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P82 SLED STORM (EA) £39.99 on
Sled Storm COuld have been a great game. The visceral experience of racing fantastical snowmobiles around some wild and wacky tracks is hugely enjoyable. Jumps seem to go on for minutes. ridiculous scenery. such as the outrageous carnival, never fail to raise a smile and the Storm Boost helps descend the game into madness.
But there are a few niggles that add up to Overwhelming frustration and even hatred. Chief among these is the opposition. Fall off your sled a dozen times a lap and you can still catch the competition and win. On the other hand. drive a perfect race. fall 100m from the finish and you will come in last. The sense of injustice this produces will have many switching off and never switching back on. Initially fun but ultimately annoying. Sled Storm is well
worth a weekend hire.
'55 OFF
FOREWWYREMMR
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Pc MATT HAYES’ FISHING
(EA) 2.24.99 on
Virtual fishing is something of a narrow genre. Sega did it all with Bass Fishing, including the hilarious rod-n-reel controller. and unless someone can invent a new way to fish digitally. there seems little point in going over old ground.
Matt Hayes' Fishing may be licensed from some guy off the Discovery network. but there is nothing in here that has not been done before. You choose your bail. you cast your rod. yOu watch the lure as you reel it in. Sometimes a fish commits suicide. sometimes not. Either way. there seems to be littie you can do about if. It is mildly distracting. and due to the entire game being controllable with the mouse. it can be played with one hand. LeaVing the other hand free to smack yourself in the head. wondering why you bought this. Then again. maybe your dad would like it?
XBOX
OBI WAN (LucasArts) £44.99 0
OK. let's get the one good thing out of the read first. The Force. Like Max Payne's bullet time. it can be utilised
to slow the third person action and give yeti the chance to Wield the awesome arts of the Jedi. Unfortunately. the rest of Obi Wan is pitiful.
The animation is clunky. the levels are flat and plain. the camera work is laughably bad and the lock on feature. perfected ad nauseum elsewhere. beggars belief. Cut scenes are terrible while the mission structure and pace seems to have been designed by a three year old.
But the. worst of the worst is the veice acting. You thought Ewan McGregor’s Alec Guinness accent was amusing in the meme? Wait until you get a load of some American guy deing Ewan doing Alec. Obi Wan is an insult to The Phantom Menace. which gives you some idea as to exactly how bad it really is.
(lain Davidson)
ALSO RELEASED RalliSport Challenge iXBox Microsoft 5,744.99; Mudsliding galore. Championship Manager (XBOX Eidos £744.99) Had to come didn't it?
Italian Job IPC SC/ f‘29.99i It's a mini adventure.
Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight 2 (PC Lucas/Ids $20.99) New I am the Master!
Blood Omen 2 iXBox Eidos 5‘-4/1.S)9) Ouick. call Buffy!
Games
XBOX AMPED (Microsoft) £44.99 0000
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The tricks are simple to team but take time to master
As anyone who has tried snowboarding will tell you, the learning curve is steep but short. Within a few days of asking: ‘Where do my feet go?’ no slope is too steep to get down and most are enjoyably friendly to the novice. Amped follows this path to snowboarding enlightenment, the only change being that, along the way, the couch is punched in frustration rather than the snow.
Amped differs from the snowboarding game of choice, SSX, in a number of respects. Primary among these is the emphasis on realism. The hillsides are almost believable, and were there fewer pipes, jumps and rails, you could be on a slope anywhere in the world. These huge and varied fun parks range from wide powder fields to narrow tree-lined tracks and are beautifully depicted. But it is the use to which you put these environments that really matters.
Amped allows a good number of tricks to start with, and besting the local pro riders will open up a few more for you. Unfortunately, you have to beat some posted scores and impress some sponsors before then. Amped is built on the premise that you want to make it as a pro-boarder yourself, so gaining sponsorship, including some natty threads and more impressive boards, is essential. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of fun on the way, but from time to time, certain trick styles must be adhered to.
Which makes Amped quite a challenge. No perfecting one big trick and pulling it off every cliff and rooftop here. The tricks are simple to learn but take a while to master and you never feel you are totally in control. Kind of like snowboarding really. And to accompany your uphill struggle to go downhill, there are 150 indie music tracks awaiting your perusal.
A few thrill seekers may be a little disappointed but those who believe SSX
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is all flash and no guts will find Amped more to their liking. (Iain Davidson)
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The voucher is valid until 28 April 2002.
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