0
S
10B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Magazine - Thursday, January 10, 2002
"Survivor: Africa" finishes tonight in two-hour episode
The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Magazine -Th
Disney-like atmosphere makes
'Jak and Daxster' a big winner
Courtesy of CBS
a game of "Rock & Roll Jeopardy."
attend an elite private school.
Diana - Postal worker extraordi-
naire should not expect her life to
change drastically; after all, she was
booted so fast, hardly a viewer remem-
bers the bitchy blonde.
Clarence - The lone Michigan resi-
dent will be best known for eating the
infamous can of beans his first week in
the African wilderness. Clarence
should easily land a job in commer-
cials, replacing Jay Busch as the
spokesperson for the baked beans
industry. Roll that beautiful bean
footage.
Jessie - It's back in training for the
former beauty queen. Miss Camacho
will guest star on "Cops" and ride shot-
gun while a real police officer does all
the real work. Then there's always
being a stunt double for J-Lo in "Angel
Eyes 2."
Ethan - With a cool million in his
back pocket, the so-called "athlete" will
find himself with a wealth of currency
and fame. That won't last long. Most
likely he will be coaching a struggling
Class D high school soccer team and
reminiscing on his 15 minutes.
Tom - From day one, this goat
farmer has been himself, just a happy-
go-lucky fat ass without a care in the
world. Even if he should somehow win
the grand prize, Tom will be a farmer the
rest of his life, he'll just have more
booze stocked up in the barn.
Lex - Viacom sister network VH 1
will surely find a spot for Lex on their
late night metal-fest "Rock Show." The
lanky, tattooed California native should
be more than content introducing videos
from "Tantric" and "Linkin Park."
Kim J -The thong. Perhaps the most
disturbing image in reality television
history, the saggy backside of Kim
Johnson served as a frightening
reminder we all get old. Hopefully she
stays fully clothed and locks herself in
her walk-in closet.
Frank - Nature boy will enroll in
some ethnic sensitivity classes and
become a new man. No, scratch that.
Frank will continue to slay helpless ani-
mals and listen to his Ted Nugent cata-
log.
Lindsey - How many times did she
break down and cry while in Africa?
Tom removing the tick from her keyster
was an indelible moment in our society.
She has a bright future behind the saloon
doors of the mom and pop video stores.
Brandon - His betrayal to his former
alliance made for an uncomfortable
departure. At least he still has the
Samburu necklace to memorialize his
former friends.
Silas - The big brute can cohost the
"World's Strongest Man" competitions
on ESPN2 with fellow "Survivor" con-
testant Alicia. Should that not work out
look for him on the cover of romance
novels at Kroger.
Kim Powers - The younger, smarter,
cuter and appealing Kim showed a lot of
"talent" before eventually getting voted
off. A acting gig in a made for TV movie
is a distinct possibility.
Teresa - The last of the Samburu
will pen a bestselling novel about her
experience, southern accent not includ-
ed.
Linda - Psychotic, delusional and
simply annoying, "mother earth" herself
could not help but praise the Africa set-
ting during her stay. If she liked it so
much she should go back to being a
safari guide.
Carl - He was rich before
"Survivor," he will be rich after the
show's finale. The young Samburu
clique made it well known he already
owned a Mercedes. Why exactly did he
apply for the show?
Jeff Probst keeps the troops busy with
h Jeff Dickerson
Survivor Insider
Finally. The third installment of
"Survivor" has nearly come to an end.
After weeks of bickering and boredom,
the reality show sank to new lows and
never quite reached a high. The 16 con-
ttstants were far less intriguing than
previous lineups, with no comedian
(Greg, "Survivor"), bitch (Jerry,
"Survivor 2") or cute girl (Elizabeth,
"Survivor 2") to keep the average view-
er interested.
The sweet 16 has been dwindled
down to the final four. Boran stuck
with their original alliance as Ethan,
Tom, Lex and old Kim stuck together
to make it to the final two-hour CBS
spectacle.
Once again the network is following
the broadcast of the final episode with
an hour-long reunion with all 16 cast-
aways. Bryant "my favorite" Gumbel
will be moderating the debates with his
usual panache.
Only one contestant will win the mil-
lion dollar prize tonight, but what does
the future hold for the rest of the cast of
"Survivor: Africa"?
Kelly - The all-American sorority
girl will continue to do whatever she
wants, with mommy and daddy footing
the bill. The Duke grad will probably
be seen on E! over the next few years,
By Matt Grandstaff
Weekend, Etc. Editor
Let's face it - Naughty Dog's
"Crash Bandicoot" franchise for the
original Sony Playstation sucked.
Attempting to match the 3-D plat-
form experience of Nintendo 64's
"Super Mario 64," the games' devel-
opers created nothing more than
s t r a i g h t fo r -
ward platform
games with
Grade: B spiced up
graphics (think
Jga i "3-D World
Daxster Runner" after
For Playstation 2 being flushed
sony down the toilet
and without
the cool glasses). Realizing that the
franchise was' going nowhere,
Naughty Dog jumped ship on the
'"Crash" series (allowing Konami to
pick up the trash for the PS2) know-
ing that the games only succeeded
due to Sony's brilliant marketing
campaign. Thankfully Naughty Dog
has grown from their "Bandicoot"
days with the recent release of a true
3-D platform game for the
Playstation 2, "Jak and Daxster,"
which succeeds in bringing a fresh
new look to the genre.
