GamesRadar - PS2 Reviews

Ace Combat: The Belkan War (Review)

24/04/2006

Ever been inside a banking F-14, trying to outmaneuver a set of incoming missiles while simultaneously keeping a bogie ahead of you in your sights? Yeah, we thought not. Well, we haven't either, but after piloting authentic jets, executing precise aerobatic attack patterns and generally blowing the hell out of everything, we can safely say this is pretty damn close to the real thing. Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is the sixth game in a well-respected series that's always delivered the ...

The Adventures of Darwin (Review)

9/07/2007

How stupid is it that it took a scientist like Charles Darwin to come up with the ultra-common sense theory of Natural Selection? Was it really so tough to guess that, if you have an alligator with teeth and another alligator with no teeth, the first one is going to get the steak and have babies and the other is going to die? Unfortunately, its similarly tough to believe that The Adventures of Darwin, a squad-based action title that has you commanding a small army of monkeys trying to evolve ...

Aeon Flux (Review)

22/03/2006

First off, Majescos movie tie-in ... isn't. This third-person action game doesn't replay events of the Aeon Flux movie. Sure, it lays a gloss of Charlize Theron in slick vinyl over everything, but at heart, it throws back instead to the old MTV cartoon series for its personality, artistic sense, and level designs. True, Aeons skills and abilities are pretty cool. She leaps nimbly around with almost Spider-Man-like agility, wields various gadgets, rolls shiny globes around (it's cooler than it ...

Alone in the Dark (Review)

2/07/2008

Alone in the Dark loves a good cliff-hanger – quite literally in the case of one helicopter crash sequence – but there’s no scenario more hair-raising than that of publishers Atari themselves. Teetering on the brink of financial disaster, they’ve put all their eggs in this gothic basket, expecting a company-rejuvenating three million sales across multiple platforms. Here’s hoping the next-gen version shifts a ...

Alvin and the Chipmunks (Review)

11/12/2007

Dec 11, 2007 After some 50 years of existence, Alvin and the Chipmunks are no longer hip, relevant or cool. Hey, it happens - as times change, so do tastes, and modern youngsters may not see the appeal in a trio of warbling rodents painted with broad personalities and characteristics. But that didn't stop 20th Century Fox from prepping a new franchise film (starring Jason Lee as David Seville), and it sure didn't stop the aptly named publisher Brash Entertainment from making a quick buck off ...

AMF Xtreme Bowling 2006 (Review)

13/07/2006

Of the millions of Americans who enjoy bowling every year, perhaps dozens will find themselves damaged by AMF Xtreme Bowling 2006. We're here to stop you from being one of them. Since the old game of ten-pin bowling isn't too hard to replicate - how many polygons do you need to create a lane, anyway? - Xtreme tries to doll it up with black light, neon and, naturally, dames. The opening cinema shows more bare midriffs than you're likely to find in a real lane, strikes are rewarded with ...

And 1 Streetball (Review)

16/06/2006

AND 1 Streetball sets itself apart from other basketball games by placing equal importance on outscoring your opponent and looking damn cool doing it. Just like the real-life, trick-play AND 1 traveling team, the game overflows with impressive athletic moves, grandiose showboating and tongue-in-cheek entertainment value. As a foul-less, unruly streetballer, AND 1 emphasizes action and delivers with an incredibly deep “I Ball” control scheme that allows you to juke, jive and ...

The Ant Bully (Review)

27/09/2006

You know the drill: games based on movies tend to bite. The thinking here seems to be that younger children don't yet possess fully functioning crap filters, and are therefore more likely to squeeze some fun out of a game that adults would tire of within ...

Ape Escape 3 (Review)

22/06/2007

Given the recent epidemic of monkey escapes in the US, it's no surprise that video games are looking to capitalize on the headlines to eke out a few extra sales. Such is the case with Sony's Ape Escape 3, the third full entry in its on-again-off-again, simian-snagging series. As always, your job is to take control of a curiously young child and capture 434 or so marauding monkeys before they can cause real damage. You have all manner of high-tech gadgets at your disposal, and it's the skillful ...

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am (Review)

8/11/2007

Nov 8, 2007 It's tough to argue against bringing [adult swim] animated sensation Aqua Teen Hunger Force into the gaming realm. The wide-ranging absurdity of the short-form cartoon about a trio of talking food products opens the license up to any number of playable concepts. But which one(s)? We couldn't come up with anything that seemed to definitively match the license, but the real question is this: did ...

