GamesRadar - PS2 Reviews

Family Guy (Review)

26/10/2006

One of the things that make Family Guy so riotously funny is how the salty jokes come fast and furious over the span of each half-hour episode. Stretch those same laughs over 8 hours or so of generally humdrum gaming, and the whole affair gets diluted to the point where fans will find themselves reaching for the DVDs instead of the game controller. Oafish dumbass dad Peter takes a hard one to the noggin and becomes convinced that the citizens of Quahog are disguised henchmen of TV's Mr. ...

Fantastic 4 (Review)

15/02/2006

If the game of the film of the comic book is anything to go by, the Fantastic 4 really aren't that fantastic. They're just OK. Reed Richards (or 'stretchy man') is good at punching, Ben Grimm (or 'the big one with dried-on cornflakes for skin') is even better at punching and can also pick up large objects. Susan Storm (or 'the sexy one who can go invisible') can use telekinesis to throw people about and, naturally, is quite decent at punching. Then there's Johnny Storm (or 'fire man'). He can ...

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Review)

5/07/2007

Comics and games are a combo right on par with popcorn at the movies, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is no exception. The game takes plot elements from the movie it's based on and the comic series to weave a story chucked full of Fantastic Four nemeses. Everyone from the Skrull to Terrax to, dum, dum, dummmm: the Silver Surfer makes an appearance. But instead of feeling like a universe encompassing rumble, it just feels like more enemies for The Thing to smash. You'll begin the ...

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (Review)

29/09/2006

The Fast and The Furious - that first wonderfully fun, wonderfully stupid film - carved out a niche for street racing entertainment. But despite some attempts, nothing substantial materialized for fans of the first film or its sequel on the gaming side. Finally, a game based loosely on Tokyo Drift has been released. However, instead of the roaring surprise hit of the original film, this The Fast and The Furious (TFATF ) comes off as an underpowered retread of Midnight Club III: DUB ...

Fatal Frame 3 The Tormented (Review)

9/03/2006

Three games in, the Fatal Frame series central gameplay idea remains creepy as Hell: you basically stand there letting macabre, angry ghosts get closer, and then even closer, and then way-the-Hell-too-much closer … Then, rather than busting out holy water, a special ghost-killing sword, or a tank strapped to a fighter plane, you snap their picture with a magic camera. Sure, it's hokey, but it works. There's something about being armed only with a camera, even a mystical, ghost-busting ...

Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 1 (Review)

29/08/2007

Aug 29, 2007 This is one of those games that we love to see. It appeals to a very specific subset of gamers, no question – if you dont remember Fatal Fury games fondly, theres nothing for you here – but its a nice collection for those of us who like a good, 2D fighting throwdown now and then. Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 collects the first four Fatal Fury games: Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special (basically a tweaked 2), and Fatal Fury 3 Road to the Final Victory ...

Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 2 (Review)

23/04/2008

Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Vol. 2 picks up where the [previous volume] left off and gives us the fifth, sixth, and seventh installments in the franchise. For roughly fifteen dollars, you can bring home Real Bout Fatal Fury, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers - three immensely ...

FIFA 07 (Review)

6/06/2007

Friday 29 September 2006 Judging by the reaction around the office, all those years attempting to get FIFA to be 'more like PES' seem to have paid off for EA this season. OK, so it's by no-means a carbon copy of Pro Evolution Soccer but the improved animations have allowed the game to feel much more free. FIFA has always been trapped in scripted animations. You can usually tell when the ball's going to hit the back of the net before it's even left the ground, and the 'trick-stick' moves jerk ...

FIFA 07 (Review)

9/10/2006

The success and failure of a mans soccer team is akin to life and death - as the club goes, so he goes. While the World Cup is a quadrennial exercise in nationalism, nothing is more ingrained in the daily lives of billions of males around the globe than their favorite clubs fortunes. Whether its England, Germany, Spain, or any of dozens of other nations, wins, losses, and scandals are the stuff that sells tabloids every week. EA Sports FIFA 07 gets off of the world stage and back to the ...

FIFA 08 (Review)

27/09/2007

Sept 27, 2007 On the pitch last season, everything finally clicked into place for FIFA. Crisp passing, fluid player movement, sturdy AI and a great shooting model all combined to make it a serious challenger to the great Pro Evo Soccer for the first time in ages. Decent competition at last. So it's no surprise that little has changed in terms of gameplay in FIFA 08. In fact, you'd be hard pushed to spot the difference between this year's game and last, aside from the new season's kits (we ...

