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Rainier's Articles


'Locomotion' - Screens

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Pre - E3 2004

Designed and developed by the creator of the best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon® series, Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion challenges you to build and operate a money-making transport network by linking passengers and cargo to their destinations. As the spiritual successor to his original 1994 masterpiece Transport Tycoon, this latest strategy offering from Chris Sawyer continues his tradition of putting the fun in the world-watching as well as in the creation. Fans of RollerCoaster Tycoon will immediately recognize Chris Sawyer’s well-known interface, addictive gameplay, and pioneering style as he brings a world of moving trains, trucks, buses, ships, and aircraft to life.

PC Preview - 'Joint Task Force'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Real-Time Strategy
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Most Wanted Entertainment
Release Date: September 2006

You may be able to overcome countless terrorists, foreign insurgents, and enemy armies, all before breakfast, but in Joint Task Force, your greatest enemy might be CNN.

JTF is a story-driven, tactical RTS from Most Wanted Entertainment. You play the part of a fictional, multinational peace enforcement unit, with missions set in such recent real-world hotspots as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, Iraq, and Somalia. Your unit may not be real (Most Wanted's aiming for gameplay over realism here; to quote them, "Real is not fun"), but

Xbox Preview - Van Helsing

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Pre - E3 2004

Genre : Action
Developer: Saffire Studios
Publisher: Vivendi
Release Date: May 7, 2004

Let’s get the obvious observation over with: Van Helsing looks a lot like some kind of Victorian-era mod for Devil May Cry, maybe with a bit of a nod towards some of the over-the-top moments in the Hunter: The Reckoning series.

Van Helsing approaches the third-person shooter genre much in the same way as DMC did, as an attempt to seamlessly blend a cinematic sensibility with nonstop action and unmatched style. It features an extraordinarily agile hero, who’s constantly flipping, dodging, racing, and swinging

'ShadowOps: Red Mercury (Ps2/Xbox/PC) - Screens

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Pre - E3 2004

Set in the near future, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a gritty, real-world first-person shooter (FPS) in which the player fills the combat boots of an elite Delta Force operative. Featuring the high production values of a blockbuster Hollywood action/thriller, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is a cinematic, action-oriented experience aimed at capturing and recreating the thrills of major Hollywood action films.

In the game, the player is hand-picked by the CIA’s Special Missions Unit to track down and contain the notorious “Red Mercury” – a substance that is thought to be capable of acting as a nuclear accelerant – before the

PC Preview - 'Caesar IV'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Simulation
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Developer: Tilted Mill
Release Date: Q3 2006

Caesar IV is the latest in the distinguished Caesar line of city-building sims that rose to great fame as part of the late, lamented Sierra Entertainment. Even though it's been a good eight years since the last iteration came out to positive reviews and much love from simulation fans, Vivendi Universal has allowed developer Tilted Mill to bring back the franchise for one more outing on the PC. What's special about this title is that the development team includes many staffers who've worked on

NGC/PS2/Xbox Preview - 'The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Krome Studios
Release Date: October 2006

Spyro's newest venture is entitled A New Beginning, and for good reason. With this new game, the reset button's been hit on Spyro; all past adventures have been forgotten in favor of giving one of the hardest-working mascots in video games a fresh start.

In this case, it means shifting the onscreen action's focus from cutesy platforming to surprisingly intense action. Krome Studios, the dev house that gave the world Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, has set out to make Spyro's newest adventure feel like "playing through a

PC Preview - 'FreeStyle Street Basketball'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Sports
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: JC Entertainment
Release Date: Q1 2007

It is within the bounds of possibility that you could sell a million copies of anything in Korea, as long as it was a massive multiplayer online game. Ideally, it should be an MMO you can play with one hand, freeing up the other hand to smoke a cigarette.

Freestyle Street Basketball is, at once, a demonstration of this principle and an idea I'm surprised we haven't seen before now. This is a game where you can create and kit out a cel-shaded cartoon avatar, and then

Sammy Studios - E3 Screens Gallery

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2003

3DO - E3 Screens Gallery

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2003

NDS Preview - 'Crash Boom Bang!'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Party/Puzzle
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Dimps
Release Date: October 2006

Well … Crash is back.

Crash Boom Bang! is sort of weird, in that it's the first game in the long-running Crash series being made by a Japanese developer. For Crash's DS debut, the reins have been given to Dimps, the house behind Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.

As a result, Crash Boom Bang! has taken a turn for the anime. (Look, Mom, I'm using nouns as adjectives!) The game is more colorful than its American predecessors were and definitely more cute; Crash has gone from looking insane to looking