your friends go.

There are some parts that I am just terrible at. Mostly these involve anything with flying a broomstick. Either I'm an inept flyer or my computer is too slow either way, the flying parts really aren't that much fun anyway, so I just skip them. Overall verdict: playing in the castle, grounds and caves is fun, playing Quidditch is not.

My name is Patrick, and I am 9 years old. I got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas. I had never played an adventure game before, it took me awhile to get used to the controls. I loved it when I got used to it. I have gotten to the last level, but I have not beat it yet. My favorit part is "sneak up to the tower". I have gotten frusterated when the fences get in the way of the screen. I don't like that Harry can't move when he is aiming. Overall, I would recommend it.

I love the game. I bought before it came out. I love Harry Potter and the characters come to life. I've played some RPG games before so had a little clue as to get to different things. It took me forever to figure out the stupid flying and yes Malfoy and the rememberall. You have to use the direction keys on keyboard then when you sort of get close enough that you sort of hook onto him and his power is down half way, then use your mouse right click and you bump his rear off his broomstick. (NOTHING FEELS BETTER AFTER BEING STUCK THERE.) :) Later on when you have to run from the troll, run fast, keep running and eventually you'll get past him. I don't have the hand-eye cordination I once had, so it's harder for me. Oh and when you get to troll fighting get behind him and then cast the spells. (...)

I wanted to wait on reviewing the controller until I had ample time to test it. It's a good thing I did. Microsoft's controller is a well-thought-out accessory that obviously went through many test subjects. Games like Halo, NHL 2002, Cel Damage and Project Gotham Racing play great. The buttons feel very accessible, and the was no hand cramping whatsoever, even after many hours of playing. This is coming from a person with small hands.

Then I started playing Amped and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x. I noticed that, especially in multiplayer w/ Tony Hawks, and just all around in Amped, that my right index finger, which I usually keep tucked under the controller and against the trigger button, was beginning to hurt. I don't really know how or why it only happened with these games, but I wasn't playing these games any harder, I guess it was just the button and joystick manuevers necessary to play these games. Regardless, this still only happened after an hour or two of playing, so it's a good way to pace yourself with breaks anyway.

As for the button layout, it's well done. Games underutilize certain buttons, so you'll end up hitting the wrong one sometimes, but that's not the controllers fault. All buttons are pressure sensitive, and I found that sometimes I wasn't pushing down all the way on the buttons when I was comfortably pushing on them. I'm also noticing slight wear on the plastic around the buttons corresponding to the angles that I hit them.

The cord is great, with ~10 ft. in length, you'll never have a problem with which seat to sit in. And the breakaway feature is a must-have. It's already come in handy a dozen time, and games will automatically pause when it happens. I use the breakaway as an easy way to hook up and disconnect my controllers as well.

All-in-all, it's as my subject says: An excellent controller that is close to perfection, but not quite.

Microsoft has wisely chosen in this Xbox Controller. They have done their homework and testing thouroughly. The high price Controller comes with all top shelf features. High quality workmanship. Hefty/Solid but comfortable to hold. Sensitive Rumble feature. Outstanding location of Left / Right Sticks & Triggers. User friendly 6 button pattern & D-pad. 2 expansion slots for Xbox Memory pack and future peripheral equipment. Xbox provides us with a 9 1/2 foot long cord with an "In-Line Release" feature which is exclusive to the Xbox. (NOTE: the In-Line Feature is an Anti-Trip / Console Controller cord quick release plug between the console plug and Controller.)

After hours of playing ie "HALO" there was no hand fatigue or finger cramping. The Controller was easily mastered after a few hours. The "Rumble" feature was awesome !!

