NZGamer Roundtable Vol. 1

The staff gather around the campfire to exchange what they think are 'informed' opinions

Welcome to the NZGamer Roundtable. Every other week members of the NZGamer staff will volunteer to give their respected thoughts on a particular topic or question relating to the videogame industry.

This week's Participants:
-Shaun Hunter (a.k.a. Phoenix)
-Daniel SR (a.k.a. Dannyboy)
-Finn O'keefe (a.k.a. FDFO)
-Tom Blundell (a.k.a. FaPo)

1) What games are you currently playing and what are your thoughts on them?

Daniel: I just picked up Mario Kart: Double Dash recently so that has been using up some well spent gaming time. What do I think of it? Well I have to say one particular word comes to mind: Disappointing.

There are two things that bother me most about Mario Kart: Double Dash. The first is the fact the item system has a lack of balance, there just aren't enough defensive items, the quietly ingenious balance established in Mario Kart 64 has totally been ignored. Not being able to hold a shell behind my kart to protect myself from attack totally makes battle mode a shallow affair. The other thing? The level design. Battle modes and race courses are just dull; they reek of a 2D design. Where are our multi-tiered environments? Our branching paths? Our interactive obstacles? Double Dash could have been so much more.

On a brighter note, Animal Crossing is fantastic. This little beauty is getting an unhealthy workout from yours truly. It's just such a quirkily original affair, I've never played anything like it before and this game has me hooked.

Tom: I got caught up in the hype of Crimson Skies: High Road to Success, like any other Xbox "fanboy" the visuals, the sounds... the great storyline. Plus it was going to be mainly the same as the PC predecessor from years before. Dog fighting against Bots at there highest level made up a lot of my Computer time in between counter strike and quake 3 arena. I picked CS : HRTS up the day it came out
(luckily the video store down here gets hyped games quick)

The hype that I had built up over the past few months quickly died.. it might have been the fact that I do not have Xbox live (one of the most highly rated features in the game) or the fact that I wasn't playing it on its hardest modes, but the game was short. When I say short I mean 4 or 5 hour clock fest short, it was fun however (I am not going to lie to make this sound better on my behalf) the added things like landing your aircraft to jump into the numerous surface to air weapons that litter the landscapes impressed me.

I'd only advise you get this game if you,

1) are getting Xbox live

2) already use system link play on a regular basis

3) have a large screen and don't mind screen watchers

Anyways those are just my initial thoughts on the game.

Finn: Last week I managed to play a few matches of WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain. And as any wrestling fan will admit, WOW! I mean this game is possibly the best wrestling game ever (either that or No Mercy for the now dead, Nintendo 64) The graphics have had an over haul and everything looks great. The wrestlers look great and their entrances are great, except for the lack of Announcer. The gameplay is certainly awesome as nothing beats making one of your friends cry in pain to your strong Ankle Lock hold. The submission and grappling system have had a major overhaul and are now near perfect, a lot more moves are accessible and trying to break out of holds and countering attacks is definitely awesome fun. There is however a lack of commentary (Which is in some ways better than the random comments the commentators would make in the previous efforts), some of the the songs differ from the wrestlers real life theme songs and some of the roster is missing. All the big names are there but a few of the low carders are missing.

The Create-a-wrestler is good as well, allowing you to make your favourite stars from the past or your favourite independent stars (My AJ Styles totally kicks). The problem though is your Create-a-wrestlers will be quite weak that if they take on the tough dudes not much is gonna happen. For instance a beat down on Brock Lesnar occurred with my character, I beat him for a good 2 minutes, just pounding into him, then he gets up, Power bombs me and I’m out cold. All in and all however this game rocks.

Shaun: This one is easy for me, with currently being on study leave for my exams I bought it upon myself to replenish my gaming arsenal with SSX 3 and WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain, both for PS2.

SSX 3 is a joy to play. I honestly played this game for hours upon end, trying to conquer the mountain in the game's new story based mode. Originally I wasn't too interested in snowboarding games, but after playing SSX 3 I can defiantly say I'm hooked. An absolute buy, and at the low price of NZ$79 a real bargain.

