Note: I previously published this on GamePro.com, so some of the content may involve that site, and some of the old links may not work anymore.
Socom
For as much as the people on this site dog on the PS2's online service (of which there was no real service), there's one thing that the PS2 had that Live will never be able to say it had, and that is a little franchise called Socom US Navy Seals. I remember when Live hit, there would always be these arguments between fanboys over Socom vs Ghost Recon. Live didn't have a killer app to rub in the PS2 fan's faces. Despite how good Ghost Recon is (which I have on both the Xbox, and PC), it was no Socom. Sure, Socom was just a rip off of the Counterstrike formula, but CS isn't the number one online PC game for no reason. It's gameplay formula is proven. It's really , and Socom put it's own spin on that formula. Another impressive thing is that Socom players were a lot less tolerant of cheaters, and cheap people. If you got in a glitch, or used 203s, or grenade launchers, your own team would vote your ass out. That's something I've yet to see in any other online shooter since. Most people encourage cheap play, whereas the Socom community, for the most part, didn't. Of course, now the older games are full of glitchers, and outright code breaker using cheaters, but in their prime, people didn't tolerate the same stuff that online gamers do today. Especially in Socom II because of the heavy use of Codebreakers in the first one.
I've been playing Socom since 2002. My friend had high speed internet, and he got the game. It was my first introduction to online gaming (and yes, even I went through a phase of playing around on the mics, but I never sang or said any racial slurs). It blew my mind. Every weekend when my friend was off from school (I had already graduated HS by then), I'd be over at his house taking turns playing the game until 4 a.m. I'd spent the night in his spare bedroom, and first thing in the morning we'd fire the game up and do it all over again. I was a little jealous of him, because all I had was 56krap ($10 a month netzero) at the time, and so I was devoid of Socom (though I did end up eventually finding a few PC games I could play online, but they weren't as fun to me as Socom). My favorite map in the game was Rat's Nest. I don't know why, but I always did good on that map. I played my best game on that map. I had like 21+ kills which, for a weekend warrior, was pretty good. The game soon became overrun by cheaters, and the developers left ways for players to get into the walls, and it was a huge problem until Socom II.
When Socom II hit, I really didn't like it at first for a few reasons. First, it took longer to kill people, because they added a life bar, second, they ruined two of the best maps from Socom 1 (Rat's Nest, and Abandoned) by making them night maps. They also made the AKS-74, which was the best gun in the original, almost worthless. It did make some other improvements though, like a better arsenal guns, an improved clan system which made it easier to setup, and maintain a clan. Also, respawn was a great new addition for the series. Respawn was my training ground to get my aiming back to where it was the weekend before. It wasn't the best respawn, but it provided a fun escape from the normal game none the less. Though the severs are running rampant with them now, there weren't any codebreakers used in the North American servers during Socom II's heyday. It wasn't until the developers abandoned Socom II for Socom 3 that use of them began to run rampant. However, people were always pulling their cords, or lag switching. A while after he got Socom II, my friend got kicked to the curb by his mommy, and my Socom days seemed to be forever over or so I thought.
In September 2005, I finally got highspeed internet, and was able to play again this time from the comfort of my own home. In my Socom absence, I learned one very important thing; I didn't have the patience to wait for the rest of my team to die. I also came back, and sucked so badly. I'm not sure if everyone got better without me, or if I just got suckier. I ended up playing other games online, and only occasionally playing Socom. Despite my suckyness, I still enjoy a few rounds of Socom II every once in a while.
I got Socom 3 about a week after it hit the shelves, and I still haven't gotten my $50 of play out of it. I prefer to stick to the first two when I play. Socom 3 added some good ideas, but I think Battlefield 2 had better execution of those ideas. The vehicles were too hard to destroy, and the maps were sniper havens. I've only logged on like 13 times. perhaps I didn't give the game a fair enough chance. Perhaps I should revisit it.
I've still yet to play Combined Assault, but I'm thinking of picking it up soon. Maybe I'll find more enjoyment out of it, but then again, maybe not. For it's new price of a mere $20, I suppose it won't hurt to see.
