What's New?

And so November draws to a close with something of a bang - at least for console owners. Besides those of you getting excited about DS imports, each under-the-telly format has a worthy champion this week, and it's only really the PC gamers among us who have reason to moan. Although with Half-Life 2 still rocking most of your machines and World of Warcraft available to import, not to mention a backlog of top PC titles that you probably haven't had a chance to tackle yet (Rome: Total War, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault to name just three), you can probably forgive a week where the most exciting PC prospects are CSI: Miami and Joint Operations expansion pack Escalation.

If you're a console owner though it's a pretty simple choice. PS2? Buy Jak 3 (and ignore Killzone). Xbox? Buy Pro Evolution Soccer 4. GameCube? Buy Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. PS2 and Xbox owners can also get their hands on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 today, which Kristan is busy feverishly completing in the other room as these very words tumble out of my fingers. And whichever console you happen to own, you can always take time out and join us in heckling GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, which after months of "meh" finally emerges to a critical pasting from more or less everybody. We've just taken delivery of ours, and Rob is already sharpening his keyboard in preparation. He might like it, admittedly (stranger things have happened; Kristan once jumped off a Microsoft-sponsored cliff, you know), but given that our contemporaries from the land of the printed word have slagged it off across the board, it's a sure sign that it's from the surf-a-tidal-wave school of unlikeable Bond. Come back Everything or Nothing, all is forgiven...

The key players, then, in sequence. Jak 3, first of all, is extremely enjoyable, much better paced than its predecessor, full of genuinely funny characters and beautiful cut-scenes, and draws on more styles of gameplay than ever before. There are plenty of memorable missions in there, and even if we wished there was slightly more platforming (the Smuggler's Run-inspired dune buggy missions dominate this time around), and that it lasted a bit longer, it's hard not to recommend to fans of the series. It's a far cry from what Jak & Daxter did several years ago, but it's still fantastic fun. That also seems to be the case with Metroid Prime 2, although due to a particularly hectic review schedule, the launch of the DS and whatnot, it's been tough to spend any time with it. More of the same plus multiplayer? That's the first impression. But given that we loved Metroid Prime more than we love some members of our own family, it's hard not to get excited on that basis anyway. We'll tell you more next week.

The Xbox Pro Evolution Soccer 4, however, we can tell you about now. Except there's not much to say about it that we haven't said in our PS2 or Xbox reviews. Let's just reiterate the bottom line: it's now our favourite football game on Xbox, and you can have a lot of fun on Xbox Live with the right people, but it is somewhat deficient in a number of key areas. Not penalising people who quit games before they're finished being the most frustrating thing about it. In other words, FIFA's online implementation is superior, but the decision about which to buy surely comes down to the one you prefer on the pitch. Might be worth renting both if you've never played them, or simply can't make your mind up.

And it might be worth waiting for Kristan's Ghost Recon 2 review before making your mind up about that. You probably still want to hear something though, so just give me a few seconds... Right. Based on a quick glance at the front of the box and the pause menu sitting on the TV screen in the lounge: there's a man who looks like a zombie on the box, so presumably Mr. Clancy has finally shifted the series toward the supernatural as the name always implied he would. And, thinking about it, when I walked in the other night the whole screen was bathed in a sort of supernatural green glow as Kristan stomped through a forest at night time, which can only mean that the zombies are the result of some sort of biblical plague and/or nuclear fallout. As if further proof were needed, "Ubisoft" is zombie-speak for "Tom is right".

In other news, a lot of other games are out this week. You can see what they are on the list below. If any of them inspire more interest in you than they evidently have in us, by all means say so. We're particularly interested in your views on [scans] Power Rangers Dino Thunder. Yeah. And Super Mario Ball. We still cannot believe that anybody could foul up a Mario pinball game (heck, even the Pokemon pinball game was excellent, and Kirby's is legendary), but that's what everybody keeps saying. Any dissenting voices care to change our minds?

And with that, November 2004 is gone, with sanity (hopefully) reinstated to the release schedule. We'll be back next week either defending or pining over STD Games' latest, Prince of Persia: Worry Her Within, reflecting on our experiences with Call of Duty: Finest Hour (you'd think it had to be ace), and trying to work out why, when we were sent a patently finished review PC version a full fortnight before we got hold of the Xbox version, it's taken another week to get Pro Evolution Soccer 4 out on the beige box. In the meantime though, could you all please stop quitting when I'm beating you on Xbox Live. It doesn't happen enough as it is, and my inherent good nature means that I can never bring myself to quit when I'm the one on the receiving end. So, please, accept defeat graciously. (1-0. Wuuh-orn nil!)

• PAL Releases
• Alexander (PC)
• CSI: Miami (PC)
• Dead to Rights (GBA)
• Driven to Destruction (PS2)
• GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (PS2, Xbox, Cube)
• Guilty Gear X2 Reload (PS2, Xbox)
• Hot Wheels Stunt Track Challenge (Xbox, PC, GBA)
• Jak 3 (PS2)
• Joint Operations: Escalation (PC)
• Killzone (PS2)
• Law and Order - Justice is Served (PC)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (PS2, Xbox, Cube, PC, GBA)
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Cube)
• Pac-Man World (GBA)
• Power Rangers Dino Thunder (PS2, Cube, GBA)
• Premier Manager 2004-2005 (GBA)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (Xbox)
• Scaler (PS2, Xbox)
• Super Mario Ball (GBA)
• Syberia 2 (PS2, Xbox)
• The Polar Express (PS2, Cube, PC, GBA)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (PS2, Xbox)

• Key US Releases
• World of Warcraft (PC)
• Nothing else. They're busy eating turkey.