And as Finn has mentioned already the latest Smackdown game, Here Comes the Pain is a treat. And after buying and playing to death all four of the predecessors I can say that Here Comes the Pain takes the cake, hell it takes the whole buffet. An overhaul in the graphics brings out the muscle tone in wrestlers such as Goldberg and Brock Lesnar. I thoroughly enjoy playing this game against the computer; other human players and even watching CPU vs. CPU slug it out. I won't try to repeat what Finn has already mentioned but the lack of mid/under carders can disappoint sometimes. The sound department is the only noticeable lacking factor in this game with no commentary or ring announcing. Still a great buy if you're wrestling fan, or just enjoy playing the games.

2) What games are you most anticipating for this coming Christmas season and why?

Tom: I know that this is going to stir a lot of people up, but Counter Strike for Xbox is looking pretty good all of a sudden. Especially now that Xbox live has a NZ release date (well 2 of them). Playing the game on Computer a lot (I'll admit it I'm one of those CStrike fiends) I already know the basic idea of the game, and consider myself an avid player.

CSX is looking extremely tidy on the Xbox and the added features (tools editor etc) will help the wait for Xbox live to appear for NZ servers (march "04") Sure the game doesn't have the nifty graphics that unreal 2, halo2 and the now extensive list of F.P.S, but the computer counter part was exactly the same and still after years gets a lot of online gamers off.

Of course there are a few other games in there that have got my interest, NFSUG, Unreal 2, Rainbow Six 3 all are up there, not to mention METAL SLUG 5 on MVS boards and AES systems soon (just wait for my ranting on that to begin) but CS is something that I have trailed and loved before, and although a lot of Xbox owners have given it flak (those who probably have never played CS online) I know that this game should be enough to keep me happy until Halo 2 hits the stores next year, and with Live around the corner it should be a keeper.

Daniel: Originally, two of my most anticipated games were Animal Crossing and Mario Kart, but with both firmly in my grasp, this cuts down my wish list considerably. However there are still a few good 'uns on the way.

Fire Emblem for Game Boy Advance is a big one I am looking forward to. I am a huge fan of Advance Wars and the idea of dicing up the basic AW gameplay with RPG elements, just tickles my fancy considerably. This is definitely a big Xmas pick for me. Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike is looking gorgeous, as to be expected from the talented folk at Factor 5. I was disappointed with how quick and linear Rogue Leader was, but with co-op and multiplayer included in Rebel Strike I have higher hopes.

I might check into Prince of Persia as well, based on the orgasms a few particular American sites cough*IGN*cough are having over the game. But I am still sceptical, I have not had any prior experience with the franchise and it just doesn't seem to hit close to the two marks I praise most in a videogame; originality and replay value.

Shaun: After just buying SSX 3 and Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain, my main gaming needs were filled. However this Christmas season I could be looking over in the direction of Tony Hawk's Underground. This extreme skateboarding game should take the level of freedom up a few notches. The ability to jump off your skateboard to explore the stages further first made me weary about the feature, and didn't think it was a great idea. Although now the addition has grown on me and the fact that it doesn't need to be used is a bonus. When you combine the amount of tracks, tricks, and options such as the Skate Park Editor and create-a-trick, this game seems to look very promising.

Finn: Ahhh, the Christmas period, where all the developers and such try to impress us gamers, it is most likely the best time for games. What am I looking forward to? Let's see. Tony Hawks Underground certainly looks like an awesome gameplay experience, especially on multi-player or with Xbox live, this game is certainly on my wish list, which is very long by the way. But the game that I know will rock and that I am seriously anticipating is Counter-Strike on Xbox. This game looks like it will certainly entertain me for hours on end and since my computer isn't exactly the best machine; this is a welcome chance to enjoy one of my favourite games without having to fork out the mounds and mounds of cash for an internet-cafe. The AI looks to be superb and challenging and I now dream of Counter-Strike, but first I need an Xbox.

That's it for this week's roundtable guys, stay tuned until next week for the next NZGamer Roundtable!