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6D - The Michigan Daily -,- New Student Edition - Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Mario doesn't live here anymore
I
Controversial 'Grand
Theft Auto 3' a must-
play for Playstation 2
By Matt Grandstaff "Grand Theft Auto 3" are done on foot. When on
Daily Arts Writer foot, your character can do anything he wants: Stop
traffic, steal cars and mess with anyone who gets in
Warning: The following is a review for the most his way.
disturbing, inappropriate and violent game of all- Saying that you can mess with everyday people is
time. actually an understatement.
For those who didn't run off to mommy, here is While on foot, your character can beat the living
what you can expect from Rockstar's latest install- crap out of the homeless, elderly and anyone else
ment of their "Grand Theft Auto" series: Absolute who dares to walk the mean streets of Liberty City.
carnage. To make things more chaotic, your character has
The game begins with your character set up during access to weapons that include various guns, a
a bank heist and caught by the cops. Fortunately, bazooka, a baseball bat and even a flame-thrower.
while being transferred via armored While these weapons come in handy
truck, a group of bad dudes jack the when trying to complete a mission, they
cops. that are escorting you, allowing [ * * * can also lead to ridiculous cold-blooded
you to make a getaway. murder.
Upon escaping from the cops, your GRAND THEFT While going on killing sprees is not
quest to make it big in the crime world AUTO 3 the true objective of the game, it might
begins. Throughout the game, your char- be the most fun part of "Grand Theft
acter must seek out "jobs" from pimps, For Playstation 2 Auto 3." This is because as you beat and
drug dealers and the Mafia. Jobs include kill innocent bystanders, your police
escorting hookers, raiding drug cartels Rockstar Games awareness meter moves up which leads
and killing off anyone the mob wants to insanely fun police manhunts.
you to. One star on the meter: A few cops to deal with ...
Similar to games like "Crazy Taxi" and "Driver," no problem. Two stars: More cops ... grab a shotgun.
these missions are accomplished by driving around Three stars: A police helicopter ... bust out the 'zook
and following a map to get to your destination. What and take it down. Four stars: Armored trucks ... ram
makes this especially fun is that you can steal and them with a fire truck. Five stars: Here comes the
drive any car you see. federal agents ... give them the flame-thrower. Final-
This makes for a great variety of getaway plans, ly, six stars: Bring in the Army and expect World
from hitting jumps with a squad car to running over War III.
everything in sight with an 18-wheeler. With all this senseless violence and mayhem,
But unlike "Crazy Taxi" and "Driver," the game is "Grand Theft Auto 3" resembles some of the best
not restricted to driving cars. While the insane car known crimes films, such as "Scarface," "Goodfel-
chases, drive-by shootings and back seat action with las" and "Heat." This is further produced, by the
prostitutes (which replenishes your health) are good music and voices in the game.
enough to be a game itself, the best elements of When driving around, you can flip through the
Looks like a nice day for a walk with the 'zook.
radio dial to find several songs from the movie "Scar-
face" on Flashback FM. These tunes will have you
singing out "Rush, rush to the yayo" in no time.
Aside from Flashback, the game features a variety
of stations including a hilarious talk radio station
called Chatterbox. Aside from hearing decent tunes
and talk radio, the stations include some of the funni-
est radio advertisements ever, most notably for
Petsovernight.com, who "bring you little bundles of
love in a box ... meow."
As for the voice talents inthe game, there are many
notable actors who contribute to "Grand Theft Auto 3"
making it more like crime movies.
The voice talents include the likes of Robert Loggia
from "Scarface," Joe Pantoliano from "The Sopranos"
and appropriate for this game, Mr. Blonde himself
from "Reservoir Dogs," Michael Madsen. With these
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actors and the unbelievable cut-scenes in the game,
"Grand Theft Auto 3" ranks right up there with the
"Metal Gear Solid" games for cinematic realism.
As for the graphics and layout of the game, "Grand
Theft Auto 3" is both beautiful and big.
In fact, your character can explore every nook and
cranny of Liberty City with each block of the city
detailed to perfection. With such a vast city holding
various missions, the game will have those able to
stomach the violence playing it for months. For those
interested in buying the game, pick it up now. Like
other controversial titles, such as "Mortal Kombat,"
"Grand Theft Auto 3" is beginning to receive bad
press because of the impact it could have on kids.
Recent occurrences of youth violence and complaints
from parents are causing stores to pull this great
game off the shelf.
'Metal Gear Solid 2' lives
up to lofty expectations
By Jeff Dickerson Sony Playstation. "Solid" followed
Daily Arts Editor the footsteps of its predecessor and
was widely considered to be the
Undoubtedly the most anticipat- best game'released on the system.
ed game of the year, Hideo Koji- The open-ended story had gamers
ma's "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of asking, "What's next?"
Liberty" hit American shores last Upon viewing the introduction to
November. the game, fans will
Debuting for the take a collective
Playstation 2 just in sigh of relief seeing
time for the holiday sea- Solid Snake back in
son, the oft-delayed tac- METAL GEAR action. Graphically,
tical espionage action SOLID 2 nothing on the
game has finally Playstation 2 has
arrived, with many fans For Playstation 2 attained the visual
wondering if the game feast that "Metal
can possibly live up to Konami Gear" provides.
the hype that swelled Characters move
over the past three years. fluidly within the environment
The popular series started its run from Snake's mullet styled hair
on the obscure MSX format in blowing in the wind to the
1987, but a year later was released painstakingly detailed uniforms of
on the king of the video game con- enemy soldiers.
soles, the original Nintendo. The attention to detail is what
Beginning the game with noth- separates "Metal Gear 2" from
ing more than a pack of cigarettes, other PS2 games. Never before
you take control of Solid Snake have environments looked so real-
through the South African jungle istic and characters moved so natu-
in pursuit of the nuclear weapon of rally.
mass destruction code-named The game is not without its
"Metal Gear." Unlike many action flaws. The dialogue betweenthe
games, players rely heavily on characters is wooden and notice-
stealth tactics rather than the stan- ably melodramatic at times.
dard "shoot 'em up" gameplay of Some may argue the game is
similar titles. simply not long enough, as half the
Ten years later in the autumn of game is spent watching cutscenes
1998, Konami returned to the rather than playing. The plot has
series with "Metal Gear Solid" on many twists and turns, some of
which are sure to anger die-hard
fanatics of the games.
Without question, "Metal Gear
Solid 2" is the best game of 2001
and arguably one of the finest
video games of all time. No game
before has incorporated so many
cinematic elements into the game-
play; "Metal Gear" blurs the lines
between motion pictures and
gaes
Z D
ZTV SCREENS
HAPPY
lifHOU4
Metal Gear ... it can't be!