There are thousands of people still playing the Socom games Right now even as you read this (including around 100+ hardcore fans still on the original at any given time) which serves as a testament to the popularity of the franchise among PS2's online gamers. Though newer games on newer systems have surpassed Socom in the numbers, you can't deny that it was a phenomenon and the best reason for taking your PS2 online. My interest is currently peaked in the new Socom coming out to the PS3. The more I watch trailers of it, the more I want to play it. Perhaps it's time for me to give the series another chance. I've had a long enough time away from it. Perhaps it's time for me to take the plunge, and get myself a PS3 and get back on the Socom wagon with SOCOM Confrontation.
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FFII/IV: The Bane of Kain.
(by James_Earl_Cash)
I love my handheld, it allows me to return to some of my old favorites, like the early FF series,and to play some older games that I never got to play when they came out.
I have to come clean on something (and this'll make me sound more like a no0b than I already am), when FFII came out for the SNES back in 1991 I thought that this was one of the best games ever (it was my first plunge into the franchise and what got me really started playing other RPGs later on: IoG, SF, CT, etc.), but then I got to the boss fight with Zeromus, and no matter what I tried, I couldn't beat him. I tried leveling up higher, I tried using Protect/Shell spells, nothing I tried seemed to work, I still got killed by the Southern Cross move. It frustrated me to know end. Finally I gave up; my first time I ever gave up on a game so close to the end.
More than an entire decade passed before I would ever see that game again (now it is called FFIV and it comes with CT, sweet a bonus), this time for the PSone. I thought, "Great, I got an old score to settle, and this time I'm going to beat it." So, I load it up on my PS2, and about two weeks later I finally get to the final boss fight, I really worked hard to get to this point, I even checked the internet for some helpful hints (some helpful--including the one about stealing the Dark Matter, some not-so-helpful) along the way. I print them out, I follow them to the letter (the helpful ones), and what happens, I still am not able to beat that bastard, Zeromus. Once again, I give up on the game and it goes into a dark corner of my room to collect dust. I eventually find out what I did wrong by coming to this wonderful site [Gamerhelp], and I learn a few more tricks, but alas, my poor PS2 had burned out and crashed (I had bought it used at a gamestop by trading in my old tried and true and very faithful SNES--sorry old friend--and about $60 or so, plus tax) after only two years of use.
A few more years go by, and I had settled down to playing on the GC, learning about the horrors of RE and going over to a friends house occasionally for my fix of PSone and PS2 games, Silent Hill, Star Wars, whatever. Finally, I was able to get a DS Lite and the first game I got for it was FFIV, and the quest to beat that one FF series final boss I was never able to beat, continued. I made all the preparations, and again after two weeks of playing, I get to Zeromus--here it is some 15-18 years; almost 20 years that I have been plagued by this--and I am happy to report, that on 01/01/2008 I finally, finally beat Final Fantasy II/IV. Now, if I can only get through FFVII...but that's another story to tell for another date.
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Where are they now?
The early to mid nineties was filled with tons of mascots-with-attitude-platformers. Here's what happened to five of those such mascots.
Alex Kid- Having been forgotten due to Sega's move to push Sonic as their main mascot, Alex Kid fell into a deep depression. Despite a brush with alcoholism, and a prescription drug addiction, Alex turned his life around after the death of his very close friend Kid Chameleon. After cleaning up, he took it upon himself to try and help others who were suffering from the same depression of being passed by by gamers as he and Chameleon were by founding Alex Kid's Recovery Clinic for Forgotten Mascots. AKRCFFM works on a twelve level program that designed to help forgotten mascots cope with and get over their depressions. His program has gotten proven results, and has saved many forgotten mascot's lives. Alex is currently on contract negotiations for a talk show, and has just finished his fifth mascot self help book titled The Level Driven Life.
Kid Chameleon- Perhaps the most tragic case of all. Kid Chameleon, once one of Sega's frontmen..er..frontkid's, was found dead in late 1999 while leaning up against the Wildside arcade cabinet in a cool kid pose. He had apparently thought himself too cool to be forgotten, but he was wrong, dead wrong. Kid Chameleon starved to death waiting by the Wildside arcade cabinet at his local arcade for someone to come by. He had apparently died a few years before he'd been found, but so had arcades. He wasn't discovered until the development company the previous owners of the building had sold to were clearing the building to go forth with their plans to convert it into a trendy coffee shop. His death is said to have hit his close friend Alex Kid the hardest.
