And here is my video game column reviews for the nerve. I changed the tomb raider review from the previous short one and expanded it. I also did a review on Final Fight Street wise.
Tomb raider: Legend
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Eidos interactive
Tomb Raider legend is the 7th installment of the popular series that has captivated the minds of people of all shapes and sizes—mostly teenage boys—for ten years.
The new Tomb raider promises a lot with its massive advertising campaign using the tag line: “you have to see it to believe it”. Most likely because the new developer, Crystal Dynamics (Gex and Legacy of Kain), smoothed out the graphics and the physics of not only the landscape but also the main character Laura Croft.
Laura has been revamped to appear more realistic by making her more expressive and believably proportioned. The 20-year-old British model Karima Adebibe was the muse for the new visuals of your main character. So not to fret Laura is still a fetching piece of eye candy with lots of cut screen movies to maximize the characters new hip shaking walk and large boobies.
Using some ridiculously high number of polygons Crystal Dynamics managed to make the game look and feel a lot more realistic than its awkwardly controlled ancestors. The levels are large and are very good looking. The ledges, poles and all the other pieces you must do acrobatics on appearing naturally placed.
The story line of the game takes you all over the globe. As you venture from ancient tombs to cityscapes to snow covered peaks the plot is developed as Laura searches for her lost mother. Along the way you discover a bitter estranged friend that you left for dead in a botched excavation when you were younger and still a dirt digger. Instead of dying she relied on an ancient demon to save her life. Inevitably her and her pet monster are searching for the same sword fragments as you.
The unknown artifacts are the key to a portal that leads to a mystical plain through which your mother was sucked into in your childhood after a plane crash in ancient ruins. Of course your old anthropologist chum’s motives are dubious as she is trying to obtain godlike powers while you just want your mommy.
Developer: Capcom Production Studio 8
Publisher: Capcom USA
If you’re like me you remember Final Fight from your childhood. It was the game that cemented the glory of side scrolling street combat.
The new game, which comes 15 years after the original version, sucked all my mothers’ quarters out of my sweaty little meat hooks. The new installment is a 3D adventure fighter that manages to stay true to the Final Fight franchise.
You follow Kyle Travers as he tries to locate his kidnapped brother (Cody Travers from the first Final Fight). Along the way you meet the other characters from the original game and learn new skills and combos, which are pretty rad. The games rating system is based on respect points that you get by kicking ass and progressing through the story. Bigger combos mean bigger respect rewards. Don’t punch hookers though other wise the gang bangers in Japan Town won’t give you your props.
Final Fight is riddled with mini-games that range from annoying to addictive. Included in these little gems is darts, a shooting gallery and that annoying slide puzzle game that you hate from your childhood. The one where there is one square missing and you slide the pieces to try make a picture. A highlight to these little breaks from the games is the one where you squish cockroaches in the local diner while listening to some weird Japanese styled pop song.
The game has an interesting feature in which you can buy the soundtrack with money you pick up along the way. Since you should be spending all you money buying power-ups and combos this feature is a little bit shoddy. The fact that you can’t purchase and metal till level two and you start off with a mere 7 tracks that are all hip hop is also a punch in the nuts.