Congratulation Microsoft and Thank you for providing us with the Xbox System and the greatest Controllers. Release the POWER OF Xbox !! Do not buy the cheaper want-a-be controllers.. The Xbox Controller is the only one!! Enjoy.

i personally prefer the big bulky controller for the big bulky x box system becsuse that is what it is. this is a mature teen- adult gaming system so little kids shouldnt even be able to play this system (violent x box games) at all anywayz. i honestly feel more comfortable having some space for mny fingers instead of being crunched up in the little gamecube controllers. maybe its bevcause i was born to have big hands so i like big controlelrs but w/e

Wassup? I've never written a review before,so I thought I'd start here.
I own a Gcn and a Ps2 and I love both of them.I have also read lots of reviews on each system.Don't listen to those other fascists.They just loooooooove to put other systems down.Anyway,as many other reviewers have said,each system has it's pros and cons(good things and bad things).Here are a few.

Ps2:
pros(good things)
1.Only system that plays dvds right out of the box
2.Able to play games online
3.Has a wireless controller(even though it's $50.Oh,exuse me.$49.95.Am I the only one that hates that?)
4.Good game selection
5.Avaliable hard drive
6.Plays psone games(but you can't save them on a Ps2 memory card)
7.Dance Dance Revolution!
cons(bad things)
Uuuummmm,there aren't any I can think of.
I'll skip Gamecube because that would take too long and I'm tired because it's late at night(technichly,it's early morning).
Xbox(keep in mind I don't have this system)
pros
1.Built in hard drive
2.Fastest console on the market or so I hear
3.It has 4 controller ports
4.Xbox Live (online)
cons
1.Really frikin' expensive controllers

So there's my views.My advice is to research each system and find which one is right for you.

Peace,out

I bought the Xbox on the day it was released which was luckily my birthday so technically I didn't buy it at all it was a present! Anyway before I owned the Xbox I normally changed consoles every six months. I've owned the Sega Megadrive, Nintendo 64, PS One and PS2. All I can say is since I've got the Xbox I haven't even thought about changing it!

A lot of people slate the Xbox for not having a legion of different games like the PS2. But to be honest the games Xbox does have are excellent and remember the console isn't even 2 years old yet. When the PS2 was first released the only games worth buying were Dead Or Alive 3 and Ridge Racer 4. But now look how many games are out. Things definitely get better with age and Xbox is still going through adolescence!!! In a couple of years the PS2 will be completely outdated and Xbox with have a complete range of different games to satisfy everyones needs.

The thing that makes Xbox stand out from the crowd is it's built in features. It has 4 built in controller ports which hasn't been done since the Nintendo 64 then copied by Nintendo GameCube. It has extreme online possibilities unlike the PS2 which virtually takes forever to connect to the web and Xbox by far has the best graphics next to the almighty PC!

I do agree Xbox needs a different range of games. At the moment it seems to only have racing games or fighting games! It needs it's own unique versions of historic games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Also it would be nice if Microsoft would quit sharing their games with the PS2 because they have to tone down their graphics to make the game able to play on the PS2. For instance look at the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer game released only for Xbox. The graphics were great then they released the sequel which was available on the GameCube and PS2. The graphics were awful!!!

If you've just bought an Xbox and are being put off by other people's negative reviews don't threat because the PS2's graphics are already fading so in a couple of years Sony will need to release the Playstation 3 to save their reputation. As for GameCube apart from Resident Evil they've come up with the lamest cartoon character games ever!!! Here is a list of games worth buying for the console . . .

GAMES AVAILABLE NOW :
Halo
Project Gotham Racing 1&2
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy The Vampire Slayer : Chaos Bleeds
Project Zero
The Sims
The Sims Bustin Out
Dead Or Alive 3
Dead Or Alive : Xtreme Beach Vollyball

