If you’re a History Channel obsessive, LucasArts’ Secret Weapons Over Normandy lets you take to the skies with dozens of the Axis’s and the Allies’ most advanced planes. Most flight sims are too hard for beginners, but this one deftly eases you into the wild blue yonder. If you prefer ground combat, Activision’s first-person shooter Call of Duty puts you in the boots of U.S., British and Russian soldiers for a multifaceted look at World War II. And when you finally tire of the Greatest Generation’s exploits, Vivendi Universal’s Men of Valor will take you to Vietnam for a tour of duty in hell with an opening helicopter-attack sequence that leaves most games in the dust.
For sci-fi buffs, the game to beat is Microsoft’s Halo 2. Once again, you’re the one-man army known as Master Chief, trying to protect Earth from an invading alien horde. The game’s AI is so slick, you’ll swear that your computer-controlled squadmates are alive and butt-kicking. Its chief competition: Vivendi Universal’s Half-Life 2, whose highly realistic physics engine lets you use anything in your environment–barrels, crates, logs–as weapons to defeat yet another invading alien horde.
Last Christmas, Electronic Arts’ Lord of the Rings games ruled the competition even though you could play only as Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli. This year it has added Gandalf, Frodo and Sam to the list in an epic adventure that brings the film’s massive scale to your living room. In Microsoft’s Fable, the very concept of medieval chivalry is given a snarky British twist: you must compete against an assortment of rivals to become the greatest hero of all. Simon Fuller not included.
The videogame industry is catering more and more to older fans, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything for the young and the young at heart. Nintendo’s Mario Kart: Double Dash features everyone from Diddy Kong to Luigi in this free-spirited take on the racing genre. Muggles the world over will find themselves frantically trying to snag the seeker in EA’s Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. And Ubi Soft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time reinvents Jordan Mechner’s classic 2-D game as a stunning 3-D adventure, complete with acrobatic moves that would make even Keanu Reeves say “Whoa.”
Sports and racing games are all about bigger, better and faster, and this year’s crop certainly fits the bill. EA Sports’ Madden Football 2004 scores a touchdown by letting you make adjustments on the fly. And its franchise mode is so deep, you can even set ticket and concession stand prices. The hyperrealistic Gran Turismo 4 from Sony will add rally racing tracks to its unparalleled selection of courses, and car buffs will be in automotive heaven with its collection of 500 vehicles. Downhill snowboarding catches big air with SSX 3 by EA Sports Big; as you conquer the powder on each mountain peak, you can connect the tracks for a monster ride. For an added challenge, unlock a high score for a particular course to study how that racer tackled the mountain. You can even link a series of back-to-back tricks for incredibly complex and physically impossible combos. And Activision gives its aging Tony Hawk franchise a major overhaul this year with Tony Hawk’s Underground, a story-based title about one skater’s journey from skate rat to extreme sports superstar.
Let the games begin.
title: “Next Season S Hot Games” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “John Grantham”
If you’re a History Channel obsessive, LucasArts’ Secret Weapons Over Normandy lets you take to the skies with dozens of the Axis’s and the Allies’ most advanced planes. Most flight sims are too hard for beginners, but this one deftly eases you into the wild blue yonder. If you prefer ground combat, Activision’s first-person shooter Call of Duty puts you in the boots of U.S., British and Russian soldiers for a multifaceted look at World War II. And when you finally tire of the Greatest Generation’s exploits, Vivendi Universal’s Men of Valor will take you to Vietnam for a tour of duty in hell with an opening helicopter-attack sequence that leaves most games in the dust.
For sci-fi buffs, the game to beat is Microsoft’s Halo 2. Once again, you’re the one-man army known as Master Chief, trying to protect Earth from an invading alien horde. The game’s AI is so slick, you’ll swear that your computer-controlled squadmates are alive and butt-kicking. Its chief competition: Vivendi Universal’s Half-Life 2, whose highly realistic physics engine lets you use anything in your environment–barrels, crates, logs–as weapons to defeat yet another invading alien horde.
Last Christmas, Electronic Arts’ Lord of the Rings games ruled the competition even though you could play only as Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli. This year it has added Gandalf, Frodo and Sam to the list in an epic adventure that brings the film’s massive scale to your living room. In Microsoft’s Fable, the very concept of medieval chivalry is given a snarky British twist: you must compete against an assortment of rivals to become the greatest hero of all. Simon Fuller not included.
The videogame industry is catering more and more to older fans, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything for the young and the young at heart. Nintendo’s Mario Kart: Double Dash features everyone from Diddy Kong to Luigi in this free-spirited take on the racing genre. Muggles the world over will find themselves frantically trying to snag the seeker in EA’s Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. And Ubi Soft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time reinvents Jordan Mechner’s classic 2-D game as a stunning 3-D adventure, complete with acrobatic moves that would make even Keanu Reeves say “Whoa.”
Sports and racing games are all about bigger, better and faster, and this year’s crop certainly fits the bill. EA Sports’ Madden Football 2004 scores a touchdown by letting you make adjustments on the fly. And its franchise mode is so deep, you can even set ticket and concession stand prices. The hyperrealistic Gran Turismo 4 from Sony will add rally racing tracks to its unparalleled selection of courses, and car buffs will be in automotive heaven with its collection of 500 vehicles. Downhill snowboarding catches big air with SSX 3 by EA Sports Big; as you conquer the powder on each mountain peak, you can connect the tracks for a monster ride. For an added challenge, unlock a high score for a particular course to study how that racer tackled the mountain. You can even link a series of back-to-back tricks for incredibly complex and physically impossible combos. And Activision gives its aging Tony Hawk franchise a major overhaul this year with Tony Hawk’s Underground, a story-based title about one skater’s journey from skate rat to extreme-sports superstar.
Let the games begin.
