So, what’s up with the X?
Posted: May 18, 2001 @ 03:38AM - By: ivan

See kids, stats don’t mean jack. Case in point, you got a P4 1.7 GHz, 2 gigs of RAM and a GeForce 3. So your games are guaranteed to rock, right? Not if they’re Mortyr and Daikatana they ain’t. The Xbox has undoubtedly the most impressive spec sheet around, dwarfing the PS2 and even the mighty GameCube, yet its games as a whole are mediocre at best. They pale in comparison to the PS2’s second generation offerings as well as the GCN’s insane initial lineup. Sure, I suppose you could call them good, they certainly have the potential to be good (at least some of them), but I guarantee you that Tony the Tiger won’t be bursting through the door with his characteristic exuberance proclaiming their G-r-r-reatness.

• The setup: Before you read ahead on how I trash pretty much all the Xbox games, you should know that it is not entirely their fault. Practically all of the Xbox kiosks were outfitted with either super cheese TVs, which looked like they may have been connected to Xboxes via RF adapters, or even crappier LCD screens which utterly rape the image changing it into something that is just downright ugly and distorted (think really good Internet quality movies with washed out colors and some image breakup). Of course, it didn’t help that practically all of the marquee Sony and GameCube titles were on high quality monitors or kick ass high-scan TVs (1080i WEGAs and the like).
  
  
• The controller: Think Dreamcast, but heavier, bulkier, curvier, and surprisingly more awkward. The face buttons are oddly shaped and nearly impossible to utilize in conjunction with both analog sticks or even each other, (which Halo and others so mercilessly demand). I often found myself fumbling around the face pressing the wrong button and I consider myself to be a very good gamer. The triggers feel all well and good but in light of the familiarity of the Dual-Shock and the utter perfection that comes out of the GameCube, this fat boy just lacks all around. Not terribly bad though, I suppose I’d get used to it after a bit, but like everything else with a green X stamped on it it’s also not terribly good.
  
  
• Halo: Halo has framerate problems and if you don’t know what Halo is you have framerate problems, Can you believe that? Don’t even try playing four-player because it’s worse than Perfect Dark and the single player often stutters too. It’s understandable because this is a work in progress and will assuredly be ironed out by release, but this is the flagship for the Xbox, and as such is responsible for setting the standards. Anyway, it has good graphics, right? Well, it’s graphical prowess lies in its subtleties. The way light gently reflects off chrome. The way the ocean catches the sun. Watching dropships go sailing by as you’re tearing around your jeep. Heading up a hill littered with small boulders with your squad clearing a path through the enemy while the sun beautifully shines through trees. Yeah, it’s all fine and dandy, but believe it or not it really isn’t anything special. Not to say the game is completely devoid of redeeming qualities, it’s just that while it is technically impressive, if you take the time to notice, it’s not something that is truly spectacular; to give you an idea, I found SoF 2 and the PC version of Project Eden to be as graphically impressive, SoF 2 perhaps more so. Driving the jeep is an utter chore and has the stupidest control layout that utilizes one analog stick to solely steer while the other goes only forward and back (unlike any racing game with gas and brake or whatever). It can also be a bit floaty at times, but does have some generally cool shock physics. Even with the control problems the jeep is by far the best part of the portion of the game shown. Driving straight down the stairs inside the Covenant base running fools over is real fun, Texas style.
  
  
• Project Gotham: It’s basically a prettier Metropolis Street Racer (they’re pretty much the same game). Although, I suppose it’s technically superior to GT3, it just doesn’t have that panache, and the control (particularly on the wet track) can be disturbingly hard and unresponsive at times.
  
  
• Munch: Quirky, and odd (duh) platformer adventure type game (third in a series). It looks cool, but it’s not something you can really judge at a brief sit-down, so I’m going to reserve commenting on it till I get a hang of the controls and figure out just what the heck I’m doing.
  
  
• New Legends: Can we say total crap? So it’s from the guy who is basically responsible for Jedi Knight, but that sure don’t mean it’s good. This really bothers me too, because the dude who demoed it to me was really cool. Anyway, it’s basically a 3D beat ‘em up set in some kind of mythical Japan or whatever. Its graphical capabilities are right on par with the latest generation of PSOne games, but to be fair, this was intended to be a demonstration of the combat system and not the graphics engine as it stands. Too bad the combat system also lacks. There are a bevy of weapons to use and some combos you can pull off, but it’s basically running around hitting guys until they die; you can try and block, but reaching over to those black and gray buttons can be quite cumbersome, as I’ve already mentioned. Dynasty Warriors 2 gave us tons of guys to fight at any given time; Batman: Vengeance looks to give us a kick ass fighting system, incredible style, and tons of cool gameplay elements. Sadly, New Legends, in its current state, gives us none of the above.
  
  
• NFL Fever: Football game that while having some killer tackle animations, is not as graphically superior to Madden as some would like you to believe. The close-ups are cool and can be quite startling at times, but standard gameplay doesn’t look any better than the competition, and the game is often jerky and awkward. I attribute this to its early state and will give it the benefit of the doubt.
  
  
• Madden NFL 2002: Another football game. This one looked marginally better than the PS2 version, but was arguably on par with the GCN version. It should be known that both the GCN and the Xbox versions are ports from the PS2 one, which uses the Madden 2001 engine (this is what the similarities can be attributed to). it should also be known that all three were shown side-by-side so it was fairly easy to gauge.
  
  
• Air Force Delta: A flight-combat game in the vein of Ace Combat. It did look significantly better than Ace Combat 4, in some respects at least, yet it was hampered by a very arcadey control scheme and general feel, add some real difficulty in engaging enemy aircraft due to the apparent lack of any kind of a speed control. I attribute its small faults to incompleteness and will thus give it the benefit of the doubt.
  
  
• Dark Summit: A snowboarding game with a design that’s a dead-set clone of SSX and a game structure very similar to Tony Hawk. It’s a good premise for a game and proved to be rather solid, but it seems to lack both the racing fun of SSX and the trick fun of Tony Hawk. It’s kind of like a strange middle ground where nothing is quite right either way. I need to play more without some PR moron jabbering on about God knows what though.
  Orange's Ed. Those THQ PR people are our friends. Love them.
  ivan's Ed. Nah, this was at the Microsoft booth and the MS guy was the goob. I actually didn't play it at THQ's booth, so I wouldn't know how they are about it.
  
  
• Blood Wake: This was probably the most impressive and enjoyable Xbox game at the show. It’s a boat combat game set in the past of an alternate universe. You’re basically a pirate in the South China sees with some wicked boats and firepower. It can be thought of as containing a story premise similar to that in Crimson Skies, with gameplay elements from WaveRace and Twisted Metal. The game’s water effects are truly impressive, although the splash effects (while undoubtedly early) leave a bit to be desired. The one bad part is that the demo seemed awfully difficult and those morons had the music so damn loud that the speakers were really scratchy and you couldn’t even hear yourself speak. It’s one game I’m really looking forward to seeing completed.
  

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