GAMES COMING OUT 2004/2005 :
Halo 2
BC
The URBZ : Sims in the City
The Movies

xbox is the best console. people who say halo is the only good xbox game are seriously wrong. here let me list other good xbox games. project gotham racing soul calibur ii. true crime max payne ssx 3 medal of honor panser dragon orta brute force all the grand theft auto games. jet set radio future baldurs gate dark alliance. tom clancys slinter cell tom clancys rainbow six 3 top spin the prince of persia. wwe raw wwe raw 2 soul calibur max payne 2 the fall of max payne star wars kotor. freedom fighters ssx tricky beyond good and evil. madden 2004. and lets not forget the upcoming seqeuls project gotham ii hal0 2 madden 2004 ssx 4. i think you get the idea now. xbox has the best graphics the most updated technology and online supporrt. they have xbox live too. and unlike ps2 xbox never freezes up. people say that xbox breaks down are so wrong its unbelivable. xbox is the most responsive system on the market. ive never had a problem with xbox before. but with ps2 i always had problems. the crappy ps2 breaks down 5 times a year litteraly. i can never even use my ps2 because its always breaking or freezing up. and im not going near a gamecube. i hope you guys reading this get the idea that xbox is the best. but ait thers morre good xbox games. half life doom 2 doom 3 unreal championship unreal 2. i say get xbox because it is the best console.

I was excited about elite force II when I read about a preview about one year ago, it looked like more elite force with new missions, improved graphics, and not much more. MY review is in sections this time:

Graphics Score: 8.9

Star Trek Elite Force 2 Roughly is based on the aging Quake 3 arena engine, though, has heavily enhanced it, provides stunning visual detail in both characters and environments. It's defintely colorful and exceptional, but isn't that incredible, but is good enough for what it has to offer. Full Screen Antialiasing, precise lensflares, stencil shadows, dynamic lightmaps and dynamic lights, realistic physics, detailed surfaces, detailed textures, Wall decals, high level curve detail, high level view of distance, high level of special effects, advanced deformable geometry, opengl extensions support, anisotropic filtering, 32-bit color, resolutions up to 1600x1200, V-Sync support, and more, to name a few. The typical. Really. The game performs decently under my 9500 pro with all advanced settings( except full screen antialiasing) maxed at a 1024x768 res with 32-bit color, usually I maintain around 20-200frames per second, usually 40, 50, 60, it changes frequently, etc. On anything inferior, the game will run sluggish. Believe me.

Audio Score: 9.0

Elite Force II provides the typical rich 44khz sampling rate sound effects with up to 7.1+ surround sound support and reverb effects, which is very nice. The real nice thing is that it ranges from 11khz to 44khz, 2 speakers to 7 speakers support, 8-bit to 16-bit sound quality(or 24-bit if supported), and support for EAX, EAX 2, A3D, or EAX 3 sound cards, or just plain ol' good software sound. THe sound is very "treky", you know, but better than the last game, and indeed deserves a superb score.

Game-Play score: 8.5

Game-play wise, Star Trek: Elite Force 2 is very good. There is new open-ended game-play, you can beat a level multiple-paths, explore all kinds of levels, use all kinsd of weapons against aliens, fight all kinds of aliens, the usual range of multiplayer head to head modes except new models, maps, and a new game-type named bomber, and more. Although there is a lot of puzzles, hard bosses, and at times can be disturbing and not so fun to experience. The game features many realistic locations, and characters and friendly in this game. The single player game is twice as long as the last one, but doesn't feature support for both female or male choices. And isn't perfect. But oh well. It's still more than just good.

Story-line score: 8.6

Interesting, it takes off right after Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force ended, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you star trek fans out there ;), but you'll end up liking it!

A.I score: 5.5

Uh, poor in certain ways. A.I isn't so good, they can be dumb, and has a few glitches, but are OK.

Pros:

+Very Good Graphics
+Superb Sound And sound options
+More treky and open-ended game-paly
+Interesting storyline
+Both singleplayer and multiplayer
+Two new multiplayer models and a new game-type

Cons:

-Poor A.I
-It isn't perfect
-Performance could have been more optimized
-Some frustrating puzzles in levels

Overall score: 8.5

Final notes:

Elite Force II, Star Trek, is more than a good sequel to Elite Force 1. But didn't pass my expectations in all ways, infact, totally featured horrible A.I and wasn't quite fully optimized, and at times featured fustrating puzzles that didn't bring Elite Force II to happyness, but is a great game and well worth the purchase, especially for star trek fans. I recommend it, and is an excellent example of it's genre. Beam me away, scotty! :)

