Stories Collection

  1. Good: Plenty of modes Bad: Shoddy, stilted gameplay Noticeably Absent: The online pla...
  2. Publisher: Nintendo Developer: n-Space Release: May 2005 Like its titular ghostly pro...
  3. Aeon Flux • Majesco • Fall 2005 Kinda like BloodRayne but with what’s...
  4. If your ideal handheld experience involves guiding a blob of metallic goo around a ma...
  5. Movies run at 24 frames per second; videogames hit 60. Box-office revenues have falle...
  6. Good Games Based on Bad Movies Moonwalker • Sega Genesis Ripped from today&rsquo...
  7. JOHN R: If you, like me, are a Need for Speed fan who doesn’t have an awful lot...
  8. If you’re old enough to remember when cars with machine guns and heat-seeking m...
  9. On the Loose is pretty much the same game as the 6-year-old original Ape Escape. Back...
  10. JAMES: A hot ninja in a thong killing bad guys with a merciless rain of blows and a r...
  11. SHAWN: It’s a sort of sponsored bloodsport: Globalist on a galactic scale, the ...
  12. …the different colored PSPs? Sony showed us a rainbow of PSP colors—whit...
  13. Good: Simple yet pleasing-to-the-eye combat Bad: An unpredictable A.I. partner Three:...
  14. MARK: For an action-RPG, Untold Legends’ story is forgettable, its combat fairl...
  15. SHANE: Compared to publisher Koei’s impressive Dynasty Warriors 5 for PS2 (revi...
  16. Hey, old-tyme readers, remember that “Eat My Shorts” Simpsons quote conte...
  17. EGM: Could you briefly explain the history of the PSU project? Yuji Naka: The PSO ser...
  18. Shots fired! Shots fired! Recently, both Sony and Microsoft let off some preliminary ...
  19. MARK: If you read my staff bio in the front of the magazine, you might’ve notic...
  20. BRYAN: Even when the real-life Tiger is struggling, he’s one of the best around...
  21. It’s a shame that Sony couldn’t provide EGM with reviewable copies of Pur...
  22. SHAWN: If I respect Psychonauts more than I was riveted by it, that’s because f...
  23. Good: The learning curve is about zero Bad: If you’re old enough to read EGM, y...
  24. Man alive, is this the deadest time of the year on the computer side of things. But s...
  25. A.C.E.: Another Century’s Episode What’s so ace about A.C.E.? Well, it&rs...
  26. Publisher: Groove Games Developer: Digital Extremes Release Date: May 2005 If you thi...
  27. On your TV screen: A darker Batman film means a darker Batman game: “We brainst...
  28. Good: Scary atmosphere and impressive weather effects Bad: You’ve seen it all b...
  29. Good: Slick visuals, fun two-player mode Bad: Screwy camera, levels that suck with tw...
  30. When Sony shipped Sly 2, Jak 3, and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal last fall, it fe...
  31. Fighting-game fans know that Soul Calibur feels better than most other fighters, but ...
  32. Hey, wanna see a magic trick? We can make $250 disappear, just like that, right out o...
  33. Durability Tests PSP dropped four feet onto carpet: Face it, it’s going to happ...
  34. JUSTIN: Due to history, tradition, and consistently strong sales, publisher Koei&rsqu...
  35. Good: Great characters and story, deep but accessible Bad: Dungeons drag on too long,...
  36. On your TV screen: You only need to know two things about this killer-fish simulator ...
  37. Cost SIZE WEIGHT SCREEN SIZE SCREEN RESOLUTION AVAILABLE COLORS ON-SCREEN MEMORY GAME...
  38. UMD video looks amazing on the PSP screen—bright, colorful, and crisp as fresh ...
  39. PATRICK: This handheld soccer title does not disappoint—it has a crisp look, Wi...
  40. Sure you’ve got the lint cloth and carrying case that came with the PSP, but ch...
  41. Unfortunately, certain companies could only give us a few hours with their respective...
  42. It’s the videogame equivalent of a support group: Get a band of Phantasy Star O...
  43. Constantine • PS2/XB • THQ • ESRB: M — With brainless enemies, n...
  44. SHAWN: Shorten the skirts, pretty up the postcard beaches and temples, introduce a fe...
  45. Platform: PlayStation 2 Publisher: Sierra Developer: Swordfish Release Date: April 20...
  46. SHANE: Lumines aspires to be the PSP’s hip ’n’ happenin’ answ...
  47. Forget NBA Live. Don’t bother with NBA Basketball 2K. These days, no hoopster c...
  48. Good::Spectacular graphics, slick puzzles, perfect control Bad: Not enough bosses, a ...
  49. Still pulling out your wallet to proudly display snapshots of your loved ones? So las...
  50. Great news—the PSP plays ATRAC3plus files! Yes, that is sarcasm. Digital music...
  51. Publisher: Sony CEA Developer: Zipper Interactive Release Date: Fall 2005 Everyone al...
