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| Crash CTR |
Crash Team Racing More derivative than Diddy Kong but with none of the slowdown, CTR takes the kart cup. October 29, 1999 When a game like Crash Team Racing arrives on the kart scene, you know the videogame industry has grown fat and happy. In every way better than any of the next-generation kart games, CTR is also the most unoriginal, from its structure to its characters to its powerups and courses. This game reeks of Nintendo's Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing in every facet, and yet if you can push aside the maniacally smiling, pasted-on face of Crash bursting across the finish line, then you will like this game. To be fair, Naughty Dog has integrated its usual technical magic by making CTR good-looking, fast, and four-player. | ||||||||||||||||
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Street Fighter Alpha 2 It may not be anything new, but who cares? December 11, 1996 It seems like every year Capcom releases a new and improved version of Street Fighter. Fortunately, each upgrade does manage to sport enough new characters and enhancements to please the majority of fighting fans. With Street Fighter Alpha 2, the tradition continues and we now see three new characters, Gen, Rolento, and Sakura, and the return of two classics, Dahlsim and Zangief. Capcom has always been pretty good with their character designs, and this game is no different. Gen is the old, wise kung-fu master, Rolento, a Vietnam commando, comes originally from the Final Fight series, and Sakura is a cute schoolgirl with attacks resembling her hero, Ryu. Gameplay is standard fare with six attack buttons; three dedicated to punches of various strengths and the others for kicking attacks. The combo system is pretty much the same as the first Alpha game, but with one major exception: Capcom has decided to remove the cheesy chain-combos and replace it with an even cheesier custom system. When your Super Combo Gauge reaches at least level one, you can execute a custom combo, combining any punches, kicks, or special moves that you want to, into a mega energy draining attack. As far as arcade conversions go, this is near perfect. The backgrounds and character animations are only missing a few frames and the classic arcade soundtrack is fully intact. Strangely enough, the main fault in the game doesn't fall on the actual game, but on the PlayStation controller, which makes executing special moves very difficult. I would suggest picking up one of the available joysticks, which will have you throwing fireballs with the best of them. Aside from that one small point, Street Fighter Alpha 2 will surely please fans of the genre and will keep them busy until Capcom releases the long overdue Street Fighter 3. | Street Fighter Alpha 2 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Twisted Metal 3 |
Twisted Metal 3 The car-combat genre's one-time numero uno is back with the third in its series, Twisted Metal 3. November 12, 1998 Developed by 989 Studios this time and not Singletrac, the developer of the first two, 989 has built upon the foundation that TM was formed ? solid car destruction in single and multitple player modes. But is this third version the creme of the crop? It must be said, there is more of everything. A total of 12 cars are playable, each with its own built-in weapons and specialties. They are: Firestarter (a '50s hot rod), Club Kid (a tiny little Honda), Axel (a giant, two-wheeled standup), Auger (a construction vehicle with a scary front-end drill), Warthog (your standard Hummer), Thumper (a purple low rider), Sweet Tooth (your favorite ice cream truck), Flower Power (a female-driven VW Bug) Grimm (a side-car motorcycle), Hammerhead (a grandma in a four-wheel monster truck), and Minion (six-wheeled tank), plus a bonus car. The game has improved in many areas, particularly the graphics department. Textures are more detailed, better Gourard shading has been implemented, and smoke, fire, and explosion effects are bigger and better than before. A wide variety of levels are playable in either in deathmatch or tournament modes, with at least eight immediately playable ones (in deathmatch mode). The phsyics model is slightly different as well, with more rounded walls enabling cars to reach new heights and fantastic jumps. The cars bump and grind, bounce and take damage with gritty determination to stay in one piece until they're the last ones standing. 989 calls the new physics model, "TruPhysics." Twisted Metal supports both analog and dual shock compatibility, and is now a four-player game, with a multitap. | ||||||||||||||||
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