Being both a Star Trek fan and a Star Fleet Battles veteran(the old boardgame and the computer based SF Command), having SFC updated for the Next Generation ships was unresistable. First the good points... The graphics are good, new weapons, excellent game stablility in single player campaign, excellent voice overs, and an engaging storyline (more so than the earlier SFC games). The number of ship's shields have been reduced from 6 to 4, making it easier to crash an opponents shield as well as making shield reinforcement easier to manage as well. Here's the bad... only 4 races, a game speed option that only works if you set it before you enter the campaigns (hopefully a patch will remedy that shortly), no record of what you've done or your next objective is if you load a saved game (luckily you're moved to your next mission if you don't get there on your own), no weapon overloads, no ECM/ECCM, no drones, no transporter mines (you can still drop them out the back), no data on the new weapons (e.g. damage potential or effective range)... you begin to get the picture. The game has been simplified immensely. It's a good game if you're new to the SFB/SFC arena, no cut-scenes or anything like the top RTS games, but was engaging enough to keep me in the game for hours. If you've ever wanted to introduce friends to SFB/SFC and the SFC games were too complex, this would be a great way to do it. Once they get the hang of it, they can 'graduate' and go back into time to the SFC2 setting. Veteran SFB/SFC players would give this game 3 stars, but ST fans looking for a more tactical game may give it a 3.5 to 4.

As in most of my reviews, I use the word "solid." While this game doesn't match up to Aliens Vs Predator 2, I enjoyed it much more than the original Elite Force. For me, the graphics were much improved. I found this game a bit more challenging than the first. It was hard enough at times, to get me frustrated. Yet not too hard to throw in the towel. You'll battle aliens on different ships in the galaxy. Sound and effects rate a 3, controls a 4, and the graphics 4+ but not a 5. AvP 2 is still my favorite shooter, but this is a pleasing experience for both Trek fans and gamers alike.

I was excited about elite force II when I read about a preview about one year ago, it looked like more elite force with new missions, improved graphics, and not much more. MY review is in sections this time:

Graphics Score: 8.9

Star Trek Elite Force 2 Roughly is based on the aging Quake 3 arena engine, though, has heavily enhanced it, provides stunning visual detail in both characters and environments. It's defintely colorful and exceptional, but isn't that incredible, but is good enough for what it has to offer. Full Screen Antialiasing, precise lensflares, stencil shadows, dynamic lightmaps and dynamic lights, realistic physics, detailed surfaces, detailed textures, Wall decals, high level curve detail, high level view of distance, high level of special effects, advanced deformable geometry, opengl extensions support, anisotropic filtering, 32-bit color, resolutions up to 1600x1200, V-Sync support, and more, to name a few. The typical. Really. The game performs decently under my 9500 pro with all advanced settings( except full screen antialiasing) maxed at a 1024x768 res with 32-bit color, usually I maintain around 20-200frames per second, usually 40, 50, 60, it changes frequently, etc. On anything inferior, the game will run sluggish. Believe me.

Audio Score: 9.0

Elite Force II provides the typical rich 44khz sampling rate sound effects with up to 7.1+ surround sound support and reverb effects, which is very nice. The real nice thing is that it ranges from 11khz to 44khz, 2 speakers to 7 speakers support, 8-bit to 16-bit sound quality(or 24-bit if supported), and support for EAX, EAX 2, A3D, or EAX 3 sound cards, or just plain ol' good software sound. THe sound is very "treky", you know, but better than the last game, and indeed deserves a superb score.

Game-Play score: 8.5

Game-play wise, Star Trek: Elite Force 2 is very good. There is new open-ended game-play, you can beat a level multiple-paths, explore all kinds of levels, use all kinsd of weapons against aliens, fight all kinds of aliens, the usual range of multiplayer head to head modes except new models, maps, and a new game-type named bomber, and more. Although there is a lot of puzzles, hard bosses, and at times can be disturbing and not so fun to experience. The game features many realistic locations, and characters and friendly in this game. The single player game is twice as long as the last one, but doesn't feature support for both female or male choices. And isn't perfect. But oh well. It's still more than just good.

