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Techtite's Playstation-2 Reviews! |
"Word to game designers: you need ONE of the following per game: 1) the ability to save ANYWHERE throughout a difficult game, or 2) unlimited gaming (i.e., no "limited lives" nonsense). Both features absent in a game makes for an aggravating game experience..." ---from the review ------------------ Sidebar:: ----------------- "No sidebar comments for this game" Yet...
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Men In Black 2:Alien Escape!
Click picture to order this game. A Techtite ReviewMovie/game tie-ins are a trickier thing than most people give them credit for. It might appear to be easy enough to do, though...well, to look at Shrek on the X-Box, apparently not! Similarly, you'd think all a game based on the movie Men in Black 2 needs, is a few cool aliens to fight in a typical First-Person Shooter. That's simple enough, right? ...right? Again: Apparently not. Because while Men in Black 2: Alien Escape does indeed have the aliens to fight, and truly impressive 3D acceleration effects, its is incredibly hard. Furthermore, its environments are decidedly less impressive than you'd expect a sci- fi game to have. It's also dauntingly hard. It has a "limited lives" playing style that forces you to start a game level from scratch if you die as little as 3 times. Did I mention that it's incredibly, dauntingly, incessantly hard? Let's look at the pluses. You get to play as either Jay or Kay, who must zap the bad aliens and save the "worm guy" aliens along the way. You acquire 6 weapons to choose from, all based on the film. You get to fight your way through 5 separate mission stories, defeating 6 "boss" villains, some of which are also based on the film. The levels are humongous, leading to lots of nooks and crannies to search. Best of all is the final Big Bad, which is a 3D accelerated work of art and when defeated has all the humor of the film series intact. Even better; both Jay and Kay have separate ways of dealing with this guy's final fate, so there's more than enough need to play it at least twice. In these aspects, it's a fun ride. Of course, there's the difficulty factor. This paragraph means nada to those with Gamesharks (who know how to use them), so skip a paragraph if you have that "full health" cheat code at the ready. First of all, saving a game isn't allowed until the END of any game level; a major flaw, in a game with very, very long levels! This save game feature's limitations are enhanced via a limited lives feature, which starts you at the very beginning of a level if you get shot too many times. Word to game designers: you need ONE of the following per game:
...All of the above, absent in a game, makes for an aggravating game experience. Got that? I thought we learned this already, with games on old Apple ][e's and the like. Again: apparently not. The final deciding factor between marginal thumbs-up and thumbs-down is the reward factor. You know what I mean; after being zapped back to the level start a dozen times, why exactly am I playing this? There are "classified documents" unlocked in the main menu of the game upon completing each level, though most of it is just nonsense, and I doubt a biography about Jay or Kay says anything to fans that they haven't already learned in the films. If you really love Men in Black, by all means, give the game a try. Otherwise, have that Gameshark at the ready, because it's going to be a bumpy ride.
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