Hello again friends, and welcome to a slightly late edition of this week’s GAME ON! This week, it’s all for the 360 as we look at a few new titles to grace the next-gen console, as well as an announcement about some classics scheduled to hit the Xbox Live Arcade, beginning this week. First things first, however, so let’s get to the reviews.

G-WHIZZ

Flight simulators are as common place in gaming as it gets. Flight sims for consoles however aren’t as prevalent as they are for PC. Still, when one comes along, it hits that niche market that craves a little speed and the sensation of soaring through the clouds, engaging in dogfights and sweeping across the countryside in giant metal beasts with wings. OVER G FIGHTERS attempts to answer the call with some realistic style gameplay and customization, but eventually falls flat.

The game strives for realisim in every effort, from modern day planes and jets, to flight controls and realistic weapon loadouts for each mission. However, this realistic approach to the planes may not be thebest when engaging in a game of this kind. My first and main complaint with this game is that there really doesn’t seem to be a sense of speed when flying. This is where the game pushes the realisim envelope a bit too far. Sure, you may not see the ground sweeping by at a fast clip when you’re really up in a jet fighter, but just because it’s a accurate representation of flight, doesn’t make it all that FUN. Sadly, that can be said for a lot of elements of OVER G.

While the combat is passable and the controls are responsive, anothe rfault lies within the game’s targetting system. With most flight sims, when you change direction, your targetting reticule moves with you, aiming as you fly. Here, the reticule seems a bit…well, floaty, as it sways and sweeps across your field of vision. Lining up shots is a hassle, and getting enemy fighters in your sights takes a lot of patience. What’s more, with every bank and turn, it’s hard to fly STRAIGHT, as your jet will either drift up or down as you adjust your course.

Sure, there’s a decent amount of customization found here. Before each mission, you can adjust your weapon loadouts to your specific likings, and as you progress, you unlock more and more powerful jets to fly. And while the flight takes some getting used to, the online dogfights are decent enough for players to warrant a passing look. The single player missions, however, are a tedious affair, only useful for getting used to the controls and unlocking more fighters. The missions tend to be a bit repetative, and ground forces that you are to attack or protect are virtually invisible. Often, you won’t know what’s been attacking you until it’s too late, and you’ll have to start the mission all over again, as missiles from the ground pummel you time and time again.

The worst of it all, though, is that the game really doesn’t even qualify as a “next-gen” title. The jets look alight, but the backgrounds are bland and undetailed, and the details in the enemy fighters are minimal at best. The few story elements are done through static drawings for characters with paltry voice work. There are a few cutscenes that depict the mission layout, but these are usually skip worthy as well.

While it may not give you as much vertigo as BLAZING ANGELS does with it’s lock-on camera, you’ll still find yourself fighting with the targetting reticule as you attempt to line up just about anything in your sights. There are three views to choose from, but all react just the same with the same floaty target. The online dogfights save the title from being a complete washout, but the fact that the jets can only be unlocked through the single player missions keep this from being anything but a weekend rental.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

PREY

Last week i checked out the singleplayer demo for PREY, and enjoyed it more than i thought i would. This week, the full game has been released, and my opinion hasn’t changed much from that initial demo review. There’s plenty to like about PREY, and after playing through the single player and “multiprey” options, FPS fans may agree with me.

What i expressed last week still holds true; PREY is a cool FPS that strays from the norm through it’s use of gravity defying manuvers such as walk walks and buttons in rooms that change the orientation of your surroundings, portals that move your character through levels of the ship and more. The weapon selection is unique and varied, and again unlike the majority of shooters out there, such as the leech gun, which syphons energy from different stations on the ship for different types of ammo output, from plasma charges, freeze beam, lighting rails and such. Each weapon has a primary and secondary attack fuction that vary the style in which you shoot as well.

The other main draw is the “spiritwalk” when Tommy leaves his body and move around in his etherial form to unlock impasses or manuver past forcefields and puzzles. While a bit gimmicky, it’s still a nice change over the normal FPS fodder. Also of note is the “deathwalk”. In PREY, you never really die. When your health is depleted, you’re transported to the spirit world where you must fight and gather souls to return to the land of the living, bringing you back to the point where you left off. This eliminates the need for backtracking and redoing sections of the game that you’ve done before and have to repeat due to a death reload.The multiplayer aspects here are a ton of fun too, and though they don’t offer a huge amount of options (just Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are available) the variety of the weapons and levels found here certainly spice things up. You can fully use the wall paths and gravity defying devices found around each level, opening up playing field that most FPS’ ignore…the sky is literally the limit here.

The game is fun, no doubt about it here. And with the furious and UNREAL type gameplay found in the “Multiprey” section of the game, there’s certainly something different that FPS fans can enjoy until the bigger guns of HALO and GEARS OF WAR come along. It’s unique, it’s fresh, and it’s nice to see something taking a risk by trying something different…and having it work on all levels.

One Gamer’s Opinion:

XBOX LIVE ARCADE

This week, Xbox Marketplace began “Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays” by releasing FROGGER for download in the arcade. Every Wednesday for the next month, they’ll be offering a new arcade title, which is nice since we haven’t seen anything at all since the super-addictive UNO back in May. Next week it’s a new title called CLONING CLYDE, followed by GALAGA on July 26th, STREET FIGHTER II’ HYPER FIGHTING EDITION on August 2nd, and finally PAC-MAN on August 9th. I’m most excited about STREET FIGHTER II, as i’ve been waiting for that one since they announced it back in February. Now all we need is for Konami to finish up the Live Arcade version of CONTRA, and I can die happy. Hit me up online for some Co-Op or VS games, my gamer tag is “Insane Ian B”.

And that’s all for this week, kids. Tune in next week as we look at more reviews and news, including some PSP titles such as JUICED ELIMINATOR. Until then, Game On!

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