Capn Design

Game Reviews

MVP Baseball 2004

After owning and playing this game for over a month, I'm ready to give it a proper review. I should note that I tend to play the game in dynasty mode, so reviewing this game any earlier would have been premature.

Overall, this is the best baseball game I have ever played. The statistics are fairly deep and the gameplay is intuitive. I especially like the pitching system. I wanted to get the good stuff out of the way at the start because you should know this is an excellent baseball game that is definitely worth buying. The rest of this review will look at things that are missing and mistakes made by EA Sports.

My biggest complaint is the jump in difficulty between Pro and All-Star. At the Pro level I am able to keep my opponent to under two runs and five hits and score plently of runs without much effort. At All-Star, they often have ten hits by the middle of the game and I continually strike out. Not good. Additionally, the game has a lot of glitches. A dozen times the computer would field a ground ball and then just stand in place. It didn't make much sense. Finally, I've had some trouble fielding and base-running. It may just be a tough learning curve on those.

In terms of missing features, I'm mostly looking for more control over my stats. I find it's hard to figure out who's hot or cold. It would be helpful if I could look at their stats over just the last five, ten or fifteen games. I would like to have the date customizable, but that would likely make my save file unnecessarily large. I'm guessing that a built-in hard drive would solve all of these problems. It would also be nice to have a dynasty option where I don't have to worry about my minor league teams. If I want to be truly successful, I'd have to really manage my minor league teams, but I don't want to put in quite that much effort.

My 'B' rating is relative to what baseball games are capable of. The graphics are great and there are a million other wonderful things, but it's still not complete. If I was comparing it to what's available today, I'd give it an 'A'.

Dead to Rights

This game called out to me from the shelf of Blockbuster, so I rented it. It ended up being a pretty good choice. It follows Max Payne and Metal Gear Solid in the line of titles that wish they were movies. In this case, you play a cop who finds his father, a private investigator, killed and vows to seek revenge. The game follows your search for clues as you figure out what exactly went wrong. Of course, you run into a lot of resistance along the way.

The game plays a lot like May Payne. There's the obvious task of roaming through mostly urban areas acquiring weapons and taking out baddies, but you also have a couple interesting twists. The first is the ability to do slow-motion dives, just as you can in Payne. It makes things a lot easier when you are facing 4 or 5 baddies at once. You also have your dog, Shadow. He can attack enemies when you're out of ammo. The game tries to set itself apart with an interesting fighting engine and mini-games. There are levels where you'll have no weapons, like when you try to escape from priosn, and have to rely on your fists. It's a lot like Final Fight or Double Dragon -- nothing spectacular. The mini-games are an interesting addition, as you rarely find these in action games. Theoretically, it requires an additional skill, but it is mostly button mashing.

The graphics in the game are more than adequate, but won't make you buy the game. Unfortunately, the graphics aren't improved in the cut scenes, which means that the mouths don't move to match the voice acting. This lack of improvement adds consistency to the game, but having faces that don't move is unacceptable with what is capable today.

What the game lacks in graphics, it makes up for in gameplay. I have finished 3 hours worth of the game, keep thinking it will end soon, but it just keeps on keepin' on. The level designs are fairly interesting and there are a variety of different weapons and enemies. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun. I'll give an update if I'm able to finish the game anytime soon, because if there are only 5 hours or so of gametime, then it's not worth buying. You can rent it.

This game is perfect for people who love the action/adventure genre, because it provides more of the stuff you've grown to love. Still, there is nothing that sets this aart from the other games. If you're looking for an original take on a well-known concept, you've come to the wrong place. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Holy Shnooty Bombs! This game is fucking amazing. It is more challenging, interesting, entertaining and deep than its predecessor. It's also fun. It's the most funnest. Let me give you an idea of what I mean.

Everything from the last game is here. There is more. You can fly helicopters. You can ride motorcycles. You have different levels of weapons. There is a lot of boating. You can go inside buildings. Your character speaks. This one guy says dickhead. A lot. There are fuckloads of more cool stuff that I haven't found or haven't gotten to yet. Hookers are still around, but your car won't rock. You'll still get health back.

Really, this game is just amazing. There is so much replay value. It will take you weeks to finish all of the missions and the game is ridiculously fun without the missions too. You know you love building up your police level and seeing how long you'll last. Everyone does.

Buy this game or you are a dickhead.

Madden 2003

Football goodness. If you don't own Madden, this is the best version yet. If you already have an older copy, this one is worth the upgrade for the diehard fans and the rest can wait. It brings some great new toys, the most noted being online play. If you buy the $40 adapter you can play anyone you'd like online. There's also a new minicamp mode, the ability to scout college players and a slew of other add-ons. In my opinion, the best simulation football game.

Super Mario Sunshine

Mario is back. Thank God. I love Gamecube, but there have only been a few games worth buying until now. Better late than never, I say. If you love videogames and you don't have a gamecube it's worth paying $200 (a Gamecube and the game) to play Mario Sunshine. Of course, the graphics are good and the gameplay is awesome. Go play.

Burnout

Brief: A fun racing game that glamourizes accidents.

Long(ish): The most important thing is that the races are challenging enough to keep you busy for a week. It's also nice that the graphics and physics are quite good. The problem I have is the way they deal with accidents. I like that when you hit cars you have to stop and start again, because most games gloss over that to keep things exciting. The weird thing is that it keeps a tally of how much damage you have caused (in dollar amounts) but you aren't rewarded for this in any way. In fact, it would be impossible to finish races if you focused only crashes. So although the game is fun and watching crashes in slo-mo is entertaining, Burnout really avoids the one thing that is original about the game.

So check it out if you like arcade-style racing games, but it definitely has its flaws.

Hot Shots Golf 3

I just rented this, and it is the best golf game I've played. Imagine SSX done with a golf game and you'll have this. Oh, and it has a great RPG type soundtrack and the Japenese game motifs the classic gamers tend to miss. Ahhhh.

Virtua Fighter 4

The be all, end all of fighting games. End all is a bit much, but this game is good. The graphics are tight and the gameplay is deep. What else do you want?