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Paco's Game Reviews Web Site!
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Metal Gear Solid....(scroll down to see Tomb Raider III reviews and Spyro the Dragon)
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METAL GEAR SOLID. THE NUMBER ONE RATED PLAYSTATION GAME FOR '98. You are Solid Snake, ex-member of a special forces team called FOX-HOUND. Having been living in isolation in Alaska to escape the madness of war, you are once again called upon to rid the world of evil (pesky evil, always getting in my soup...). It seems that some members of FOX-HOUND have taken to terrorism, capturing a nuclear weapons disposal facility on an island near your home. You are called in to penetrate the base, rescue hostages, and eliminate the terrorist threat - or sit back and watch World War 3 unfold.
Metal Gear Solid for PSX is taken from the number one rated game for NES. I played it for hours and endlessly.
The graphics are fantastic. Almost all objects (including Snake himself) are polygonal. There are few clipping errors and the characters move smoothly. The level of detail is unrivaled - you make footprints in the snow that will eventually get covered up by snowfall. You can identify guards and other characters by their breath in the cold air. Water effects are accurate, light sourcing is dead-on, and the textures are solid. On the other hand, since you are infiltrating only one base for the whole game, there isn't a tremendous amount of variety. You tend to see the same kinds of rooms again and again - but in a way this helps to establish the environment. In all, these some of the finest graphics around.
The sound is fabulous as well. From full orchestrated tracks to the best voice-acting this side of Blood Omen, MGS is a treat for the ears. Guns and items sound appropriate, footfalls differ depending on terrain, and explosions are burly.
Then there are the weapons. What killing machine would be complete without a nice supply of violent noisemakers? Pistols, rifles, grenades, missile launchers... you're here to kick some butt. If you wind up weaponless, you can punch, kick, and even strangle the bad guys. Again, very cool.
The gameplay requires you to proceed with caution at times, with sheer brutality at others. In the upper corner of the screen you'll find your radar. Here you get a vector based lay of the land and the location of doors and enemies. You'll also see a 'line of sight' cone emanating from your enemies. If you enter this cone, you're spotted. The guard sounds the alarm, your radar jams and all guards within earshot come to blow your head off. To sneak past enemies, you need to use misdirection (i.e. tapping on walls to divert attention) and patience.
MGS Review by Paco and Pedro
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Tomb Raider III....
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First off, some added features of Tomb Raider 3: The levels are much larger with huge areas to explore. Snakes and darts are able to poison Lara, meaning she'll continue to lose life until a medipack is used. Quicksand will also suck Lara down to a watery grave if you don't watch your step.
Lara benefits from two new moves, crawling and dashing. These she can use to get into tight places and to give her a speed-burst in combat. Lara also has a larger arsenal that includes the trusty shotgun, a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, the silly harpoons, an MP5, and Uzis, of course.
The biggest problem in this game is that the designing team confused challenging gameplay with irritating gameplay. Trust me, you've seen this game before in a million inferior platformers. Lots o' instant death? Check. Falling off ledges and dying? Check. Trying to kill a boss while jumping around little islands in a fire pit? Check, check, and double check. The latter is (so far) the most pathetic example of game design.
True, the previous two titles had some of the same elements, but here's how they differ. Usually, instant death came about if you were trying to rush through an area and you did something stupid. In TR3, every step is a potential threat of instant death, no matter how careful you're trying to be. Falling off ledges in the previous two games usually meant you had to start the whole climbing thing over again with little or no loss of health. This time around, however, falling off a ledge means one of two things: 1) Death or 2) significant loss of health.
After playing through several levels of TR3, I got the feeling that I was fighting the game every step of the way. Most of the creative energy in this rushed-out game was put into new and interesting ways to die or get stuck. Unlike the previous two, this time there are plenty of false paths intended to mislead. Although this adds to the realism of the game, (archaelogists shouldn't expect to follow bright neon signs reading, "This way to treasure!") this really just makes every level an over-glorified maze.
In my book, implementing too many mazes in a game merely hides a weak game-designing mind. Traditionally, the Tomb Raider series was never about this nonsense. You knew more or less where to go and you could see where you wanted to go. The puzzle was how to get there, which usually made for some very interesting gameplay. You want more irritating gameplay? You got it.
But, if you need more proof that Tomb Raider 3 sucks, check out the back of the CD box. "Lara Croft is our kind of action hero!" proclaims Rolling Stone. Uhhh, what? Last time I checked, RS reviewed music, not games. Plus this is the exact same comment that's on the back of the Tomb Raider Greatest Hits edition box. Fishing for praise anywhere you can find it, eh?
If you're fiending for some more Lara, and I mean absolutely jonesin'... then I guess you could pick this one up. For the other 99.9% of us, go play TR or TR2 again or even for the first time. Or better yet, forget about Lara Croft altogether. I know, I know, you'll be moping around the house for weeks humming "Hard Habit to Break" with visions of the buxom beauty in your head.
Trust me, man, there's plenty of other fish in the sea.
review by Paco and Pedro
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Spyro The Dragon...
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Spyro the Dragon's plot is pretty much generic platform fare. Here's the way it works. Some dude named Gnasty Gnorc (note the alliteration) has gone and turned all the dragons into stone statues and their beloved crystals into Gnorc soldiers. By some crazy twist of fate, Spyro the Dragon managed to escape Gnasty's nastiness (sorry, I had to), and it's your job to pilot him to the salvation of the universe. You travel through six worlds, releasing dragons (each of the 100-sum dragons, by the way, has its own unique voice), collecting gems, and generally making the planet a safer place for nice dragons.
As far as moves goes, Spyro's got it covered. You can spit fire at foes, charge them with your little dyno-horns, and, although Spyro can't fly (except in the bonus stages), he can do a decent job gliding (press the jump button at the top of your jump, and Spyro will glide to the ground). Oh yeah, Spyro can also roll to the left and right -- a move that comes in handy when an enemy's running at you.
PlayStation gamers will also be happy to note that this game is gigantic. Each world has four huge levels as well as a couple bonus levels and, of course, a boss stage. Since there is so much to explore, the ending you get is dependent on how many items you collected. Sound familiar? Well, if you've played either of the Crash Bandicoot titles, this game will ring a number of bells for you. It is, after all, a product the very same team that brought you that lovable marsupial. Heck, there's even a Crash 3 demo included when you enter a cheat code.
With all that said, their are a few things that keep Spryo from greatness. First off, they could have done more with his voice. Okay, so they got the guy who does the voice of the Taco Bell chihuahua; that's awesome, right? Nope. Spyro's voice is simply wimpy. And continuing on the wimpy theme, they could have given this game a bit more of an edge. While young gamers will appreciated the thick sugar-coating this game has, older gamers will want a little less Sesame Street.
Where Spyro lacks in guts, however, it more than makes up for in fun. This really is an entertaining game to play, and easily one of the coolest platformers the PlayStation's ever seen.
review by Paco and Pedro
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