Story-line score: 8.6

Interesting, it takes off right after Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force ended, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you star trek fans out there ;), but you'll end up liking it!

A.I score: 5.5

Uh, poor in certain ways. A.I isn't so good, they can be dumb, and has a few glitches, but are OK.

Pros:

+Very Good Graphics
+Superb Sound And sound options
+More treky and open-ended game-paly
+Interesting storyline
+Both singleplayer and multiplayer
+Two new multiplayer models and a new game-type

Cons:

-Poor A.I
-It isn't perfect
-Performance could have been more optimized
-Some frustrating puzzles in levels

Overall score: 8.5

Final notes:

Elite Force II, Star Trek, is more than a good sequel to Elite Force 1. But didn't pass my expectations in all ways, infact, totally featured horrible A.I and wasn't quite fully optimized, and at times featured fustrating puzzles that didn't bring Elite Force II to happyness, but is a great game and well worth the purchase, especially for star trek fans. I recommend it, and is an excellent example of it's genre. Beam me away, scotty! :)

Being both a Star Trek fan and a Star Fleet Battles veteran(the old boardgame and the computer based SF Command), having SFC updated for the Next Generation ships was unresistable. First the good points... The graphics are good, new weapons, excellent game stablility in single player campaign, excellent voice overs, and an engaging storyline (more so than the earlier SFC games). The number of ship's shields have been reduced from 6 to 4, making it easier to crash an opponents shield as well as making shield reinforcement easier to manage as well. Here's the bad... only 4 races, a game speed option that only works if you set it before you enter the campaigns (hopefully a patch will remedy that shortly), no record of what you've done or your next objective is if you load a saved game (luckily you're moved to your next mission if you don't get there on your own), no weapon overloads, no ECM/ECCM, no drones, no transporter mines (you can still drop them out the back), no data on the new weapons (e.g. damage potential or effective range)... you begin to get the picture. The game has been simplified immensely. It's a good game if you're new to the SFB/SFC arena, no cut-scenes or anything like the top RTS games, but was engaging enough to keep me in the game for hours. If you've ever wanted to introduce friends to SFB/SFC and the SFC games were too complex, this would be a great way to do it. Once they get the hang of it, they can 'graduate' and go back into time to the SFC2 setting. Veteran SFB/SFC players would give this game 3 stars, but ST fans looking for a more tactical game may give it a 3.5 to 4.

As in most of my reviews, I use the word "solid." While this game doesn't match up to Aliens Vs Predator 2, I enjoyed it much more than the original Elite Force. For me, the graphics were much improved. I found this game a bit more challenging than the first. It was hard enough at times, to get me frustrated. Yet not too hard to throw in the towel. You'll battle aliens on different ships in the galaxy. Sound and effects rate a 3, controls a 4, and the graphics 4+ but not a 5. AvP 2 is still my favorite shooter, but this is a pleasing experience for both Trek fans and gamers alike.

I was excited about elite force II when I read about a preview about one year ago, it looked like more elite force with new missions, improved graphics, and not much more. MY review is in sections this time:

Graphics Score: 8.9

Star Trek Elite Force 2 Roughly is based on the aging Quake 3 arena engine, though, has heavily enhanced it, provides stunning visual detail in both characters and environments. It's defintely colorful and exceptional, but isn't that incredible, but is good enough for what it has to offer. Full Screen Antialiasing, precise lensflares, stencil shadows, dynamic lightmaps and dynamic lights, realistic physics, detailed surfaces, detailed textures, Wall decals, high level curve detail, high level view of distance, high level of special effects, advanced deformable geometry, opengl extensions support, anisotropic filtering, 32-bit color, resolutions up to 1600x1200, V-Sync support, and more, to name a few. The typical. Really. The game performs decently under my 9500 pro with all advanced settings( except full screen antialiasing) maxed at a 1024x768 res with 32-bit color, usually I maintain around 20-200frames per second, usually 40, 50, 60, it changes frequently, etc. On anything inferior, the game will run sluggish. Believe me.

