GamesRadar - PS2 Reviews

187: Ride or Die (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

GTA: San Andreas may have led to a lot of moral outrage and criticism of the game industry, but its worst effect might actually be 187: Ride or Die. Apparently, someone thought that the secret to success was to throw young black men into cars, give them guns, and let them run wild. Instant videogame hit, right? No. You're Buck, an up-and-coming gangsta running for a Southern California OG named Dupree. When Dupree says jump, you jump - and when he says "grab a semi-automatic weapon, jump into ...

2006 FIFA World Cup (Review)

Apr 24, 2006

Ah, the World Cup. Every four years, soccer fans from around the world gather to celebrate the planets most popular sport while beating the living snot out of each other. Electronic Arts commemorates the event with 2006 FIFA World Cup, the official game of the tournament with all of the teams and players that will be kicking the rock around Germany this summer (riots and hooligans not included). The two main "simulation" franchises in the soccer video game genre - FIFA and Winning Eleven - ...

24: The Game (Review)

Mar 2, 2006

Fans of 24 can breathe a sigh of relief. 24: The Game is no quick cash-in. Rather, it accomplishes what most games based on popular TV shows or movies can't - it's legitimately enjoyable to play. It's not exactly a masterpiece, and fans of the series will enjoy it scads more than folks who don't know Jack Bauer from Jack Black, but it's a solid effort that deserves a look. The gameplay won't win any originality awards, but the sheer variety of tasks you have to accomplish mesh together nicely ...

50 Cent Bulletproof (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

Conventional wisdom says that first you crawl before you walk. 50 Cent Bulletproof shoots this theory in the face, and decides to try to outrun a freight train before doing either. As you can imagine, it ends up falling a little flat. When working to get 50 Cent, his crew, Dre and Em, and 50's music and his videos into the game, the developers forgot one minor detail: the ...

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (Review)

Apr 24, 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)

Jul 9, 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)

Mar 22, 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)

Jul 2, 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)

Dec 11, 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)

Jul 13, 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)

Jun 16, 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)

Sep 27, 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)

Jun 22, 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)

Nov 8, 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)

Feb 6, 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 ...

Arcana Heart (Review)

Apr 14, 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)

Feb 15, 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)

Feb 27, 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)

Jun 16, 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)

Jun 26, 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 ...