  52. As we keep on truckin’ toward EGM’s 200th issue, we must take pause for b...
  53. On your TV screen: Forget shiny teen starlets: Supersize alien insects are the real s...
  54. Good: Warped Worms humor Bad: CPU-controlled worms waste time working out moves Large...
  55. Good: Sharp graphics, moody music Bad: Lack of voice or keyboard chat ruins it...agai...
  56. We’re giving away brand-new PSPs, but only to the people that we like (that&rsq...
  57. High hopes: Although it carries the somewhat embarrassing DNA of its old arcade light...
  58. Man, I wish all months were like March (and I’m not just saying that ’cau...
  59. You might make beating your buds in Halo 2 look easier than drunk girls at closing ti...
  60. Current Situation To say that Sony Computer Entertainment America President Kaz Hirai...
  61. Good: ...if you like pixilated jublees Bad: ...if you like good gameplay Unexpected D...
  62. SHAWN: It’s a full-scale firefight between the Koreas—in short, more ball...
  63. High hopes: When first shown in 2003, Advent Rising impressed with its tight integrat...
  64. The road to videogame greatness is paved with equally great failures—some merel...
  65. “I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticiz...
  66. Current Situation Sure, DS is currently the golden child of the Nintendo portable hou...
  67. Good: Wide variety of wacky weapons Bad: Linear levels, abnormally dumb A.I. Only on ...
  68. MARK: Purely in terms of gameplay, Doom 3’s lack of ambition is astonishing. Id...
  69. When I was a boy, there were three things I wanted to be, but once my mother explaine...
  70. Publisher: Rockstar Developer: Rockstar San Diego Release Date: April 2005 If Gran Tu...
  71. THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’94 RE-BOUT The original King of Fighters, huh? Yep—...
  72. Good: Create-a-character fat guys with excellent mullets Bad: No club teams, gameplay...
  73. BRYAN: Looking at the screens on this page, you might think Donkey Kong Jungle Beat i...
  74. Even if you’ve heard of Atelier Iris, you probably can’t pronounce it. It...
  75. If you ask us, it’s never too early to look ahead. Feel the same way? Then keep...
  76. Publisher: Konami Developer: Backbone Release Date: March 2005 This whimsical platfor...
  77. In some exceptionally rare cases, games actually land on store shelves precisely at t...
  78. Good: Tons of tracks, miles of air Bad: Soundtrack full of horrible alt-rock (as in, ...
  79. Good: Creative gameplay, hilarious microgames Bad: You’ll look like a crazy per...
  80. Creating a new intellectual property is no simple task—at least not the way the...
  81. Every so often, EGM chats with big-time gamemakers and asks for their preferences on ...
  82. Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubi Montreal Release Date: April 2005 Whether working w...
  83. Mario Gets Jiggy Wit’ It Forget Trimspa—Nintendo’s plumber will hel...
  84. High hopes: “Yes, crazy. Crazy!” Capcom Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi doesn...
  85. Good: Massive armory, extensive multiplayer Bad: Ugly character designs, some blah le...
  86. Good: Unexpected depth and addictiveness Bad: It’s way tougher than you think Y...
  87. With its combat system, Jade Empire turns the ultimate role-playing clich? on its hea...
  88. Argue any reason why Gyakuten Saiban should never be released outside its native Japa...
  89. Blue team bombed your base, but there are still several minutes on the clock—mo...
  90. It didn’t take a late-night phone call to Miss Cleo to know that 2004 would be ...
  91. StarCraft: Ghost PS2/XB/GC • VU Games • Fall 2005 — Originally announ...
  92. DEMIAN: Gran Turismo 4 is like a museum, or a church devoted to the holy automobile. ...
  93. Lead Designer Kevin Martens tells an anecdote that illustrates the differences betwee...
  94. Preorder deals for videogames tend to fall into three categories: enticing (like the ...
  95. Abandon hopes of one-upmanship, all ye who enter Mike Mika’s Oakland, CA, basem...
  96. Current Situation More than 80 million PS2s sold worldwide in roughly five years&mdas...
  97. High hopes: Played SOCOM? What about GTA: San Andreas? You probably at least played a...
  98. SHANE: While the original Devil May Cry proved that 3D action-adventures could be fas...
  99. Five Deadly Venoms, Five Fingers of Death, Master of the Flying Guillotine, Zu: Warri...
  100. Q: In games like Electronic Arts’ Medal of Honor, I can endure more shots than ...
  101. Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami Tokyo Release Date: Fall 2005 Konami’s Cast...