Audio Score: 9.0

Elite Force II provides the typical rich 44khz sampling rate sound effects with up to 7.1+ surround sound support and reverb effects, which is very nice. The real nice thing is that it ranges from 11khz to 44khz, 2 speakers to 7 speakers support, 8-bit to 16-bit sound quality(or 24-bit if supported), and support for EAX, EAX 2, A3D, or EAX 3 sound cards, or just plain ol' good software sound. THe sound is very "treky", you know, but better than the last game, and indeed deserves a superb score.

Game-Play score: 8.5

Game-play wise, Star Trek: Elite Force 2 is very good. There is new open-ended game-play, you can beat a level multiple-paths, explore all kinds of levels, use all kinsd of weapons against aliens, fight all kinds of aliens, the usual range of multiplayer head to head modes except new models, maps, and a new game-type named bomber, and more. Although there is a lot of puzzles, hard bosses, and at times can be disturbing and not so fun to experience. The game features many realistic locations, and characters and friendly in this game. The single player game is twice as long as the last one, but doesn't feature support for both female or male choices. And isn't perfect. But oh well. It's still more than just good.

Story-line score: 8.6

Interesting, it takes off right after Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force ended, I wouldn't want to spoil it for you star trek fans out there ;), but you'll end up liking it!

A.I score: 5.5

Uh, poor in certain ways. A.I isn't so good, they can be dumb, and has a few glitches, but are OK.

Pros:

+Very Good Graphics
+Superb Sound And sound options
+More treky and open-ended game-paly
+Interesting storyline
+Both singleplayer and multiplayer
+Two new multiplayer models and a new game-type

Cons:

-Poor A.I
-It isn't perfect
-Performance could have been more optimized
-Some frustrating puzzles in levels

Overall score: 8.5

Final notes:

Elite Force II, Star Trek, is more than a good sequel to Elite Force 1. But didn't pass my expectations in all ways, infact, totally featured horrible A.I and wasn't quite fully optimized, and at times featured fustrating puzzles that didn't bring Elite Force II to happyness, but is a great game and well worth the purchase, especially for star trek fans. I recommend it, and is an excellent example of it's genre. Beam me away, scotty! :)

Being both a Star Trek fan and a Star Fleet Battles veteran(the old boardgame and the computer based SF Command), having SFC updated for the Next Generation ships was unresistable. First the good points... The graphics are good, new weapons, excellent game stablility in single player campaign, excellent voice overs, and an engaging storyline (more so than the earlier SFC games). The number of ship's shields have been reduced from 6 to 4, making it easier to crash an opponents shield as well as making shield reinforcement easier to manage as well. Here's the bad... only 4 races, a game speed option that only works if you set it before you enter the campaigns (hopefully a patch will remedy that shortly), no record of what you've done or your next objective is if you load a saved game (luckily you're moved to your next mission if you don't get there on your own), no weapon overloads, no ECM/ECCM, no drones, no transporter mines (you can still drop them out the back), no data on the new weapons (e.g. damage potential or effective range)... you begin to get the picture. The game has been simplified immensely. It's a good game if you're new to the SFB/SFC arena, no cut-scenes or anything like the top RTS games, but was engaging enough to keep me in the game for hours. If you've ever wanted to introduce friends to SFB/SFC and the SFC games were too complex, this would be a great way to do it. Once they get the hang of it, they can 'graduate' and go back into time to the SFC2 setting. Veteran SFB/SFC players would give this game 3 stars, but ST fans looking for a more tactical game may give it a 3.5 to 4.

As in most of my reviews, I use the word "solid." While this game doesn't match up to Aliens Vs Predator 2, I enjoyed it much more than the original Elite Force. For me, the graphics were much improved. I found this game a bit more challenging than the first. It was hard enough at times, to get me frustrated. Yet not too hard to throw in the towel. You'll battle aliens on different ships in the galaxy. Sound and effects rate a 3, controls a 4, and the graphics 4+ but not a 5. AvP 2 is still my favorite shooter, but this is a pleasing experience for both Trek fans and gamers alike.