Cipher44 Reviews

The Terminator: Dawn of Fate (2002 Video Game)

Another mediocre movie-based game ... surprise surprise

[2 October 2002]

I'm about the biggest Terminator fan you could ever hope find, so you have to understand that I was pretty forgiving with this game. I wanted to like it. Man, I SO wanted to like it.

When you pop it in your PS 2, things seem promising. The presentation is nothing short of amazing; everything has that distinctive dark Terminator "feel," more reminiscent of the first movie than the second. The classic Brad Fiedel music is there. The epic future battles lit up with blue plasma rifle fire are there. The terminators themselves are there. It's too bad that once you get past the amazing intro cutscene, you soon find the gameplay ISN'T there.

At its heart this is a mindless action game, a shooter/beat-em-up where you run around either blasting Skynet's metal monsters or beating the crap out of them with a "plasma baton." To sort of give the impression that there is some skill involved, you have to complete certain tasks as you progress, like escorting someone to a checkpoint, using a turret gun to defend a base or planting explosives.

While that doesn't sound very innovative, it wouldn't be so bad except for one critical flaw; the camera and controls. I can say sincerely, with no exaggeration, that this game has the worst interface I've ever seen in a video game. The control is directional, meaning that whichever direction you push the analog stick in, the character moves in that direction. Problem is, the camera is always - and I mean ALWAYS - changing position, and every time it does the directional control changes with it. It's hard to explain; play it and you'll find out what I'm talking about within about five minutes. The result is you never quite know where you are or what direction you're going in, and you end up fighting the controls more than the enemies coming at you.

Normally camera problems aren't enough to completely ruin a game, but what amazes me is that in Terminator: Dawn of Fate, the terrible camera ruins the entire experience. What we have here is the result of a creative decision in the design process that went for "style" over "practicality." So what if the constantly changing camera makes the game seem like a movie? It isn't a movie, it's a game, and it needs a decent, stable camera that follows the character.

It's hard for me to hate it being the die-hard fan I am, but this thing just isn't worth more than a rental. There are a ton of extra features and neat little easter eggs which I'm sure would be a fan's delight ... problem is, you have to play through the game to unlock them. I can only hope cheat codes will appear to force open the extra features, because they're the only reasons you'd ever bother with this game.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Garbage - makes you almost ashamed to be a fan of the games

[2 June 2002]

May contain minor spoilers (like it matters for this flick, LOL)

Okay, now this is a case of supreme irony. In "Mortal Kombat" you had a series of fighting games that, unlike most games of that genre, actually had interesting characters with somewhat interesting back-stories (admittedly things got pretty stupid by MK 4, but that's another review ...). It's amazing that this piece of childish, Saturday-morning-cartoon, plotless nonsense could come out of that. I mean, after all, look at the first movie; it wasn't so bad. Not GOOD, but not BAD either. They utterly ignored the Scorpion/Sub-Zero feud, they killed Kano off far too early, the last scene was totally out of place, and the Goro effects were awful, but other than that it was okay.

But MKA is an insult to every long-standing fan of the games. Hey, Hollywood movie-makers, take note: gamers are not ALL illiterate, bloodthirsty, sex-crazed teens who are so stupid they'll love anything with loud noises, people fighting, chicks in tight clothes, and lots of pretty colors.

MKA loosely follows the back-story of the third MK game, which saw Outworld emperor Shao Kahn take over Earth by using a cosmic loophole to re-incarnate his queen, Sindel. Not Oscar-winning stuff for sure, but it could have been done with SOME class and style. And it wasn't. What we got was a little bald Shao Kahn about as menacing as Big Bird, a bunch of insipid crap that had NOTHING to do with the games ("family crest" tattoos, anyone?), and not even a halfway serious attempt at creating a plot or story.

This isn't so much a movie as it is a long strung-together series of arcade game matches played out by actors OTHER than the ones who were digitized into the actual games. Scorpion appears, then Sub Zero. Subby beats Ol' Yellow Drawers off, hastily explains that he is the younger brother of the original Sub Zero, does some freezing tricks, and then we see no more of him; it's on to the next match. And on we go ... Characters are trotted in; a pathetic, completely un-exciting fight ensues; one character is promptly killed or removed in some way; Repeat step 1. Play MK Trilogy for two hours straight sometime; it's not only the exact same experience as MKA - it's BETTER.

And it gets worse. It really does. I don't know how, but it does. Which brings me to the "Animalities." Most fans I've talked to agree (and so do I) that this was one of the lamest things ever introduced in the games, and lo and behold the filmmakers fell on it and INCLUDED it in the movie, making for some incredibly cheesy and badly animated monster battles. Liu Kang and Shao Kahn turning into Godzilla-style creatures? Come on. The mud wrestling match between Sonya and Mileena was better than that. And THAT was pretty pathetic, too.

Other wonderful features of the film include Sonya's miraculous ability to become squeaky-clean - complete with a lush mane of blow-dried hair - after suffering that mudbath. And while the "filmmakers" (I use the term loosely) mindlessly crammed in small story tidbits from the game with no attempt to make a story out of them, they studiously ignored Kabal and Stryker - both of whom would have made for some GREAT material - by having somebody casually mention that they'd both been captured. Then its back to the mindless series of matches.

And to those of you who may say "chill out, it's not meant to be taken seriously," I say this: even though that may be true, you should still expect a certain level of intelligence in plot and story. This movie has not one shred of anything even approaching intelligent writing. Look at how good the X-Men flick was - who'd have thought a story about a bunch of comic-book mutants could be pulled off so well? MKA could've been as good, and it bugs me that it wasn't. I live in fear of the next MK movie...

