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December 3, 2003

Nick Hogg OP Game Guy V.20

Got a gamer to shop for this Christmas? Well you're in luck because Game Guy V2.0 has the definitive answers forthe gamers on your list. I'll cover every- thing from the hot titles of the season, to value titles that will still impress any gamer, to hard to find classics that will thrill even the most hardcore gamer. So let's start with what's hot for this season, before it gets cold.

We'll start with the RPG fans in the crowd, and what most of these fans have been waiting all year for is Final Fantasy X—2 for the PS2. There is no reason any FF fan wouldn't be wanting this one for Christmas, so what’s the deal? Basically, it’s a first for the FF series by having a direct continuation of a FF story staring Yuna, Riku, and Payine. It’s also the only Final Fantasy in history to have only female playable characters and to have this

much of an overall “girly” feel.

Now for those of you who are constantly com- plaining that you can make a better RPG with your hands tied behind your back, well now you can put your money where your mouth is with RPG Maker 2. You can make mediocre RPGs with con- trived plots, simplistic bat- tle systems, and one- dimensional characters on your PS2, hype not included. As well we have the excellently done strate- gy RPG, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and because of limited supplies during its release this game is still on a lot of people's hot list. Rounding out the PS2 RPG selection is the ever popular Dot Hack series, if youre missing parts of it,

PlayStation.2

now’s your chance to complete a great adventure.

For the gamer who holds the law in contempt, we also have a wonderful selection of games where you can shoot things, steal cars, and run people over. Rock Star has released both Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City in one easy to buy double pack for both the PS2 and the X-box. Now you get twice the mayhem in one box. Also in the genre of doing what you can’t in real life is Streets of LA True Crime, which is appearing on all major consoles. Now even though the game bills itself as the best thing since sliced bread (sliced bread being a ground breaking shooter/RPG on the Sega Saturn) the game still comes off as passable, giving something that is essentially an evolution of GTA. For those who would rather shoot terrorists youre in luck, Sony’s SOCOM Navy Seals 2 for the PS2 is ready for Christmas enjoyment; once again you can battle ter- rorists online and offline. And for those of you with the box, we have yet another Tom Clancy game—much

like his books there is a new one every week—and this week it’s Rainbow Six 3 Raven Shield. What to expect?

Well, basically just whatever you've seen before in any

Tom Clancy game.

Fanboy’s Corner

Xmas Guide

Now there are some gamers out there that are either purists or just people who want to be really prepared for when a jumping puzzle presents itself. To get them going is the follow-up to last year’s hit Ratchet and Clank. Once again, our favourite cat thingy and his robot take on the galaxy with some of the craziest weapons out there—my personal favourite, the mor- pha-ray, makes its return. As well we have the new Jak 2, which Sony has been thoroughly marketing and is a solid fun game with a good, albeit less funny, story than the original.

For those of you who wish it were 1984, I’m talking about Defender and Joust 1984 not the oppressive big brother society, Midway is releasing its Midway Arcade Treasures with hits ranging from Defender and Joust, to Paper Boy, to Robotron 2084. Best of all, it comes with DVD-like extras and an 80s music selection; well see how that works out when the game is released.

I cannot leave out the people who really don’t like regular games, don't worry there is still stuff for them. Dance Dance Revolution Max 2, or just simply DDR Max 2 is an excellent choice for people who like music-rhythm games or just want some- thing different. For those who are unfamiliar with DDR, the basic concept is hitting directional arrows with your feet on a dance pad in time with music. The songs have a huge range here, and most are a great deal of fun to play. Now for those of us too tired to dance, or who prefer a game that goes better with drinking, there is Karaoke Revolution. Yes, it’s made by the dance people, basically it turns your PS2 into a karaoke machine. The game comes with a USB headset, similar to the SOCOM headset, packed with 40 plus popular songs including my favourite, R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” Finally on our list of making an ass of yourself in front of your friends, is the Sony Eye Toy, yes what could be better than swatting at imaginary ninjas on the TV? Watching someone else swatting at imaginary Ninjas on the TV of course. Dude you look hilarious.

Just because a game isn’t its full-release price doesn't mean it’s not worth buying, thankfully all three manu- factures have quality value software sure to please any- one. Hot on Sony’s Greatest Hits list in the RPG cate- gory is FF X for anyone who wants to play FF X-2 but has yet to play the original. Rounding out this Greatest Hits list is the overrated Kingdom Hearts and the fun- but-dated Dark Cloud. As well, we can fill in the gaps for anyone who missed Jak and Daxtar or the original Ratchet and Clank, because they're both ready for the season, donning the red Greatest Hits bar.

http://www.otherpress.ca

Gothika

Amanda Aikman Culture Editor

If you are a fan of intelligent, well-written, suspenseful hor- ror films, Gothika is definitely NOT the film for you. If, however, you are a fan of predictable, hackneyed, and silly- but-still-watchable horror films, well—yourre in for a real treat.

In Gothika, Halle Berry plays the “brilliant psychiatrist” Miranda Grey. We know she is a brilliant psychiatrist because she uses words like “meds” and “repressed memo- ries,” and just in case that technical jargon goes over the heads of us laypersons, several characters in the film actual- ly refer to her as a “brilliant psychiatrist” (“Excuse me bril- liant psychiatrist Dr. Grey, could you pass the salt? Oh, thank you Dr. Grey, you brilliant psychiatrist you.”).

Dr. Grey works at a big, creepy mental institution, which is made all the more creepy when the power keeps going out due to a faulty generator. In a stroke of genius the writ- ers had several characters casually drop the topic of the faulty generator into their conversations early on, presum- ably to make it appear less clichéd when the power went out during key “creepy” scenes later on—brilliant. Oh, and look, it’s that dead girl from The Ring leading Dr. Grey on a journey of terror! No wait, my mistake, it’s not that dead girl from The Ring, it’s just a blatant rip-off of her. “This” dead girl is trying to help Dr. Grey solve the mystery of her murder and bring her killers to justice—and yet for some reason she breaks up this quest every once and a while to beat up the good doctor or try to force her car into oncom- ing traffic. Why would she keep abusing the woman who is trying to avenge her death? Who knows? For kicks maybe, dead kids these days, who can understand them?

This movie reaches deep into the well-worn bag of hor- ror flick tricks, with plenty of dark and stormy nights, satanic references, and red-herring bad guys—but as a bonus this one also has Halle Berry running around a women’s correctional facility in a wet t-shirt. Robert Downey Jr. plays a fellow therapist with obvious designs on the married Dr. Grey, and after Satan/the dead girl/some mysterious unexplained force forces Grey to slaughter her husband with an axe, he becomes her therapist—nope, no conflict of interest there folks.

So what is the most important thing to remember about Gothika? That Satan is bad, that we should treat crazy peo- ple nicer, that proper maintenance of our generators will keep us from losing power during scary thunder showers, that dead girls have unpredictable tempers, or that Robert Downey Jr. is still capable of pulling a watchable perform- ance out of a lame project? No. The moral of Gothika is that as long as your husband is a bad man, it is perfectly acceptable to dismember him with an axe in cold blood. Apparently if you do so, a year later you'll be walking around in a nice, new leather jacket reminiscing about

being raped by Satan with Penelope Cruz.

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