Bubsy- After the cat"ass"trophy that was Bubsy 3D, Bubsy, like many others, fell into a heavy depression, and turned to alcohol to cope. After having successfully completed rehab for his alcoholism in 2005, Bubsy now tours the US, and Canada lecturing Jr. High students on the dangers of alcohol. He also works as a part time consoler at Alex Kid's Recovery Clinic for Forgotten Mascots.
Awesome Possum- Having failed to get his environmentally friendly message through to the public peacefully via the videogame medium, Awesome Possum, joined a militant environmentalist group in the mid nineties. After a few short stints in jail for attacking loggers and litterers, his career found it's second wind when he was asked to tour with Al Gore to promote An Inconvenient Truth. He's currently in negotiations with a major book publisher to write his autobiography titled Recycle This Book: A Story of Videogames, and the Environment.
High Seas Havok- After his short brush with fame, High Seas Havoc continued on in his pirate ways by joining and participating in organized pirate crime. He soon worked his way up to being a level three pirate boss, and was believed to have been responsible for over 30 murders. He was found dead (cut to pieces), and lying in a back alley dumpster in 2002. The police believe that he was just another victim of the ongoing Pirates vs Ninjas blood feud. Many in his organization believe that, fellow mascot outcast of the nineties, Zool (Ninja of the 'Nth' Dimension), was behind Havok's murder. There is no evidence to substantiate that claim though.
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Reviews
G.I. Joe
(System: Nes | Developed by: Taxan | Published by: Hasbro Interactive | Review by: teh2Dgamer)
G.I. Joe on the Nes is one of my all time favorite games for that system. While it doesn't do anything remarkably new, it's action gaming at it's most refined. You start out the game with a nice pep talk from General Hawk, and are then thrust into the action from there. Your team consists of popular characters from the show including Duke, Blizzard, Rock n' Roll, Captain Gridiron, and everyone's favorite purple Ninja, Snake Eyes. Each Joe has his own unique abilities, and is in charge of his own level. Whichever team member is the leader is automatically chosen for you at the beginning of each level, however, you get the choice of who the other two members (party of three each) that are taken along.
Each of the game's levels a taken in three areas. Area one is just a simple run from right to left killing or dodging every enemy that comes your way and collecting power-up and ammo. In the second part of each level, you have to search an area to find little check marks painted on the walls for you to place C-4 detonators on. The third and final part of each stage is the escape after you plant the explosives and the final boss fight of the level. It sounds simple enough, but there are a plethora of, nasty baddies, bosses, and mid-bosses along the way, and each is all dead set on stopping you. Also, the levels themselves get more challenging, and the check mark locations harder to find as well.
Throughout the game you level up your weapons via powerups positioned throughout the stages in sometimes obvious sometimes hidden places. However, the addition of guns doesn't make this Contra. Your ammo has a limit. You can collect more via powerups, but for the most part it's better to use you character's punches (or in the case of blizzard and Snake Eyes, knife, and sword) throughout the level then to go gung-ho (Hey that was a G.I. Joe too) and run out of ammo before you hit one of the bosses. There's also a number of vehicles your Joes can use along the way.
Bottom Line: As I said before, the core gameplay has been done before, and since. It's nothing revolutionary, but the game has perfect balance. It's about as refined as games of this type get. In fact, I can't really think of one complaint about the game. It all melds perfectly. The controls are perfect, and the music is good for an Nes game. It's just one of those all around great games.
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Assassin's Creed
(System: PS3/Xbox 360 | Developed by: Ubisoft Montreal | Published by: Ubisoft | Review by: ShortHairedOffender)
Assassin's Creed has been getting a lot of mixed reviews. That is because this game in one of those love hate games. Some think its awesome others think it sucks. First off, I loved the game. I felt it was what I was hoping it would be. Others did not. One of the best things about it is of course, free running. You can truly climb anything. One downside, you don't feel like its natural. You can tell that half of it was put there just to climb and not like it was built like that to look good. Now that we have hit free running lets talk about the assassinations! They pretty much threw the blade in the crowd out. Only one of my targets went down without a fight and that was because I used a harder path. Usually the guards are on high alert even pointing you out when your just standing. Of course your target is a moron and decides to take you out as well. Stupid. You can kill them quickly. The plot is solid and they have a nice way of keeping you in the story area.