Blood Omen 2 (2002 Video Game)

Excellent sequel to the underrated original

[28 March 2002]

Being one of the few fans of the somewhat "niche" original "Legacy of Kain" from waaaaay back in '96, I have been eagerly awaiting a sequel on a next-generation console. The "Soul Reaver" spin-offs were beautifully done, but a bit of a letdown in terms of gameplay. Enter Blood Omen 2, and all is once again right with the world.

One of the first things that hits you with this title is the absolutely gorgeous graphics. The visuals do an excellent job of conveying the grim, gothic world of Kain, which blends the medieval with a sort of mystical analog to modern technology. The atmosphere is further helped by a haunting musical score (though not quite as good as the crashing symphonies of the "Soul Reaver" games) and appropriate sound effects. Simon Templeman delivers a great performance as he once again lends his sinister voice to Kain, putting to shame all those games out there with cheap, laughable voice acting.

Gameplay is considerably better than in the "Soul Reaver" series. While the combat can be at times tedious and opponents can land some fairly cheap hits, overall it's less stilted than in Blood Omen's sister series. Kain blocks attacks realistically, and has a number of weapons to use on his enemies. These swords, axes and clubs can also be used on the peasants and townsfolk you will encounter, which leads to a key aspect of gameplay - blood drinking. Being a vampire, Kain needs to feed constantly, and there is a darkly satisfying pleasure in preying on the townspeople.

The only real drawbacks come from the price we have to pay for such excellent visuals; the game chugs and skips when things get hectic; three enemies and a peasant all on the screen at once can slow things down quite a bit. The puzzles are fairly simplistic - "pull a lever here, which powers another lever over there" kind of thing. Combat, as I said before, can get tedious; however, this can be offset by Kain's ability to sneak up on enemies by hiding in mist and "stealth killing" them.

Overall, drawbacks aside, this is one you want to add to your collection, especially if you're like me and actually own and still enjoy the original Blood Omen. Pass over the "Soul Reaver" games as rental-only - this is the true sequel we've been waiting for.

The Fountainhead (1949)

Basic ideas mired in laughable melodrama

[30 December 2001]

The concept of the individual as being totally autonomous from the collective will of "the people" (and free of their coercion) is one of the most basic ethical concepts in modern, democratic societies. Of course, I'll grant you that in many ways it still IS just a concept; it's perfectly true that North American culture still practices and allows certain collectivist attitudes (the violent, militaristic War on Drugs is perpetuated with no end in sight because we are told it is "for the good of the people"). But nevertheless, individualism is a concept that certainly does not need to be articulated by Rand's insipid works. It may be better for it if it WASN'T.

For starters, in "The Fountainhead" Rand's characters are laughable, juvenile and could have been torn from any dime-store romance novel, with their endlessly melodramatic and hyper-emotional dialogue. Consider that Rand was supposed to have preached rationalism over emotionalism, and this seems especially moronic.

Then there's the condescending preachiness of the film, which is beyond belief. The philosophical ideas are not woven into the story with any degree of subtlety - Rand must have thought her audience a pack of idiots, because we're constantly being beaten over the head with the obvious, in the form of flowery speeches. It's to the point where it would have been easier to simply have a large neon sign appear over every character's head - Roark's would scream "heroic individual who battles the mindless pre-conceived notions of the masses!!!" Toohey's sign would yell the very opposite. Even in high school any reasonably intelligent person can probably figure out concepts so simple as:

• Art is about individual expression, and should not be forcibly controlled by others

• New and original ideas are often looked at with disdain and mistrust, as are the people who generate them. Therefore, they must be presented and articulated well.

• People should be free to live their own lives in whatever way they see fit

Through all the loud, maudlin incidental music, through the hammy acting and ridiculous dialogue, when the Fountainhead's credits finally roll what you end up with amounts to a basic ethics lesson, told through a lot of pretentious pseudo-intellectual writing.

Resident Evil: Code: Veronica (2000 Video Game)

Tired formula, laughable "horror", awkward gameplay

[22 October 2001]

After having played the new Playstation 2 version of this game (said to be identical to the Dreamcast version), I'm once again amazed that the Resident Evil series has gained so much popularity over the past five years. This game, like the previous two sequels, offers almost nothing new to what was a mediocre formula to begin with.

For starters, the new next-generation graphics are pretty underwhelming. Character models aren't nearly as impressive as in many other PS 2 games, and despite the move to real-time backgrounds, the camera is still mostly fixed in one position - usually an awkward position at that. The control is as unintuitive and clunky as ever; controlling a character feels more like driving a tank, and the bad camera angles couple with this to make fighting enemies more of a chore than any real fun.

Why the Resident Evil games are considered "horror" is anybody's guess. Play one of the Silent Hill games if you want REAL horror - Code Veronica is the usual collection of moaning zombies, B-movie mutants and "scares" that come mostly from things jumping out at you. What's worse is that you can usually predict when and where these "unexpected" thrills will happen - for example, say you pass through a suspiciously empty room, and then find a required item in the next area. You can bet that when you go back again, you'll be attacked by something.

Five years ago Resident Evil was a new and fresh idea, if not terribly well-executed. Flash ahead to the present, and Capcom is still pawning the same tired gameplay off on us and offering almost nothing fresh or innovative. The Playstation 2 has and will continue to be flooded with far, far better games than this one.