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16/February/2003 !!NEW!!

Vexx

Expose the Mario of the "64 Yore" days to a Wolverine fixation, kill off his grandfather, give him some methamphetamine psychosis to work out and send him out into surreal worlds to dispense some indiscriminate justice, and you've essentially got Vexx. Everybody with us so far?

This vengeful dark/cartoony hero in Acclaim's new platformer adventure can run, jump, double-jump, climb walls, make claw attacks, dangle from various ledges, swim, and pummel his enemies mercilessly with seemingly endless 'juggle fighting' sessions... not because it especially does all that much, but just because it feels right. Every platform game worth its thumb-calluses has to have something to collect, but in a vengeance-driven story, rings or shines just wouldn't cut it, would they? As its coin of the realm, Vexx uses hearts.

The Dark Yabu is a wizard who's probably so evil because people kept making fun of his name, and he has brought chaos and destruction on the realm of Astara, which--

Yeah, yeah, great, you've heard this one before in some form or another, and it doesn't matter a jot, really. Now get out and jump around while whacking things. Vexx's world is composed of a central hub from which nine themed worlds branch off. They're not accessible at once, as their respective portals can only be opened by collecting the required number of shadow wraith hearts. Vexx can avenge his slaughtered grandfather on 25 types of enemies, in sprawling environments that include tree villages, desert temples, caves, volcanoes, and underwater cities, as well as some rather more dreamlike ones, like asteroid fields or archipelagoes floating in mid-air.

Once you've bribed your way through a door, cryptic textual hints will send you about your heart-collecting business, and visual indicators will nudge you along the proper path. This is classic and pretty straightforward stuff: you'll have to collect items, activate switches, and, of course, fight. It may be a platform game tipping its hat to the plumber, but it's certainly violent enough - Vexx's strength and fighting prowess increase as he progresses through the game, and the non-stop, one-button combat lets him punish foes with rapid-fire slashes and uppercuts that lead to that time-honored style of fighting we call "juggling." At first it's a little surprising, then pretty satisfying, and, ultimately, a little silly. You think ---do you really need to continually work your enemies like they were an oversized beach-ball at a standing-room-only rock concert? Of course, you'll be able to build up your power with especially prolonged juggle/combination bouts, but it's a purely optional, ego thing. Come to think of it, this is probably a good feature.

Vexx alternates between fairly intense try-and-die platform hopping and some pretty neat little distractions/side-games (including a 2D platforming experience, just to drive the point home!). Our hero isn't a very talkative guy, and with worlds that can be this fanciful, we kept expecting to hear some in-game chatter beyond his grunts of physical exertion. Not Duke Nukem-style jokes, of course -- Vexx takes itself just the tiniest sliver too seriously for that -- but something. No dice. Vexx is also notably sparse on the musical front, but this is probably a blessing in disguise as there are few things worse than the vast majority of looping, mundane action-game music

Vexx has a feel that, depending upon your tastes, could be considered "dated" or "classic." It really is surprisingly redolent of the first free-roaming Mario game that delighted so many of us... back when the N64 was coming out. That said, the environments are admirably big, built with the philosophy in mind that so pleases some of us here at Games Domain: "If you can see it, you can get to it." The unspoken flip side of this is that, if you can't see it, you can certainly get a little lost, as cartography is apparently not among Vexx's list of skills.

Aside from a storyline with somewhat darker aspirations (which doesn't affect very much in any case), Vexx is well realized but completely true-to-standard 3D hopper/fighter action... and not a whole lot else. There are bosses with personality and the fighting is pointlessly gratifying enough to distract for long periods of time, but those hungry for some kind of innovation might be left a little cold here. Probably the best gauge of how Vexx might appeal to you is to ask yourself how you'd react to the prospect of giving the old Mario 64 a play... and being able to really lay some dramatic overkill on those colorful, trundling foes. If there's still a spark of affection there, Vexx is well worth a play, as it takes its inspiration from the best free-roamers out there.