Ar tonelico (Review)

6/02/2007

Ever wish your Japanese RPGs had more talking? How about surreal mind-diving where you explore fragile girls' deepest thoughts and slowly unlock their magical potential? That's what Ar tonelico brings to the anime-draped table - a huge focus on character development and chatting. Everything else is pretty standard stuff. Random battles, cool art design, a truly "out there" plot about viruses trying to eat all the humans in the world... you know, all the staple features you'd associate with this ...

Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica (Review)

21/01/2009

As the epitome of niche, Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica will never enjoy mass-market appeal, and it’s kind of a shame. As far as JRPGs go, AT2 does absolutely everything right, with an innovative battle system that never seems to get old, well-developed characters, a complex yet easily-followable story, and even a well-streamlined map system that eliminates the tedium of traveling. Unless you totally hate RPGs, you will enjoy this game ...

Arcana Heart (Review)

14/04/2008

If you've got a low tolerance for syrupy-cute anime nonsense, Arcana Heart probably isn't for you. A 2D fighter with an all-girl cast, it piles on the saccharine with high-pitched voices, exaggerated posing and lots of overcute everything everywhere. What's more, its 11 fighters have all been tailored to fit some weird Japanese fetish archetype; there's the athletic schoolgirl, the mopey schoolgirl, the bumbling witch with big glasses, the ...

Area 51 (Review)

15/02/2006

Most FPS titles have you running around while shooting at everything else that's running around. But Area 51 - in its opening stages at least - is more tense than that: you've got to stand still while hell breaks loose around you. Sweeping through a ruined and still-burning underground science complex, Area 51 begins by throwing more enemies at you than most games manage per level, and it's your job to hold your ground without being overrun by them. It's a rush, that's for sure. Moody looks ...

Arena Football: Road to Glory (Review)

27/02/2007

Against odds longer than those of the Arizona Cardinals winning a Super Bowl, Arena Football has somehow survived despite a hyper-crowded sports and entertainment landscape. In fact, its more popular than ever, as proven by a big fat television contract (now called by ESPNs popular Mike and Mike in the Morning crew) and Electronic Arts exclusive AFL video game license. While still a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things, its frenetic pace and over-the-top style has earned a spot in ...

Armored Core: Last Raven (Review)

16/06/2006

Gameplay-wise, most Armored Core games have been only thinly distinguishable from sequel to sequel. You're a mercenary with a great big mech, which you can customize to your heart's content. Last Raven does bring a few more sandwiches to the picnic, but it's really just another small upgrade in a series that runs short on big ideas. Since the developers know that their fans are hardcore as hardcore gets, metalheads are unceremoniously dumped in the deep end with no tutorial. You do get two ...

Art of Fighting Anthology (Review)

26/06/2007

Art of Fighting is one of those odd series that helped to define a genre, yet somehow never managed to become even remotely popular itself. Its kind of the old-school, 2D fighting game equivalent of former Jessica Simpson hubby Nick Lacheys boy band, 98 Degrees. Only more influential, as if Nick had then taught the far more successful Justin Timberlake how to sing or how to have lots of sex with gorgeous-but-superdumb pop divas back when they were sane enough to be ...

Arthur and the Invisibles (Review)

26/01/2007

You can all thank Atari for doing nothing to raise the bar for the doomed genre that is the game-based-on-movie. Although to be honest, you could hardly blame them in this case, considering the childrens book-turned-abysmal-film Arthur and the Invisibles is their source ...

Asterix at the Olympic Games (Review)

29/02/2008

Apparently the live action movie of Asterix at the Olympic Games is European cinema’s most expensive ever film production. WTF? We had no idea the film was on its way until we got the game through the post, and even then we’d already started playing it before we realised that fact.We’d clocked the real-life actors - none of whom we recognised - cleverly spliced into the game’s cutscenes, and thought it was a rather nice, ...

Astro Boy: The Video Game (Review)

26/10/2009

It seems Astro Boy returns every decade or so, and now American film makers have retooled the iconic character for another reboot. Albeit low budget looking and feeling, High Voltage Software put more life into Astro Boy: The Video Game than we’d expect from a movie tie-in. Bright, sleek and silver, Metro City sets the stage for Astro Boy’s adventure against an evil robot-wielding president. ...