One of the coolest gaming trends for 2005 is to hurtle gamers back in time to ancient civilizations so they can fight heroic battles while wielding awesome weapons like giant spiked maces or huge broadswords. Even though it's hard to put down the laser guns and various plasma weapons, there's just something wickedly brutal about the crash of metal swords and the gore of hand-to-hand combat. Capcom's Shadow of Rome was one of the first to arrive on store shelves, and it has fantastically bloody battles, stealth action, and first-rate graphics to bring it all to life.
A brilliant opening movie immerses gamers into the harsh life that ancient Rome had fallen into with its prolonged wars and political turmoil. Gamers are on the hunt for Julius Caesar's murderer and will jettison back and forth playing as two characters, Agrippa and Octavianus. Agrippa is the warrior who slices and dices his way through foes both in and out of the arena. The moves and combos all get awesome names, such as Red Volcano for gallons of gushing blood or meat collector for all the various body parts that get hacked off during battle. Octavianus is not a battle character and collects his info by stealth tactics, and although it is a nice balance to all the blood-soaked battles, we still prefer the thrill of kicking the crap out of some hairy barbarian as opposed to sneaking past guards and going behind the scenes for information.
Gladiator events include duels, all-out battles, tournaments, and Chariot races. The superb animation and presentation of the game bring the sights and sounds of the Rome to life, particularly the Gladiator events. Warriors battle it out in front of thousands of screaming Romans in ancient stadiums, and the sheer spectacle of it all will keep gamers pumped up and part of the action.
Also included is the ability to open more game features that include an art gallery, new costumes, and mini-games. The overall cinematic quality of Shadows of Rome adds a nice depth to the game and keeps the bone-crunching action vivid and dramatic. It's a great-looking, exciting action adventure game that just might redefine what it means to be the last man standing.-LL
Oddworld Stranger's Wrath
Genre: Action/shoote
Console: Xbox exclusive
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: Oddworld
Hot: Unbelievable graphics; "live" ammo and upgrades
Not: Wanted even more ammo
Rating: 0 0 0 0 0
For gamers who are not familiar with Oddworld, now is the time to get acquainted. Oddworld Stranger's Wrath is the amazing new chapter in the Oddworld universe, and for us, it is one of the best games we've seen that truly maximizes Xbox's graphic capabilities. We were in awe of the Pixar-like quality of the 3-D character animations and the seriously gorgeous game environment, and we couldn't help but admire the clever weapon/ammo set up that uses "live" ammo in ways we'd never dreamed.
The game's hero, Stranger, is a bounty hunter out to bring in the bad guys, but in Oddworld, outlaws are worth more alive than dead, and gamers will get the chance to flex their ingenuity by combining different strategies and weapons in order to bring the fugitives in alive and kicking.
This action-shooter game lets gamers progress through levels in a non-linear fashion by permitting gamers to choose which bounties to pursue and in what order. A very handy feature that gamers will come to rely on is the ability to switch back and forth between first- and third-person viewpoints at any time during the game. Playing in the third-person view has its advantages at times, and it allows gamers to ram enemies in battle, set up shots or traps for outlaws, or even cover great distances quickly.
To keep track of mission goals or to gather information from resident locals, a touch of a button will have Stranger either saying what he is supposed to or starting a conversation with other game characters to probe for key facts.