Χ-Play (2003)

Sid Meier's Pirates!, Ridge Racer DS, Alexander and more! (3x4)

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On tonight's all new episode of X-Play, we review a beloved classic for today’s finicky gamer. Often, these older games lack the deep gameplay we’ve come to expect in modern titles. Or the developers fail to understand just what made the original game so special in the first place. In the case of Sid Meier’s Pirates! neither of these things hold true. This latest update is just as good if not better than the 1987 classic. If Ridge Racer DS, Madden NFL 2005, and Super Mario DS are any indication, we should expect to see quite a few Nintendo 64 ports on Nintendo's touch screen handheld. Ridge Racer DS is a near-identical translation of 2000’s Ridge Racer 64, a title that marked the first time Namco’s celebrated racing franchise appeared on a Nintendo platform. Though Ridge Racer has shifted gears from a bulky gray cartridge to a piece of flash memory not much bigger than a piece of Corn Chex cereal, the DS version adds more vehicles, a new control scheme, and revs up the simultaneous multiplayer action from four to six. We recently took Ridge Racer DS out for a spin to see if it was road worthy or in need of an oil change. After the mess Oliver Stone made of Alexander the movie, it’s hard to get excited about playing Alexander the game. The good news is, Alexander the game isn’t nearly as bad as the film it’s based on. The bad news is the game isn’t that great to begin with. Recent findings at X-Play, based on numerous clinical trials, have established a conclusive link between amnesia and heroism. Our latest study involves Sega’s Shining Tears. The hero doesn’t remember who he is, but he knows how to hack his way through an entire army. But he won’t do it alone. This otherwise standard action-RPG has a cooperative twist, even if you’re playing by yourself. The original Backyard Wrestling was a lame and simplistic button bashing game that relied on some edgy gimmicks, including the inclusion of the Insane Clown Posse, to try