Χ-Play (2003)

Unreal Championship 2, Obscure, Rayman DS and more! (3x42)

Yayınlanma tarihi: May 02, 2005

On tonight's episode of X-Play, we review Unreal Championship 2. After years of evolution, console shooters still feel inferior to their PC counterparts. Give a hand, then, to Epic Games, for spitting in the genre's face. Blatantly disregarding fanboy howls, it's tweaked its franchise so thoroughly that The Liandri Conflict might as well be the beginning of a totally different series. When a review copy of a World War II game arrives on your desk, it usually means you’re about to slog through yet another first-person shooter that desperately tries to emulate Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Or it’ll be a real-time strategy game filled with the same troops, vehicles, and missions we’ve been playing for years. But what’s this? A submarine simulation? I thought these kinds of games were sent to a watery grave back in the early '90s. What modern gamer has the patience or raw brainpower to handle this kind of game? It turns out that Silent Hunter III is not only the most detailed, deep, and beautiful sub sim to come along in ages, it’s also very accessible. Rayman DS marks the latest refugee from the Nintendo 64 line-up, since it’s basically a port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. Admittedly, Rayman 2 is a great game, so it’s not an unwelcome addition to the fledgling DS library. It’s just a shame that Ubisoft hasn’t gone the extra mile to optimize it for Nintendo's latest portable. On the silver screen, horror is often the place where hacks go to thrive. Thanks to movies like Scream, we endure high school horror featuring redundant scares and suspiciously beautiful students. Now that approach has fully infected gaming, and Obscure replicates a Wes Craven flick right down to the aggro soundtrack and revealing costumes. Plus, a Games for Cheap People feature. Tune in tonight!