In honor of X-Men 3: The Last Stand coming out this weekend I decided to try out the game brought to us by Activision, X-Men: The Offical Game. Great title guys.

The game picks up where the last movie, X2: X-Men United, left off. You as Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. This is the first thing I find odd about the "offical game". The offical movie doesn't not include Nightcrawler, so why is he in the game? But this is not a complaint, just a quandry. Nightcrawler is by far the most interesting and fun character to play in this game.

Unfortunetly the pluses in this game a few and far between. Speaking of "between", did you like that transition, the "cut-scenes", if you can call them that, are quite possibly the most horrendous things I've seen in a long time. No fancy visualy pleasing stories for us. Instead we get still pictures and characters that slide across the screen for animations. Luckily the voices for the charaters are done by the actors in the movie, at least for Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Iceman, and Professor X. The graphic during gameplay on the other hand are quite nice.

There are three playable characters, Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler, each having their own unique playing style. Wolverine can stay in the fight a bit longer than the other two, he deals out the most damage and when he goes into fury mode he can pull of some devistating attacks. The biggest threat to him is when he becomes surrounded by foes and bad men with guns. Iceman sticks to the air with his slick iceslide te cnique. All of his attacks are ranged, shoot a chilling beam to put out fires and slow your opponets or hurl iceshards at them. The top part of this game are the missions completed with Nightcrawler. Teleportation is the only way to fly. Although he can't last long in a fistfight you can instantly teleport behind your advesary for a quick combination of attacks.

After the first few missions though you find yourself doing the exact same combinations and attacks on every enemy. Needless to say it gets quite tedius after just the first couple of missions. But the strong parts in the game are the boss fights. Iceman faces off with Pyro and Wolverine takes on the likes of Lady Deathstryke and Sabertooth. Though the boss fights are well done and actually fun, getting to them is like slowly drilling into your brain.

There are some unlockables to be had, different costumes, bios, and the like. Plus the branching storylines may bring a player back for a little more a second time through. But is it really worth it? This might be a game to pick up if you are a X-men fanatic, but otherwise rent it or avoid it altogether. This one gets a 6 out of 10.

Now for some screen shots.

For more screens check out IGN

Namco has brought us another installment in the Ace Combat series. Ace Combat Zero brings us to a time 15 years before the happenings of Ace Combat 5, during the Belkan Wars. Thus the name Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan Wars.

"Hooray!" I think, "a new Ace Combat game, more aerial combat goodness and hey what's this?" As the opening shot of ....live action actors appears on the screen. Welcome back to 1996, I am confused. Why have you forsaken us Namco? But shenanigans aside Ace Combat Zero is still the polished great gameplay that we recieved with past titles.

The controls are as tight and perfect as they ever were. The graphics are just as beautiful. And the missions...well they are missions. And where did my nicely played out story go?

The colorful characters that I grew to love in Ace Combat 5 have gone, and instead have been replaced by unintelligent chatter, from people I don't care about. How are we supposed to enjoy and want to continue on with a game if we don't give a crap about what is going on in it?

But let us not focus just on the negative. Ace Combat Zero does what the series does the best. We still get the most well done flight combat simulator available on a console. There a wide variety of planes to choose from, inculding a jammer craft. Some of which you may actual change the paint style of.

The game includes a few new features that fit nichely into the background. The wingman orders have been expanded so you are able to tell your wingman to focus on air, ground, or for them to choose freely. Also their are significant enemies that you have the option of shooting down. Some of the enemy pilots you go up against will appear on your screen and you can read their call signs. If you manage to shoot them down you can read their bios after the mission.

As for the missions themselves, it's pretty much the same run of the mill "destroy all targerts", "destroy the super weapon", and "canyon" missions. Nothing overly special.

All in all Ace Combat Zero is a solid game, that just bores me into lethargy. I'll cough up a 7 out of 10 for it.

Konami showed off some new Metal Gear Solid 4 imagery at E3. Check out the returning characters. It would seem that Naomi, Otacon, Colonel Campbell, Meryl, Ocelot, and even Cyborg Ninja as done by Raiden make a return. For the full trailer click HERE.


Images taken from www.playmagazine.com

New Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots screens.

Our Man

The MemoriesOcelotCyborg Ninja 2.0NaomiColonel Campbell

Time for a little good old fashioned US v Russia action. Black from Criterion, the people behind the not so shabby Burnout games, which is suitable because if Burnout was an FPS it would be Black.

In Black you play as an operative in the Black Tactical Squad, the most covert and highly trained unit that the US doesn't have. Your mission, track down and elimenate the leaders of the Russian terrorist group, Seventh Cell. At the start it sounds like your basic FPS story, and it is. But you're not playing this for the story now are you?

You start out in Black stuck in a small room with just a pistol at your side, but you quickly find your next armament, a nice big shotgun. The only problem is your still stuck in said small room, the door is locked and there are no keys to be found. Oh what is a boy to do. Simple you just found the best key in the game. Point your shotgun at the door and gently remove it from it's hinges with one big bang.

That is Black's big selling point, completely destructible worlds. And I don't me just shooting stuff that is in the room, or on the walls, I mean taking down the walls entirely. The bottom line is if it looks like it can be destroyed then it probably can. Cars, signs, pillars, headstones, cranes, busses, even statues. You name it, you can blow the crap out of it.

Weapoin selection is pretty average throughout Black. Pistols, shotguns, assualt rifles, sniper rifles, rpgs, and an assortment of other items. My favorite by far is the magnum, particulary after you play through the game once and gain silver weapons. Nothing better than a one hit kill small handheld weapon with infinite ammo.

AI is pretty basic. They use cover effectively, even if they are hiding behind exploadable boxes. They run from your grenades, don't stand still, and really lay on the heavy fire. The bad guys with the rpgs are by far the most difficult to deal with. But the explosion they leave behind is quite pleasing.
All in all a good strong game with just one minor flaw, that being game length. With only seven levels you've played through it in a couple of days. Though the length of the missions trys to make up for it. The game also has some minor replay ability, with the small reward of going through with infinite ammo and another secondary objective added on to the missions. I'd give it 8.5 out of 10.

For more info and screen shots check out the Offical Site.