  102. Current Situation Halo 2’s release last November did more than please every Xbo...
  103. High hopes: Destroy All Humans! takes the Grand Theft Auto–inspired free-roamin...
  104. Good: That classic Kessen “chaotic battlefield” feel Bad: That classic Ke...
  105. At the stage we saw the game, the 3D camera in combat still needed a fair bit of work...
  106. Disagree with the list? You’re the ones who created it. Choose and/or lose at e...
  107. Electronic Arts started life in the ’80s as a quirky-games publisher that treat...
  108. Current Situation Nintendo Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Reggie Fil...
  109. (PS2/XB) Yankees-Red Sox—it’s arguably the greatest rivalry in sports. An...
  110. Good: Tight control, plentiful moves Bad: Repetitive missions, abysmal voice acting U...
  111. Publisher: Koei Developer: Omega Force Release Date: March 2005 No game series has do...
  112. With its creepy kids at a psychic summer camp, oddball mental powers, weirdly mutated...
  113. OK, so maybe it’s just a bit too early to be deciding on 2005’s game of t...
  114. Current Situation “The consumer doesn’t want more of the same,” say...
  115. (PS2/XB ONLY) Good: Even smoother control and graphics Bad: Wimpy career mode Still O...
  116. Good: Charming visuals and dialogue Bad: Repetitive gameplay Resist the Urge: To cros...
  117. After a disastrous launch, Nokia has made great strides in improving its mobile platf...
  118. If Steven Seagal’s cinematic classic Under Siege is “Die Hard on a boat,&...
  119. It wouldn’t be a Sony hardware launch without an appearance from Namco’s ...
  120. Uh-Oh, Somebody’s Angry Again Mr. Green Genes will return to consoles (PS2/XB/G...
  121. MARK: Readers, gamers, countrymen, lend me your eyes. I come to review Shadow of Rome...
  122. Good: Plenty of character customization and team attacks Bad: Frustrating structure, ...
  123. Good: Street Fighter II movie comes with Bad: Xbox controller sucks for 2D fighting S...
  124. From its urban nighttime setting to its heavy customization and glorious sense of spe...
  125. Becoming a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas gang star, blasting away your Xbox Live budd...
  126. Platform: PlayStation 2 Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Release: March 2005 Dante...
  127. Our 200th issue is looming ahead like a greasy truck stop off I-94, and we’re m...
  128. News Editor Bryan Intihar: So it looks like the big three contenders among the staff ...
  129. Good: Seat-of-your-pants shoot-outs Bad: Cornball dialogue, B-grade delivery Slaughte...
  130. Good: Delightfully simple distractions Bad: Unskippable cut-scenes; no wireless multi...
  131. HK-47, the human-hatin’ assassin droid (and fan favorite) from the first KOTOR,...
  132. In a sea of predictable ports, Untold Legends stands out as one of the only original ...
  133. If you have Samba de Amigo maracas lingering under your bed, a vintage NES Power Glov...
  134. Space-age sirens tackle cyber terrorism. A P.N.03 (GC) 1 Space-age siren scans flora ...
  135. Awful games need a mascot who can relate to them. So once again, we summon the dino-r...
  136. Don Vito Corleone is a man of his word. He has four natural children (Sonny, Fredo, M...
  137. KEVIN: For the die-hard Xbox maniac, it may be a tad depressing to see all these hype...
  138. Don’t bother waiting for this fall’s reviews when deciding which professi...
  139. Darth Nihilus was the poster boy for The Sith Lords, but he actually played a relativ...
  140. Sony’s PlayStation Portable launched in Japan to much fanfare on December 12, a...
  141. Crispin: This vote would be cinchy if Halo 2 hadn’t already won Game of the Yea...
  142. Good: World’s best soccer sim Bad: Lack of league licenses When: Will people ac...
  143. Good: Nina’s tush Bad: Screw-up-and-perish-instantly puzzles Since ’79: T...
  144. Good: Ninjas Bad: Stealth gameplay from the PS1 era Not as Exciting as It Sounds: Fig...
  145. Good: Simple massively multiplayer online warfare Bad: Innumerable interface problems...
  146. “I shudder to think what [PlayStation Portable] will cost early on on eBay,&rdq...
  147. Respect. It’s been the mantra of many great minds and institutions throughout t...
  148. Hajime No Ippo All-Stars What’s so “All-Stars” about this if I&rsqu...
  149. With all the excitement around 2005’s impending hardware announcements (PlaySta...
  150. Sony’s 2000 brawler The Mark of Kri achieved cult status by getting three thing...
  151. Crispin: Hmm...not much of a handheld scene last year, despite the launch of the Nint...
  152. MARK: Forget what you know, or think you know, about Resident Evil. RE4 not only brin...
  153. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is undeniably hot—its stunningly sharp screen an...
