Slicing plastic robots into tumbling bricks as a miniature and rather angular Obi-Wan Kenobi plugs into that "pure fun" part of our brain in the same way that building forts out of couch cushions used to. Lego Star Wars drew out that imaginative joy with ease, and now we get to do it all over again ... but with the original trilogy of Star Wars ...
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9 Mar 2006

Urban Chaos: Riot Response

Xbox Preview | Urban Chaos Riot Response

It's a story nearly as old as video games themselves: A city has been overrun by rampaging street gangs, and it's up to you to restore order. But in Urban Chaos: Riot Response, you're not some scrapper in a leather vest doling out two-fisted vigilante justice. Instead, you're part of a merciless special police unit, T-Zero, given carte blanche to blast the face off anyone who looks at you funny. Of course, funny looks are the least of your worries. As you navigate the 12 missions of Eidos' ...
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9 Mar 2006

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

Xbox Preview | Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast

Sick of the relentless realism, turbine-upgrading and constant bodywork-pimping of current racers? Are you eager for a nostalgia trip, free from lame decals and tacky spoilers? Then keep your eyes peeled for OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. Blue skies, palm trees and the most arcade-style handling you've ever experienced await in OutRun 2006. Going back to glorious basics, accelerator and brake buttons are all you need. Forget handbrake turns, crash-breakers and ramps that have you flying through ...
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8 Mar 2006

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers

Xbox Preview | Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers

It's been 18 months since Full Spectrum Warrior debuted, out-innovating an entire glut of military shooters by ... not giving you a gun? Yes, the cerebral strategy game carved out its own new subgenre, challenging players to learn to move and cover with a pair of four-man Alpha and Bravo squads, outthinking and outflanking opponents using real Army tactics - without actually having you pull the trigger - in order to conquer opponents in a fictional Middle Eastern urban war zone. The emphasis ...
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7 Mar 2006

Tomb Raider: Legend

Xbox Preview | Tomb Raider Legend

Oh Lara Croft ... so hot, so brilliant, so starring in awful games for so long. The original Tomb Raider was an opus of Indiana Jones-style adventuring, puzzle-solving, dual-pistol wielding, and tank-top-staring that put Ms. Croft and the PlayStation on the map. But after Tomb Raider III, things got rough for our favorite feminine plaything. Cliches began to snake in, the baddies began to smack of caricature, while attempts at innovation had the distinct reek of gimmick. The nadir came with ...
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7 Mar 2006

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII

Xbox Preview | Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII

Why don't Top Guns get any love? Crimson Skies and Secret Weapons Over Normandy were a blast, and we demand more. Ubisoft's WWII era flight opera Blazing Angels is primed to deliver the kind of experience that has been sadly lacking on the consoles for the last ...
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7 Mar 2006

And 1 Streetball

Xbox Preview | And 1 Streetball

There's a handful of genres for which we probably don't need any more games: World War II shooters, medieval fantasy RPGs, and street basketball showdowns. Still, the makers of And 1 Streetball think they've got something fresh for gamers stuck at the intersection of NBA Live and NBA Street. That something is primarily a new control scheme, designed to let you express yourself with creative moves while still bringing the thunder with a nasty dunk. And 1 calls this "I Ball," but we'll call it ...
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7 Mar 2006

The Godfather

Xbox Preview | The Godfather

Few movie-to-game adaptations have garnered as much attention and speculation as EA's take on The Godfather, which finally hits stores later this month. Casting players as a random wiseguy in the Corleone crime family, it combines free-form, Grand Theft Auto-style gameplay with a plot that follows the epic Mafia film from behind the scenes. We've spent some hard time with this gangland simulation, and we can say that the driving feels great, the violence is intense, the story is riveting and ...
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3 Mar 2006

X-Men: The Official Game

Xbox Preview | X-Men The Official Game

Ever since Nightcrawler teleported his way through the White House, drop-kicking and hip-tossing countless armed guards along the way in X2, he's been the one X-Man everyone's wanted to control. And while the past X-Men movie games have been a bland sort, Nightcrawler's inclusion may make the third film's tie-in action game a must-play. For those not in the comic book loop, Nightcrawler's a blue-furred, teleporting, acrobatic mutant who can literally be in two places at once. Guiding him ...
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1 Mar 2006

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

Xbox Preview | Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

You never forget your first: your first kiss, your first car, the first time you ripped out a ninja's spine with your bare hands. Each new Mortal Kombat game dug a little deeper into its own gory mythology, but the next chapter in the famed fighting franchise will be the last. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will end Kombat as we know it. Why kill a good thing? To make room for a better one. MK's long and winding plotline will wrap up with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox; as those machines make way for ...
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