-- -ARTS
NBA Street' soon-to-be king
of the court for ramn1i fIans
Monday, July 9, 2001 - The Michigan Daily - 11
By Matt Grandstaff
Daily Arts Writer
In 1993, Midway games forever
hanged the video game sports. With
ts over-the-top and largely popular
two-on-two basketball title "NBA
Jam," sports games became popular
for both sports
fanatics and non-
sports fans alike.
Grade: A Following the
success of "NBA
NBA Street Jam," Midway
For Playstation 2 continued to
reign as champi-
EASportsBig on of "arcade-
style" with
TRAVIS
Continued from Page 10
niscent of the Travis of 1999. A
catchy and singable overture about
overcoming hang-ups in relation-
ships, "Sing" is referred to by its
writer Healy as a song about,
"how you get all trudged up," and
then being able to "laugh and
sing, let it out, because then what
you let out will be twice as much."
Other standouts on the album
include the moody "Last Train"
and "Safe," as well as a lyrically
poingant track titled "The Cage."
Unfortunately, the album is
marred by two outwardly bouncy
and inefficient tracks: "Flowers in
the Window" and "Follow The
Light."
The Invisible Band follows a
constant ebb and flow of one or
two strident and rhythmic songs
followed by a set of more lush,
introverted pieces.
only has one side.' While out-
wardly seeming to be simple
rhyme, upon exatmttation these
couplets reveal a deeper meaning:
The rather odd title comes out
of the answer to a question Healy
posed to himself, "What is the
best band?" - the answer being
an 'Invisible Band,' one who is not
exposed to front and center, but
whose songs you hear all the time
nonetheless.
Never much for the limelight, it
seems Travis is striving with this
second disc to be just that. How,
ever, this shot is not quite on tar-
get. Even so, the disc is worth a
listen, and could prove to be a
good set of songs to chill out on
the porch and listen to.
Grade: B
Webber jams In 'NBA Street.'
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sports games such as "NFL Blitz," up-tempo gameplay. With fast game- ball. While the game features the In regards to the w
"Wayne Gretzky's 3-D Hockey" and play and a smooth frame rate, likes of Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber of the album, the1
further updates of "NBA Jam." gamers will be able to pick this game and Allen Iverson, the game also has encasing the middle o
Unfortunately, with little change up anytime for quick thrills. a wide array of street ball legends. seem out of place.
from year to year, these unrealistic While quick thrill videogames are This combination makes for an inter- Lyrically, things ge
games were getting old among always good to have, they usually esting twist in the City Court mode, what might be the se
arcade and home console gamers. end up having lots of dust on them where you build your team from a off of the album, "Si
However, with the release of EA after several months. This is not like- combination of the NBA and street about the futility of I
Sports Big's "NBA Street" for ly to be the case with "NBA Street," ball players you beat. circle of wanting wha
,laystation 2, it appears that a for in addition to speedy gameplay, In addition to great gameplay and have, the chorus conta
reemergence of "arcade-style" sports the game also features an intuitive game modes, "NBA Street" offers such as "... the gras
games is on the horizon. trick system. While unlike anything spectacular graphics and sound. greener on the oth.
What makes "NBA Street" so suc- ever seen in a basketball game Unlike the game's evil stepbrother, neighbor's got a new
cessful is the combination of old before, the game's trick system is EA's "NBA Live 2001," "Street" want to drive," and
ideas from Midway's "NBA Jam" very similar to that of "SSX." By prefers to use sharp graphics and wrong, there is no rig
series with newer ideas from EA holding the square button and using great surround-sound as opposed to
Sports Big's first release, "SSX." In different combinations of the shoul- blurry graphics and meecrob sound
the tradition of "Jam," "NBA Street" der buttons on the Dual Shock 2 effects.
features air-defying dunks, more controller, gamers will be able to Considering that EA Sports Big
rejections than Screech ever received pull off outlandish moves similar to can bring new life to snowboarding
from Lisa and physical play only those seen in the recent Nike com- games, and now also basketball
tched by the fights of Tazmanian mercials featuring NBA stars and games, it will be interesting to see
evils on the Discovery Channel. streetballers. what they can do for the snowmobil-
Also like "NBA Jam," the game is Also similar to the recent Nike ing genre in their next release, "Sled
not a typical five-on-five match-up. commercials is the fact that "NBA Storm 2." Hopefully after that, they
Instead, the game uses a three-on- Street" offers a perfect blend of can bring new life to other genres
three setup which allows for more street ball and professional basket- such as fishing and bowling.
Sony takes gamers on hel ride
Matt Grandstaff with the series'jump to the Playstation track (which includes the Rolling
Wiry Arts'triter2 , Sonv has brou ht the series back to Stones' "Paint it Black").tLamrscan-
hole picture
two tracks
f the album
t deeper on
cond single
de." A song
the constant
at you don't
ins couplets
s is always
er side/the
car that you
There is no
ht/the circle
In the late 1990's, a divide was
made among video game players as to
which home console they preferred.
Gainers who preferred happy-go-
lucky games stuck with their Nintendo
64, whereas those looking for games
with a more mature theme went with
the Sony Playstation for games such
as "Metal Gear
Solid" and "Final
/ Fantasy VII."
Grade: A- While these two
Twisted games will proba-
Metal: Black bly go down as
For Playstation 2 the most memo-
s n rable games of
Sory the Playstation
era, Singletrac's
"Twisted Metal" will be remembered
Wthe game that first attracted older
iences to the system with its
unique car combat concept. Unfortu-
nately, following the success of the
first two "Twisted Metal" games, later
sequels proved uninteresting in the
hands of 989 Studios, a.k.a. "The bad
sports games company." Thankfully,
4, uly 1a3U Y8 g LIZA11, U tnt
its original developers (now known as
Incognito) and the results are spectac-
ular.
Aptly titled "Twisted Metal: Black,"
the latest installment of the car combat
series has one of the darkest atmos-
pheres ever seen in any game. Placed
in dark, rainy areas including insane
asylums and junkyards, the game will
raise hairs on gamers' backs in the
same way that suspense films such as
"Seven" and "The Shining" do. Fea-
turing an amazingly intense sound-
not help but sit on the edge of their
seat as they attempt to blow away
opponent cars, pedestrians, houses and
just about anything else in their way.
Adding to the gloomy theme of the
game is the sick and demented charac-
ters that gamers can choose between.
Each of the characters share a com-
mon bond, as they all are members of
Blackfield Asylum, where they are
then told by a menacing villain Calyso
that they can find redemption thro-
See TWISTED, Page 12
11
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