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Lucas Arts' 'Star
Wars: The Force Unleashed™'
by Cochaman Peef
The Epic Star Wars saga will inevitably continue in the
latest offering from Lucas Arts Entertainment Star Wars: The
Force Unleashed, which casts players such as Darth Vader's
"Secret Apprentice" and promises to unveil new revelations about
the entire Star Wars galaxy. The rather expansive story, created
under very very close direction from George Lucas, is set during
the largely unexplored time period between Star Wars: Episode
III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In
it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid
the universe of Jedi— and face decisions that could change the
course of their destiny. As its name implies, The Force
Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the
Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies
that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital
Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria
by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics?
system, these new technologies create game play only possible on
the new... |
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Midway's 'Unreal Tournament™'—
Award Winning!
by Cochaman Peef
The Unreal series has a long and varied history far stretching from
the uniquely original Single Player world traversing marathon with a
rather surprisingly entertaining Multi Player mode to an MP focused
franchise that tended to give Single Player a back seat to improved
network code and frantic shooting action; Unreal Tournament. Originally
conceived as Unreal Tournament 2007 (following 2003 and 2004), deemed a
big enough leap from its predecessors Epic Games rebranded this game
Unreal Tournament 3 and has just released it upon the world in all its
Unreal Engine 3 goodness. From way back Deathmatching in Ariza there has
been something special about the Unreal style, and UT3 takes a stand of
replaying everything rather than reinventing it and seems like game play
has stood still while the graphics have been given an upgrade. The game
plays pretty much the same as UT2004; the flak cannon, bio rifle and
other classic weapons returning to provide a wide variety of ways to
take your enemy down. The impact hammer also returns, and the mini-gun
and stinger combine to form the (any ideas?) stinger mini-gun. Generally
quite balanced almost all weapons have a situation where they are
useful. Traditionally, in the Unreal Tournament series we’ve... |
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Activision's 'Shrek
The Third'—
Chock Full of Fun!
by
John Mundazio

Sometimes,
I just can't help but go into a game with certain expectations. If
I'm getting ready to play a Final Fantasy game, I tend to expect a long,
deeply moving story starring a whiny teenage protagonist. If I'm playing
an FPS, I expect plenty of gun battles and linear levels. And if I'm
playing a movie-based game, I expect a product that does NOT feel rushed
and half-finished by a company trying to cash in on box office receipts.
Fortunately, the Xbox 360 Shrek the Third game fulfills all of my
expectations for movie tie-ins. I love it! The game begins with the
death of the King of the country of Far, Far Away. With his final
breath, the king names Shrek the heir to the throne, much to the
annoyance of the ogre, who just wants to be...
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ActiVision's 'Bee
Movie Game'— Un-Bee-lievably Hilarious!
by Cochaman Peef
From
the makers of Shrek and Madagascar comes the next DreamWorks
Animation film, Bee Movie— written, produced, and starring the voice of
one of UPBEAT's all-time favorite comedians, Jerry Seinfeld. The Xbox
360 Bee Movie Game offers a one-of-a-kind game play experience,
as you play as Barry B. Benson in this pulse-pounding adventure
from the never-before seen perspective of a bee. Everything kids
love about gaming— racing cars, chasing targets, flying at high
speed and more— come together in this action- packed and
adrenaline-pumping...
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ActiVision's 'Tony
Hawk's Proving Ground'— Detailed Moves!
by Cochaman Peef

In
the largest and wildest Tony Hawk game yet, gamers are now in total
control of their skating destiny in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.
Set in the streets of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington,
D.C., the title literally empowers players with the freedom to
define their character, story and style based on the choices
they make, the paths they select and the style of skating they
want. The game delivers deeper customization than ever before,
including a full-featured video editor to create epic skate
videos and a completely customizable online Skate Lounge...
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EA's
'Need
For Speed ProStreet™'—
Impeccable Precision!
by Beth E. Cochran

Need for Speed ProStreet is a
ground-breaking Need for Speed experience where you the gamer
are thrust into competing head to head against the best
street
racers in a multitude
of racing showdowns. The game was developed by EA Black Box in
Vancouver, B.C. Need for Speed ProStreet boasts some impeccable
precision and pretty damn impressively detailed photo-realistic
graphics, effectively transporting you to the center of the
action. It truly pushes the...
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Atari's 'The Witcher™'—
The Sum of Cool Parts!
by
Cochaman
Peef

The Witcher, if you haven't actually been following, is a
third person RPG developed by CDPROJEKT and published by Atari
based on the works of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and uses
the popular Aurora engine, which in turn is the driving force
behind the ever popular Neverwinter Nights series. I’ll start by
saying the one definitive thing about this game that crosses my
mind; It is certainly one of the better RPG’s I’ve played. Let’s
face it, I was never big on Gothic, and never fancied my chances
on Two Worlds going by some of the reviews, but I’d been
tracking The Witcher for quite a long time. So, as a whole, I’d
never been huge on the third person RPG genre in the style of
Gothic and such, but now...
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Column
Frequency: Weekly |
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