Category Archives: Reviews

EA Footbal 2001 Report Card

This joint review is being written on the night following the first week of the NFL season: a week that has provided plenty of surprises (Minnesota losing to a Chris Weinke-led Carolina Panthers), and the obvious (the Redskins getting their Butt kicked by the Chargers of all teams!) There were also personal highlights, such as my Jags winning and Urben’s Jets losing big, and lowlights as Fox Sports centering their Ravens game solely on Rayenthal "I got away with aiding a murderer" Lewis. These surprises also seem to carry to the PS2 gridiron as well. Last year, when Madden 2001 … Continue reading EA Footbal 2001 Report Card

World Series 2K2 Cracks a Homer

Finally! Sega Sports has come back to World Series Baseball. And this year’s game is running the bases in a whole new way. Visual Concepts knows they dropped the ball with World Series 2K1 and so this time round they’ve gone with a completely new gameplay engine that has a bit of a learning curve, but with a little practice is sure to gratify most loyal fans of the WSB series. It just further goes to show that when gamers talk…Sega listens. It’s no secret that last year’s version of the game had many "issues" ranging from poor control or … Continue reading World Series 2K2 Cracks a Homer

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater gets air

Let me make one thing perfectly clear on this review. Since my days in high school, and up to this day, I have never liked skaterats (my name for skateboarders.) To me, being a skaterat is the lowest form of life, maybe even lower than a convicted multiple murderer. Not only that, but I have rarely touched a skaterat video game in my life (with the exception of Skate or Die for the Commodore 64). However, when I was at E3 last month, I obtained a copy of Sega’s latest Web Browser, which to my surprise, included several demos. One … Continue reading Tony Hawk's Pro Skater gets air

High Heat 2002 is Real Baseball Fun

What was I thinking last year? Why did I almost give up my copy of High Heat Baseball 2001 in exchange for that travesty called World Series 2K1? Fortunately when I saw WS in action, I immediately changed my mind, and stuck with perhaps the most in-depth baseball sim I ever played. However, there are still idiots out there who will pass on a masterpiece like this solely because the graphics aren’t all that great. Unfortunately the same thing can be said about this season, with High Heat 2002. I’ve called various software stores in the area, and they told … Continue reading High Heat 2002 is Real Baseball Fun

Mike Tyson KOs Boxing Simulators

Do you want to be just like Mike Tyson? asks the marketing release that came with Mike Tyson Boxing, "Or how about kick his ass?" "Or bite the ears off of opponents, just like Mike?" Ok, I made that last one up. Even though I like this game, I can’t help throwing in some Tyson jokes. Nonetheless, yes, I want to be like Mike, and yes, I want to kick his ass. Mike Tyson Boxing for the PlayStation is the game in which you can do both. Mike Tyson Boxing is a realistic boxing sim for 1 to 8 players. … Continue reading Mike Tyson KOs Boxing Simulators

Does EA Sports Care About AI Anymore?

Ever since EA Sports, as well as Electronic Arts, turned their back on Sega and dedicated all their services to the PlayStation2, it occurred to me that they were only concerned about a game’s visual presentation, no matter how poor the actual gameplay turns out to be. I found this out when I tried to play NHL 2000 last year, and was infuriated with the game’s poor goaltender AI and unrealistic collision physics. As a result, I ended up playing Sega Sports’ NHL 2K, a game which I really enjoyed because it had some of the best goaltender AI I’ve … Continue reading Does EA Sports Care About AI Anymore?

Madden Crushed by NFL 2K1

As one of the Dreamcast’s launch titles, NFL 2K came away as the runaway hit of the system. It was so good in fact that GiN gave it the title of Best Sports Game of 2000, being the only other game (besides the godlike High Heat Baseball series) to beat out EA Sports for this title. There were some small problems that prevented it from being the be-all, end-all of football games. The running game was pretty weak (usually getting gains of only 3 yards, 10 yards if you’re lucky), and aside from the season and fantasy modes, there was … Continue reading Madden Crushed by NFL 2K1

WWF Royal Rumble is WCW Clone

As I write this review, I am in the middle of watching the World Wrestling Federation’s Summerslam pay-per-view. In typical WWF fashion, the production is top-notch, with nary a hitch. Their rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) has taken a major fall from grace, and their last pay-per-view, New Blood Rising, is a perfect example. WWF and WCW video games seem to follow the same story. While I was impressed with both WWF Wrestlemania 2000 on the N64 and Smackdown! on the PlayStation, I did not like WCW Mayhem for either N64 or PlayStation. When I heard that THQ (who made … Continue reading WWF Royal Rumble is WCW Clone

Ultimate Fighting Championship takes the belt

I know we’ve all gone through a large wave of wrestling-based titles lately. Don’t get me wrong, some of them have been very good (Wrestlemania 2000 and WWF Smackdown come to mind), but most of them are from mediocre to just plain awful. The same can be said for fighting games. Aside from Capcom’s fighters, most are not worth mentioning. But those that are worth mentioning these days are now following the same cookie-cutter format as the past ten or so years. Even the mighty Capcom is falling into the trend they originated. It is about time someone added a … Continue reading Ultimate Fighting Championship takes the belt

World Series 2K1 loses big

Sega’s World Series baseball lineup, until now, always appeared a sure thing to me. It all started when I played the original World Series for the Genesis, which was developed by Blue Sky. This company was also responsible for great Genesis classics such as the Vectorman series. When the Saturn was released in 95, a new Japanese-based development house released their smash hit Greatest Nine to the states, naming it again World Series Baseball. It was one of the earlier launches capable of stealing some thunder from the EA Sports titles released for the PlayStation. As each year passed, the … Continue reading World Series 2K1 loses big