To the surprise of no one, "Jak and
Daxster" puts you in control of Jak
and his good friend, Daxster. The
story unfolds with the two curiously
exploring the jungle until Daxster
falls into a magical black pool that
causes him to transform into a four-
legged furry creature. Distraught
and panicked, Jak and Daxster run to
the town's wise man, who explains
that the two must go on a long quest
of collecting precursor orbs, which
are powerful, sought-after items that
will help them in various ways
through their journey to a far off
land to cure Daxster.
While the very original storyline
of the game brings new life to the
genre, the gameplay of "Jak and
Daxster" is very similar to games of
the Nintendo 64 era, especially
"Banjo-Kazooie." With fuzzy
Daxster resting on the shoulders of
Jak (similar to Banjo the bear and
his feathered friend Kazooie), play-
ers are given a variety of moves in
which the two team up to attack ene-
mies. Between the two characters,
gainers will be able to pull off at
least a dozen different moves neces-
sary to get through certain situa-
tions. These moves will seem very
easy to pull as they are performed in
a matter similar to moves of "Super
Mario 64" and "Banjo-Kazooie."
Also similar to Nintendo and
Rare's famous platform games, "Jak
and Daxster" features expansive 3-D
environments in which players must
find various items and solve puzzles.
While this concept was fun and orig-
inal years ago, the task of finding X
amount of one item and even more
of another item in each area
becomes very tedious and repetitive.
This, however, does give the game
more replay value, as gamers are
rewarded for finding all of each item
in each area of the game.
Fortunately for "Jak and Daxster,"
the integration of humor and great
character interaction allow gamers
to forget that they are playing a
game much like many others of its
kind. This can largely be attributed
to Daxster's character. Similar in
appearance and personality to Timon
of "The Lion King," Daxster brings
many laughs to the game during cut
scenes and even during gameplay.
Upon reaching certain points in the
game, Daxster will run off puns and
one-liners that not only deliver a
laugh or two, but also give hints on
how to solve some of the more diffi-
cult puzzles in the game. As for the
game's cut scenes, gamers will for-
get they are playing a game and
instead feel as if they are watching
Disney classics or Saturday morning
cartoons.
The cartoon-like feel of the game
definitely benefits from the power of
the Playstation 2. While Naughty
Dog was unable to develop proper 3-
D environments in the "Crash
Bandicoot" games with the under-
powered PSone, "Jak and Daxster"
sets new standards for the genre. The
game features great character anima-
tions and beautifully designed envi-
ronments that are totally interactive
and some of the system's best light-
ing effects. Combined with a silky-
smooth frame rate of 60 frames per
second, the game is a graphical mar-
vel that shows that the Playstation 2
is not ready to be the ugly duckling
when compared to the GameCube
and the Xbox.
In addition to top quality graphics,
"Jak and Daxster" excels in the
sound department. Most notably, the
game features great voice acting that
is as good as any game on the mar-
ket with the exception of the "Metal
Gear Solid" games. This element of
the game allows "Jak and Dakster"
to stand out of the crowd in the 3-D
platform genre. Additionally, the
game's theme music and sound
effects complement the atmospheres
of the game. Hopefully, if Naughty
Dog decides to continue this fran-
chise, it will continue to push the
envelope to prevent the series from
devolving as the "Crash" series did.
Even though Dakster was turned into a furry ai
side-kick for Jak.
$1
'5'i
be
90
Pe
discussing how she "roughed
Africa by sleeping outside and1
discussions with people who
it" in
having
didn't
I
Try Something
NEW
for 2002!
.9.
5,
Ep
A look;
underside
We Have a
CLASS
for You!
at the
of U of M
Stephan Genz baritone
PROG RAM
Beethoven
Schubert
Schumann
Wolf
An die Ferne Geliebt
Lieder to Texts by Jc
Lieder to Texts by H
Lieder to Texts by Jc
v
764-1342 or www.umich.edu/~umove
www.universitysecrets.com
ANN ARBOR 2 YFOLK FESTIVAL
Rennie Harris Puremoi
Rome L&Jewels
Combining rap and hip-hop chor
is a fast-paced, urban reinterpr
Romeo and Juliet.
Doc Watson &
r3e t Xrown
Mollssi ErYri1C
AVTI e allup
mtamo .
HILL AUDITORM
CrP W 3
c i
Austin Lounge Lizards
Lucy Kaplansky
Eric Kibb .
M%.Cs
Matt Wutroba &
Robert Jones
PROGRAM SUBJECT TD CHANGE
Speia Tan s ' 1 ISOS
This program is made possible by Ford Motor Company
DTE Energy
C R O W N E PLAZA 101.9FM Foudation
BOLOD-Mk.- WMDET
Whol Foods Market
AU ..- Sf.I. of.S... ., ,p.o,......." -
Brentano String Quart
Mark Strand poet
Haydn's Seven Last Words of
For this evening, the Brentano SI
missioned Pulitzer Prize-winning
Strand to write poetry that acco
cal meditations of Christ's last A
Tdh Also AvaiblatkMhigan Unioo etOffice, HehbDavidGuitarStd,
.od ksondnen t- Mw Aets
e f *A .I
urns 764.2538
A valid student ID is required. Limit two
Y SOCIO offered if an event is sold out. Seating i
tic
s su
Courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment America
Jak and Daxster celebrate the acquistion of a Precursor Orb in their first game for the Playstation 2.
i