RB: The Week Ahead 2.06.2005
PlayStation 2
Champions: Return to Arms
Anticipation Level: 8
Why are we so excited about Champions: Return to Arms? Simple, the first Champions of Norrath had us giddy for months and this addition should hold us over until the summer. There’s something inherently fun about hacking and slashing your way through dungeons, and the incorporation of free online play just makes the game that much better. Better weapons, two new classes, fantastic new worlds and the ability to export our characters from the first Champions make this a must-own for fans of the franchise.
Death by Degrees
Anticipation Level: 6
Tekken’s Nina Williams branches off from the popular fighting game franchise to do a little work on the side. This action-brawler uses a unique 360 degree fighting system where the actions are all mapped out to the right analog stick. We had some fun with the game at E3 but the controls were rather sluggish and the animations were pretty stiff. Barring a major miracle, this game will only be interesting for hardcore fans of the franchise.
NBA Street Volume 3
Anticipation Level: 8
EA Sports BIG’s marquee street ballin’ franchise took a major hit last year when Midway unleashed NBA Ballers to great critical acclaim. This time the developers have gone back to the drawing board to refine the gameplay, beef up the graphics and add some flashier moves to the franchise. It should be the best entry in the franchise, but will it be better than Ballers? Probably, but then again NBA Ballers 2 is probably right around the corner, so choose wisely.
PC
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords
Anticipation Level: 9
The follow-up to BioWare’s amazing foray into the Star Wars franchise has already garnered accolades on the Xbox, so it’s reasonable to assume that this PC port will hold up the same standard as well. It’s five years after the events of the first KotOR and the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the brink of extinction. Will you preserve the Jedi or rid them from the universe once and for all?
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
Gaming has been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. I can still recall many a lost nights spent playing Gyromite with that stupid robot contraption for the old NES. While I'm not as old as the rest of the crew around these parts, I still have a solid understanding of the heritage and the history of the video gaming industry.
It's funny, when I see other people reference games like Doom as "old-school" I almost begin to cringe. I bet that half of these supposed "old-school" gamers don't even remember classic games like Rise of the Triad and Commander Keen. How about Halloween Harry? Does anyone even remember the term "shareware" anymore? If you want to know "old-school" just talk to John. He'll tell you all about his favorite Atari game, Custer's Revenge.
It's okay though, ignorance is bliss and what the kids don't know won't hurt them. I'll just simply smile and nod the next time someone tells me that the best entry in the Final Fantasy franchise was Final Fantasy VII.
When I'm not playing games I'm usually busy sleeping through classes at a boring college in Southern Oregon. My current hobbies are: writing songs for punk rock bands that never quite make it, and teasing Bart about... well just teasing Bart in general. I swear the material writes itself when you're around this guy. He gives new meaning to the term "moving punching bag."
As for games, I enjoy all types except those long-winded turn-based strategy games. I send those games to my good pal Tyler, I hear he has a thing for those games that none of us actually have the time to play.
When I'm not busy plowing through a massive pile of video games I spend all of my time trying to keep my cute little girl fed. She eats a ton but damn she's so hot. Does anyone understand the Asian girl weight principal? Like they'll clean out your fridge yet still weigh less than 110 pounds.
Currently I'm playing: THUG, True Crime, Prince of Persia, Project Gotham 2 and Beyond Good & Evil. View Profile