  154. NBA Street Remix EA Big — Looks nearly as phat as its console cousins, but expe...
  155. Yep, it’s February (unless you picked up our issue really late, and if that&rsq...
  156. Rampant wife beating Please, please don’t make this a minigame. Bloody horse be...
  157. CHRISTIAN: Episode II starts slow, but once in gear, this sci-fi role-playing game&rs...
  158. Good: Healthy variety of walking tanks to choose from Bad: With these graphics, it&rs...
  159. We couldn’t cram every last game in this issue, but only a few escaped the scru...
  160. Rockstar won’t be left out of the PSP hoopla, as two of its biggest franchises&...
  161. The futuristic PlayStation racer that dropped jaws way back in 1995 opts for a repeat...
  162. Drive to Survive This budget-priced racer will undoubtedly slip into stores unnoticed...
  163. KOTOR II offers so many lightsaber upgrade options that we figured we’d go stra...
  164. Good: The hallucinogenic weirdness of Fantasy Zone Bad: Only two of the unadulterated...
  165. Good: Totally solid action-RPG Bad: The dub is a travesty, so bad it hurts Ark of wha...
  166. One of the biggest racers in the mobile space is about to see a sequel. 2 Fast 2 Furi...
  167. The ATV Offroad Fury series has stealthily become one of the PS2’s best-selling...
  168. Every now and then, we ship a celebrity or game designer off to a desert island and a...
  169. Platform: PlayStation 2 Publisher: Sony CEA Developer: Sony Santa Monica Release: Mar...
  170. That’s right: The hyper-hyped Grand Theft Auto sequel is parking its hot (as in...
  171. Why all the robots? Winners of our awards receive Robot the Awards Robot,TM a foot-ta...
  172. Bryan: Wow...toughie. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door proved that thin is in, but...
  173. (PS2/XB only) BRYAN: Attention all sports developers: This is the kind of game you ca...
  174. Who among you can truly pinpoint the joys of friendship? Really, who? I can’t (...
  175. Sony’s popular car combat franchise careens onto the PSP, shedding the gritty v...
  176. Whackable electronic bongos Reeds, canes, lead pipes Advantage: BDIJ ESRB says it&rsq...
  177. Platform: Xbox Publisher: THQ Developer: Studio Gigante Release Date: March 2005 Wres...
  178. Rule numero uno in the Mafia: Don’t dis the don. So if you haven’t seen T...
  179. Good: Supremely deep combo system Bad: Dull story line, repeat bosses Attempt at Dodg...
  180. Good: Neat “good versus evil” branching story lines Bad: Bang-your-head-a...
  181. KEVIN: After the beautiful-but-boring Star Fox Adventures’ venture into furry p...
  182. Baldur’s Gate - 7.5 Baldur’s Gate has long been an influence on the role-...
  183. Get all misty-eyed and nostalgic for summer 2004’s hottest flick: Doc Ock&rsquo...
  184. Sony’s original monkey-trapping platformer makes the simple leap from PS1 to PS...
  185. Sure, your 20-inch Zenith has stuck with you since Mario dropped his first ’shr...
  186. 1988 The year the original Metal Gear debuted in the U.S. for Nintendo’s 8-bit ...
  187. Senior Editor Crispin Boyer: If the brilliantly bizarre rolling-crap-ball simulator K...
  188. Crispin: Burnout 3: Takedown or Prince of Persia: Warrior Within? Burnout 3 or Warrio...
  189. CHE: Toss those Yu-Gi-Oh! decks and grab a controller, because Phantom Dust is the on...
  190. It’s happened before: She wants to cuddle while you’ve got virtual worlds...
  191. The Suffering 2 PS2/XB • Midway • Fall 2005 — The second installment ...
  192. They’re young, ambitious, and quite possibly breaking copyright laws. But they ...
  193. The Basics Publisher: Sony Release Date: March 2005 Price: Expected to be $199.99 Med...
  194. BRYAN: Last season’s arcadey, tackle-you-so-hard-you’ll-come-up-breathing...
  195. The live ammo in Stranger is literally live—an assortment of bugs and rodents y...
  196. Military types shooting holes in terrorists doesn’t quite have the novelty it u...
  197. Fan-tastic We hear the internets are pretty popular these days, so we’re jumpin...
  198. Platform: PlayStation 2 Publisher: Namco Developer: Monolith Release Date: February 2...
  199. A: Blast an enemy with your stun rifle in Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow’s mult...