From Games Domain - Reviewer Chris Hudak

01/February/2003

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

DOAXBV (as we'll refer to it for brevity) is ostensibly a volleyball game, featuring some of the female characters from the popular Dead or Alive fighting games, dressed in skimpy swimwear, and cavorting around a picturesque island generally looking lovely. There is a plot, involving a joke played on the girls by Dead or Alive 3's Zack character, but it's almost totally irrelevant to the gameplay.

The game's core, the volleyball sections, are pleasantly intuitive. One button plays an offensive shot, like a spike or a block, and another plays a more defensive stroke like a pass to your teammate. That's about all you need to know. Although you need to move your girlie into roughly the right location, precision isn't necessary as she'll move to receive the shot on her own. Jumping is taken care of automatically too, so to perform a decisive spike into an unguarded area of your opponent's court all you really need to do is be in the right place and time your button press correctly.

Getting your head around the rules is straightforward, too. The last team to score serves next, there are no side or end boundaries, and the first team to seven points wins. Games are generally fairly brief, although sometimes long rallies can develop. Winning games earns you a big stack of cash, and there's bonus prizes for certain shots. It's certainly no Beach Spikers or Virtua Tennis, but it's reasonable nevertheless. It can also be played two-player in the exhibition mode, although with four characters playing at a time, it's odd there isn't support for more human participants.

The volleyball action is viewed as if from a TV camera placed on the sidelines. It pans back and forward to follow the ball, and generally works okay. Once or twice, characters can drift off-screen, which can cause problems when the ball heads for them, and occasionally, you'll be called upon to perform the somewhat difficult task of hitting a shot when the camera is pointed elsewhere. Sound effects are functional, including ball noises and a number of quotes for each character; the music is best forgotten, but can thankfully be replaced with a custom soundtrack.

So now you're expecting to hear about the tournament modes, the stats development and so on, right? Well, wrong. DOAXBV is played in a more unusual way. Similar to the "dating sims" so beloved of Japanese gamers, the main game takes place over 14 days, with a variety of activities that can be performed on each day. Aside from the volleyball games, you can shop in one of the island's stores for new swimsuits or a variety of entirely pointless trinkets and collectible items. You can even go and lounge by the pool, and play the rather bizarre stepping-stone minigame there. At night, your character heads back to the hotel, where you can review your item collection or head for the casino to gamble away your money at blackjack, poker, roulette or the slots.

That isn't the end of the oddness. Although you start the game with a partner, it's necessary to team up with some of the other girls at various points. But it's not as simple as asking them... oh no. You have to buy them gifts from the stores (after first checking the manual to read up on their likes and dislikes) before they'll consent to team up with you. It feels rather like a reality TV show, where you have to manipulate your companions to "get them to like you." If you're left without a partner, you won't be able to play volleyball at all. So if this idiotic present-swapping rigmarole doesn't appeal to you, you'll be left with some pointless minigames and, oh yes, some scantily clad ladies.

DOAXBV is a very detailed game, there's no doubt about it. The models are lifelike, in a Barbie-doll sort of way, and the animations and motion of the girls is very convincing. The small details are the most impressive, although probably not the small details you're thinking of. The girls kick up convincing sand puffs when they move, and if you give one of the chicks a swimsuit or accessory they particularly like, they'll wear it.

You'll have plenty of opportunity to check them out, too, as the game is full of little cutscenes, showing your character relaxing on the beach or, for some unfathomable reason, dragging her crotch along a fallen tree trunk. Perhaps it's supposed to be arousing, but all we could think of was the inevitable pain of a splinter in such a personal area, and all sorts of bad puns about "getting wood." Want a close-up of the action nevertheless? Sure! The right trigger will zoom in on the girl, and you can pan the camera around to focus on whichever of her assets you choose.

The sad fact remains that the $50 is too much for what it is. The volleyball is actually quite good, but it's far too limited and all the other nonsense just gets in the way. The collectible items range from the marginally interesting (old TV commercials and demo reels of DOA games past) to the utterly pointless (a steering wheel), and it's very hard to muster the enthusiasm to bother to attempt to complete them. If Tecmo had put a bit more into the core gameplay, this could have been one worth playing for much longer than the time it takes to tire of the rather obvious novelty on offer.

From Games Domain - Reviewer Mike Smith

New Screenshots

3 February 2003