The Ups: Plot, Free Running Towns are huge!
The Downs: Your never quite the blade in the crowd
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Pikmin
(System: Gamecube | Developed by: Nintendo EAD | Published by: Nintendo | Review by: umaro in 2002, but revised in 2008 by teh2Dgamer)
In an industry where developers are afraid to innovate, Pikmin is a showcase of what can happen when you try something new. In Pikmin you play as Captain Olimar who is a space traveler that crash lands on a strange planet after his ship collides with a meteor. Olimar has thirty days to recover thirty missing pieces of his ship before his life support system fails him. However he won't have to find said 30 pieces alone, throughout the game he is aided by little plant-like creatures that he discovers and names Pikmin.
There are three types of Pikmin to be used; the Red Pikmin are impervious to fire, and are the strongest attackers; the Yellow Pikming can be thrown the highest, and have the ability to pick up little bombs; and the Blue Pikmin have gills with which to breath under water. The Pikmin do a great many things throughout the game that range from carrying pieces of Olimar's ship that are spread across each of the game's five areas, to building bridges, and even killing large predators. Knowing which color of Pikmin is right for the job is key to Olimar's survival.
Controlling your Pikmin is a breeze. You move Olimar with the analog stick and the Pikmin with the C-stick. You also have the ability throw you Pikmin onto predators, or up to unreachable ledges for them to carry down items. Watching the little guys swarm a predator, kill it, and then carry it off victoriously to the Onions (the Pikmin's homes that also act a Pikmin Generators) to be turned into more Pikmin is one of the game's many delights.
Despite all the game has going for it, it does have it's few annoyances. Any time I went near water, my little Pikmin always seemed to find a way to drown themselves. They also sometimes stop to do things without you telling them. This can make it hard to keep track of them all. Calling them back to you is a simple one button affair, but there will always be stragglers that get left behind, and eaten at the day's end. Also, the days go by way too fast which ends up making the game go by too fast. If you aren't able to get every part of your ship in a timely fashion, not only will you be behind on days, but you'll be in a world of hurt come day 30.
Bottom Line: Pikmin is a short, but sweet adventure from the mind of Nintendo's most celebrated designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. If you're tired of the same old games, and want to play an "outside the box" game, then give Pikmin a try. You won't be disappointed.
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Max Payne Reviews Duck Hunt
(System: Nes | Developed by: Nintendo R&D1| Published by: Nintendo | Review by: teh2Dga...um...Max Payne)
The rain was tapping on my apartment's window as if there was an evil presence knocking to get in. I glanced at my Nes. It had had twenty hard years of life. It sat there cold and emotionless. I had to look away for fear that it might jump up and scream of it's agony's of a life of overplay and abuse. I glanced at the cartridge. It had a picture of a duck being shot at. It was a morbid foreshadowing of things to come. I approached my Nes, and inserted Duck Hunt into it. It swallowed the cart like an old man swallows pain pills to pass the time before he dies. I pressed the power button, and the flashing. That horrible flashing. As if trying to make one last stand, the Nes was making the screen flash like it was fighting a losing gun battle with muzzle flashes all around it. I turned the power off, and pulled the cartridge out of the still fighting system. I blew air into it as if recessitating a person who was previously left for dead, and re inserted the cart. As if having just one final gasp of breath, the game booted up on the screen before me when I pressed the worn power button. I grabbed my orange sidearm, and started my trip to insanity.
Stretched before me was a picture of a beautiful world. Blue skies and green grass. It was like a beacon of light in my world of darkness. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a beautiful duck emerged from behind the tall grass that my hunting dog had been enveloped in moments earlier. I didn't think, I just reacted. I shot the surprised duck in mid flight. It's lifeless body fell to the ground with a dull thud. Then suddenly the dog emerged from his blanket of grass with the lifeless body of my victim. The duck's cold dead accusing glance sent shivers down my spine, but they were soon quelled by the pure look of joy in the dog's face. Like a hound of hell, the dog gave me an overjoyed response to the extinguishing of life that I had just partaken in. As if it was coaxing me to kill more. Before I could ponder this further, another duck emerged from the grass. I sprung into action, and shot him dead too. The dog once again gave me a satisfied smile as if the taking of an innocent duck's life brought him great amusement. Again another duck emerged, and again I killed it, and, just like the time before, the hell hound coaxed me further into it's blood lust. I became entranced. I was now just a tool for destruction, serving my master to feed his need of seeing the extermination of life. Duck after duck fell to the shots of my orange tool of virtual death. I too was feeling the blood lust of my master. I had to kill more, and more. Screen after screen of red duck outlines filled my viewing. I was out of control. All I could think about was killing just one more duck. I couldn't stop myself from the killing. I was too far gone. I'd already sold my soul to my master of death, but then suddenly, thunder boomed outside my apartment window, and pulled me from my master's trance. My sanity had been restored.