FIFA 09 (Review)

6/10/2008

The aging PS2 might be close to receiving its bus pass, but we’ll tell you this much: we hope we’re this much fun when we’re collecting our pension. FIFA 09 on PS2 might look as rough as Desperate Dan’s chinny-beard, but this old boy has got more fancy moves than your grandma after she’s had her early morning pep pills. ...

FIFA Soccer 2005 (Review)

11/10/2004

Office debate no. 963. There's something wrong with FIFA 2005. But nobody can agree on what. "It's less, err, fluid than PES4," murmurs writer, Nathan. "The set pieces are rubbish," argues art monkey, Milf. "No, that's not it," offers a mystery voice from a neighbouring Xbox magazine. "The problem is that while PES4 feels like a simulation, FIFA 2005 plays like a game - you've got to think about every move, rather than acting on instinct." The office falls silent. The inability to define the ...

Fight Club (Review)

22/11/2004

Okay. We could bang on about how Fight Club isn't actually about fighting, but an attack on the sort of consumerist culture that - for instance - licenses out popular films and makes them into games. Or we could point out that in Fight Club, the winner doesn't matter, so that the structure of the game - which revolves around travelling between groups and hitting incidental characters from the films - doesn't make sense. We could even question the inclusion of kung fu-style spinning kicks that ...

Fight Night 2004 (Review)

21/04/2004

How did we cope for all those years? Bash, bash, bash, punch, punch, punch. There were endless strings and sequences to remember alongside ever more combinations and modifiers to memorise. Press right, hit Square and hold Circle just to launch a jab in the nads? It was like trying to perform brain surgery with mittens on - which is pretty much what boxing is anyway. Surely there has to be a better way to box?Well, thanks to EA, now there is. Fireballs and flying kicks aside, boxing games have ...

Fight Night Round 3 (Review)

10/03/2006

Of late, the limelight around boxing has dimmed somewhat. Up-and-coming stars, with the exception of British Olympic silver-medallist Amir Khan and seven-foot punch-machine Nikolay Valuev, are few and far between. Fortunately, the only downside in Fight Night Round 3 is just that problem - there's a distinct lack of new talent. Instead you'll be treading the canvas with old favourites like Ali and Lamotta. But even without a bolstered line-up, EA's pugilistic scrapper still delivers the ...

Fight Night Round 3 (Review)

9/03/2006

What does it sound like when you fire a canned ham out of a cannon targeted at a pile of brittle sticks? The answer is a fist against your face, unless you've put hours into Fight Night Round 3. Hang out learning the sweet science long enough and you might earn a PhD in placing punches ... or eating them. When you're up against the ropes and the slowing of time sounds like a rush of wind past your ears, the desperation seizes you by the heart. If you can defend a handful of punches and get a ...

Final Fantasy X-2 (Review)

20/02/2004

Edge's 'competent' rating for Final Fantasy X attracted bile from Square's fanatical young apologists and concurrence from those who argue that the series has faltered ever since that opera scene. FFX-2 divides by virtue of its concept even before one considers its execution. Historically, each FF game is a world unto itself, united by common threads and traditions but nevertheless unique. So to series stalwarts FFX-2 feels wrong. Besides, surely it's impossible to sequel any game that climaxes ...

Final Fantasy XI (Review)

26/05/2004

First, the good news: Final Fantasy XI is an astonishing achievement. Not only have Square created an immense game world that's as convincing and successful as anything seen in other online RPGs, they've created the first truly compelling reason to connect your PS2 to the internet and in the process turned the network adapter and hard disk drive into more than mere novelties. The bad news is that, to truly enjoy it, you're going to have to effectively give up your life as you know it, lock ...

Final Fantasy XII (Review)

27/10/2006

What a weird journey Final Fantasy has made on the PlayStation 2. Look back at the PSone: FFVII set the tone for FFVIII. FFIX was the "different" one, but it still fit the mold. But then PS2 came along... FFX inherited its style from FFVIII; FFXI went online; FFX-2 was the first direct sequel in the series' history - and a very odd one at that. And now, we arrive at Final Fantasy XII... another beast entirely. You've probably read by now - it's been how long since they announced it? - about ...

Final Fight: Streetwise (Review)

4/05/2006

Despite kicking ass as one of the most classic, side-scrolling, "punch 100 dudes in the head, eat the food you find in the broken crate, repeat" beat 'em-ups ever, the Final Fight franchise has taken more black eyes than all of Metro Citys thugs put together. Home console ports with missing features, half-assed sequels, downright ugly forays into the one-on-one fighting genre (see the Japan-only Final Fight Revenge on Segas Saturn) - the series has been through it all. And now Capcom continues ...