The Games Currently,
there are 65 games available for the Playstation 2, but that number
will increase dramatically as more people get their hands on the
system. It has been rumored that Sega will halt production on their
Dreamcast machine and will focus a large amount of their resources to
developing games for the Playstation 2. To ensure that gamers will have
a large amount of titles to choose from, Sony has made their new game
system backward-compatible with Playstation 1 games. This means that
all of the software that was created for the first-generation
Playstation will not just end up in the bargain bin at the toy store.
There are many good games for the original Playstation and it wouldn’t
surprise me to see many people still buying these games to use in the
Playstation 2. One fear that many people have about the Playstation 2
stems from early reports from game developers that it has been
difficult to design programs for the system. The Dreamcast is
Windows-based and developers have had a few years to learn the quirks
of designing games for it, but Sony’s first system had a reputation for
being difficult to design for and the Playstation 2 seemingly suffers
from the same problem. The Playstation 2 is a very powerful machine,
but harnessing and utilizing that power properly is the dilemma that
game makers face. The large development companies have the resources to
suffer through this learning curve, but this could end up hurting the
system if Microsoft’s X Box or Nintendo’s Game Cube are easier beasts
to tame from a design standpoint.
I
had the following games to play with my test unit: Madden NFL 2001 (EA
Sports), NHL 2001 (EA Sports), Dead Or Alive 2 (Tecmo), Star Wars
Starfighter (Lucas Arts Entertainment), Smuggler’s Run (Rockstar Games)
and Surfing H30 (Rockstar Games). Rather than go into specific detail
about each of the games, I’ll say that there were some that really
impressed me and others that seemed like a waste of time. For me, the
standout of the group was Madden 2001. My favorite Dreamcast game is
Sega’s NFL 2k1, and although I think Sega’s football game is a more
realistic simulation of a true gridiron battle, Madden 2001 for the
Playstation 2 is easy to play. The amount of detail that the designers
have put into this game makes it in some ways better than NFL 2k1. Some
of the incredible aspects of the game include different ways the sun
reflects off of the players’ helmets (depending on how they are
standing), the stadium’s P.A. system announcing things such as license
plate numbers of cars with their lights on in the parking lot and
referees who take the ball from players after they are tackled and toss
it to other referees. Certain things like the poor sound quality of the
announcers, voiced by Pat Summerall and John Madden, were a little
disappointing and the amount of comments they have are quite limited,
but the familiarity of their actual voices serve well to draw you into
the game.
In the early ‘90s, when games were starting to
become extremely graphically intensive, gameplay seemed to suffer, but
now games are starting to bridge that gap. I didn’t find myself needing
to religiously study any of the instructions and, to me, that is the
sign of a good game. You can play it for what it is and have fun; by
reading the instructions, you can take the game to the next level. Not
everyone has a great deal of time to devote to playing video games and
when a game is so complex that it requires a training seminar and hours
of practice and training just to play, it’s tough for me to recommend
it as a fun game.
Of
the games I played, the one that I felt best shows off the Playstation
2’s potential, besides Madden 2001, is Dead or Alive 2. Based on the
polygon graphic engine from Sega’s Virtual Fighter series, Dead Or
Alive 2 is a hand to hand 3-D fighting game that takes the genre to a
new level with incredibly detailed characters and backgrounds that are
absolutely stunning. One scene takes place alongside a waterfall, and
if a player gets knocked off the ledge, the other player jumps down
after him or her. As the "camera" follows the player down, the detail
of the background and the fluid movement are incredible. From a
strategic standpoint, the game doesn’t feel as advanced as Sega’s
Virtual Fighter series. Essentially this game is just a button masher.
If you push more buttons faster then your opponent, you will probably
end up winning. When playing the computer, the same holds true. You can
end up winning a match by using the same kick or punch technique
ad-nauseam until you achieve a knock-out. I have played similar games
that seem to be smarter and actually adapt to your moves and strategies
with artificial intelligence. This game seemingly lacks that, but it’s
still a fun game, and with tag team mode, you and your friends can have
an epic battle.
More than just a game system With
Sega’s Dramcast selling for only $119, you may be thinking that $299 is
a lot to pay for a video game system. The sticker price of the
Playstation 2 makes much more sense when you consider that this isn’t
just a game system. Regardless of any games that you may play in this
machine, it scores huge points for the fact that Sony has created the
Playstation 2 to be a DVD player that can play DTS, Dolby Digital and
AC-3 DVD-Vs. The DVD player is as good, if not better, then an average
$200-$300 consumer-level player. The picture is bright and clear, and
the sound is very good as well. It could possibly replace a DVD player
in a small bedroom system, or could be used as a main DVD player in an
entry-level home theater system. Of course, if you have an expensive
high-end DVD player in your system, you certainly wouldn’t use the
Playstation 2 as a replacement.
