THE HONEYMOON IS OVER:

Well the PS2 has been available now for over a month and a half. For those of us that have went and paid the crazy amounts of money required to import one soon after its release, the new toy feeling is over. So whats the verdict? Was it worth the wait? Does it live up to the hype? Thats not an easy question to answer for me, but I'll give it my best shot.

NAMCO:

No article about the PS2 would be complete without a section dedicated to this first rate developer. Many direct comparisons can be drawn between Namco's first offerings for the original PSX and the games that Namco has blessed the gaming public with for the PS2's early life cycle. The highest selling game at the original PSX's launch was Ridge Racer; Ridge Racer V takes that honor for the PS2 launch. The first game to outsell Ridge Racer was the original Tekken. Tekken Tag Tournament has been outpacing Ridge Racer V since its release on the 30th of March. Namco has helped to make and break systems before, and this time should be no different. In fact, until the release of Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, the japanese media had pretty much written off the Dreamcast as another failed venture for Sega. The question of the moment is this: will Tekken Tag Tournament do for the PS2 what Tekken and Soul Calibur did for the PSX and the DC respectively? The answer is an unequivical yes. In this hardcore gamer's oppinion, while not as good an overall package as Soul Calibur, TTT definitely impressess on a graphical level that is, as of yet unmatched. Namco has delivered a game that is as polished as any game ever released on any platform. The sheer level of detail in character models must be seen to be believed. The backgrounds do not impress in the same way as say, a Dead or Alive 2, but are more than a match for any other fighting game available on the market.

Graphics      Sound      Control      Presentation      Replayability

10                 9             10               9.5                   10

Make mine Tekken all the way baby!!!

Ridge Race V. What can be said about the pedigree of this game that hasn't already been said? This venerable series has been entertaining gamers since before the original PSX, and a near carbon copy for that platform brought much success (and money) to Sony and Namco both. While the RR series has never been firmly rooted in the more realistic side of racer's, it has always consistently provided an unmatched sense of speed and action. So how does RRV stack up? It is the best looking of the series (duh) and the gameplay remains faithful to the classic original. But other than the graphics and the new tracks, it's still the same game that Ridge Racer was, albeit with polished handling (gaming has come a long way in the last six years) and better overall presentation. Does it warrant the high price tag to import? The answer, in the Reviewer's oppinion is no. Unless you are a big fan of the Ridge Racer series, wait for the american release this fall, or save your money for Gran Turismo 2000. Ridge Racer is Ridge Racer, and in the end, the series hasn't come a long way since Ridge Racer Revolution.

Graphics      Sound      Control      Presentation      Replayability

This is the game that has made huge waves in the Dreamcast circles for its bad boy (or girl in this case) image. Its new, its different, and in some ways, its very radical (5 girls for a cast this small?). The games biggest asset, unfortunately is also its biggest fault. After all the gimmicks wear off, we are left with a very beautiful game, with outstanding backgrounds, superb character models...and a game system that is fundamentally lacking for serious (3D) fighters. Maybe its just me, but there doesn't seem to be many moves available to each character. After logging some major time with this fighter it has occured to me that this game is A) very fast B) very fun C) very shallow. I know that I am going to get a lot of differing oppinions here, but the fact is, the grapplers don't have as many grappling options as the Tekken grapplers do. The puchers and kickers don't have as many, well, punches and kicks. And finally, the girls seem to be Tecmo's cop out answer to the depth of Tekken. Instead of making a deep fighting game, they made a fun one that has a lot of beautiful, very well animated females. Not that I dislike DOA2 or anything, but I can't help but place it under the column of "Fighting Games Light".

So what about the problems with the visuals? Isn't it true that the PS2 hardware can't Anti-Alias? No, thats not true, the second batch of games didn't show that roughness around the edges that the first generation games did. In Tekken Tag Tournament, there are no noticeable anit-aliasing problems. The roughness in Dead Or Alive 2 and Ridge Racer V is lost due to the sheer wonderment of 60 FPS action couples with over 10 million Polys being calculated at one time...trust me, you have to see this baby in action to appreciate it. So how does the system stack up then? That question is a hard one to answer. I am not a Sony PSX fan. I bought a system the first day it became available and I played it fairly religiously for the first few years. But I do not find myself returning to the PSX like I do the Neo Geo, or Saturn. There is no longing for the old PSX games like there is for those long lost PCE games. Even the best that PSX has to offer doesn't stack up (Castlevania X versus Dracula X on the PCE). So in the end, all the technical power not with standing, I am biased against the PS2 to begin with. But it has done an outstanding job of dissuading me of that bias. Time will tell, but if the PS2 keeps at its current pace, Sony might find its way into this gamer's heart alongside the likes of NEC, Sega, and SNK, and coming from this die-hard gamer, that is the highest praise I can give.

Reality Storm