I snapped out of my trance just soon enough to let the duck that I had zeroed in with my cold plastic sights live. It flew away blissfully, as if it knew how close it came to dying. Then I heard it. It was the most tormenting sound I'd ever heard. Like a thousand needles being shoved into your ear drums. The laugh. It's amazing to think that the same creature that was egging on my murdering spree had turned it's back on me in one fell swoop. One act of mercy had turned master into tormentor. It's like incurring the devil's wrath for doing one single good deed. In that single instant, my life had changed. I couldn't get that damn laugh out of my head. Soon, another duck flew away in my moment of anguish over the laugh. Then, I heard it again. It pierced though me like a razor blade, and cut to the bone. Again, and again the laugh returned as more and more ducks flew away. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't kill the ducks again. The laugh had paralyzed me. Why oh why had I ever started this game? Soon as if in a last ditch effort, I was able to fight my way to the Nes, and in one motion, threw it though my window. It soared into the cold rainy night. Any evil lurking outside my window would be a picnic compared to that horrible laugh. I made it to the window in time to watch the Nes disappear into the darkness of the night.The system had tried to destroy me, but I ended up striking the final blow. I don't know what ever became of it, but I'll never forget the laugh contained inside it.
Bottom Line: That laugh will torment me until the day I die.
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My gaming life
My gaming New Years resolutions.
Alas, just like Gamerhelp, I could only think of eight of them.
8. Complete my want-list for one of the systems I own- This one definitely won't happen so I've put it into the number ten slot. Unless I win the lottery, I'll never complete my collection for any system I own. I don't want every game for any system, because not every game on every system I own is worth playing, but I do have extensive lists written out for every system I own, and will probably never get all the games on them. The thrill is in the hunt I guess.
7.Get an Atari Jaguar- For a system that's looked at as not being that good, the Jaguar is still really expensive online. I've always wanted to play Alien vs Predator on the Jag, and I think this year is as good a year as ever to do it, but only for cheap. I'll get other games for it as well (Kasumi Ninja looks awesome *barf*), and AvP is probably hella dated by now, but the collector in me really wants a Jag.
6. Find a new online game to play- The last online game to captivate me was Delta Force: Black Hawk Down on the PS2. Now you might ask "Why in the hell would you play that cheesy generic game?" Well the thing that I really love about Delta Force (which has become way too laggy, and will probably be shut down soon) is it's mayhem. It's 16 on 16 player battles on the official servers (only 4 on 4 in user hosted games) are hectic as hell. The game's graphics online might look like a glorified N64 game (It's offline graphics aren't that much better), but it plays like a mixture of Counterstrike and Call of Duty 4. It's like a faster more arcadey, but not too arcadey version of COD4. You've got the gun sight aim, and other similar elements of CoD4 mixed with faster movement, and jumping abilities of CS. It's even got classes like Team fortress. You've got medic, sniper, assault, and heavy gunner. The PS2 version actually has a hardcore following of over 100 people now on it still at any given time (unlike the Xbox version which has maybe 5 people on it), which is down from where it used to be. People even rent severs for it for $60 a month for this game. I can't find another game that interests me as much as this game online (not even the mighty COD4, or even the PS2 version of Team Sabre which was inferior to the first one), and I really need to.
5. Get a PS3- This year looks to be a good year for the system, and I have no doubt that it'll finally come into it's own in 2008. Pretty soon the fanboy excuse of "It's got no games." (which, by the way, sounded just as ignorant when the PS2 fanboys used to say it about the original Xbox) won't even be a viable fanboy talking point. Instead they'll be attacking the good games, and justifying not having one with the "Who needs this game when we have that game?" mentality when people who own both systems will get to enjoy them both.
4. Catch up on my RPGs- With the exception of a few classic RPGs I've replayed, I haven't played through an RPG in years which is a shame. I stopped on the PS1, and haven't really played through many of them since. I've started plenty, but for the most part, my RPG collection, which would make many of you RPG fans out there spooge in your pants, has been overlooked, and unplayed for years. That however is going to change. I'm going to focus more on them this year.
3. Start buying import Saturn games- I finally got an Action Replay Plus 4M for the Sega Saturn which acts as a memory card, a 1M and 4M ram expansion card, a cheat device, and most importantly a converter which will let me play Japanese Saturn games. I'm not sure how up you are on your Saturn knowledge, but Sega for some reason sealed the Saturn's fate by keeping so many awesome Saturn games in Japan only, and snuffing the American Saturn owners. All you little ****heads out there saying the Saturn is one of the crappiest systems ever should shut yer damn mouths. The Saturn is a hardcore gamer's wet dream. It's library is full of underrated gems, and a bunch of them never hit our shores. Just because it failed, doesn't mean it was crappy. I'm now finally able to buy Saturn imports which I've wanted to do since I got my Saturn in 2000.
2. Get a Neo Geo or a Turbo Duo, or both- I've wanted a Neo Geo for years, and Bluslime, and a few others on the forums have gotten me interested in the Turbo Duo system. I'm not sure which one I want more, because they've both got killer libraries of games. On one hand you get arcade perfect SNK games (especially their 2D fighters), but on the other, you get an underrated system with a varied library of great games. I can't decide on one over the other, so I'll just strive for both, but will settle for one or the other for now.
1. Get 2.5D mentioned in the hallowed pages of Gamepro magazine- Even if it's hidden in a wall of text with the copyright information, it'd be like a wet dream come true (ok maybe not a wet dream, but certainly a good dream) to find a reference to everyones...er... all five of those who read it's favorite blogzine. It'll never happen, but you never know.
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Underrated gems of the month
Shadow Hearts
(by AngelofChaos)
Without a doubt, Shadow Hearts is one of the most overlooked series on the PS2. Thanks to Final Fantasy X, many RPG fanatics missed this game around the first time, but for the few that managed to come across it, most have enjoyed it very much. The story is very engaging, especially in the first and second games. The battle system is unlike what you would normally expect from an turn based RPG. Instead of pressing X and attacking or casting spells, you use what's called "judgement ring" in which you time your hits on a rotating ring, which allows you to vary your attacks from weak, critical. It's a lot more fun and addictive than sitting back and just pressing the X button and watching an attack animation. The characters keep getting weirder and funnier as you progress through the series. If you like turn based Japanese RPGs, but don't like the clichés too much, then I strongly suggest you take a glance at Shadow Hearts. The humor is top notch (at least for an RPG) and crude and the well told storyline and amazing characters will carry you along a unique and fun ride you may not find anywhere else in a console RPG.
The Punisher
(by ShortHairedOffender)
One game that I have always held a deep place in my heart for has always been The Punisher for PS2 and XBox. Maybe it was the fact that I love throwing random Mafia members into wood chippers but I enjoy this game. If I am ever looking to get addicted to a game I choose this one. The plot has some twist right out of a comic book, mainly because its based on the comic book. The core game play is simple, kill every bad guy you see. Lucky for you there is an arsenal of weapons, loads of quick kills, and don't forget about interrogations. Want to make an enemy spill there guts (figuratively.) Then simply grab them and either start on of the four simple quick interrogations. If you want to have a little more fun then find a special interrogation. After you interrogate them you can spill there guts once more. (Literally) You can either kill them in the interrogation you are currently in or with a quick kill. So, if you're looking for a game that has bad ass written all over it go rent or buy The Punisher.
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The Send Off
Well that wraps up this third issue of 2.5D. I know no one will read this (I sure wouldn't if I had the choice j/k), but I'd like to thank ShortHairedOffender, AngelofChaos, and James_Earl_Cash for their contributions to this issue.
As usual, I'd also like to thank Gamepro.com, and the Videogame Museum for some of the screens provided in this blogzine.
If anyone has some suggestions for improvements, then I'd be happy to hear them.
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