NATIONAL POST, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 If I Had Been in Charge on Hoth, We Would Have Won
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Y K M C NL0929AL06X (R/O) (R/O) NL0929AL06X PM 8:58 9/28/04 AL6 GAMES NATIONAL POST, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 If I had been in charge on Hoth, we would have won Whether it be as a young child or a (supposedly) REVIEW player mode can potentially become numbingly mature adult, many gamers have fantasized about repetitive. The controls are quite stiff, which is a playing a heroic role in the epic battles of that galaxy Clone Troopers, Separatist movement, Rebel Al- your teammates and enemies. For example, pilots touchy thing for such an intense game. Vehicles far, far away. Thanks to Pandemic and LucasArts, liance, or Galactic Empire), you assume the role of a can repair vehicles and distribute first aid, have dreadful handling, and the characters are Star Wars: Battlefront (rated Teen, out for Xbox, grunt in that faction’s foot troops, fighting hectic bat- making them key back-up units in the fight sometimes jerky (especially with Internet lag PlayStation 2 and PC) can plop you right into the tles against your hated enemies. Later you can fly or to hold Command Posts and eliminate the factored in). Graphics are excellent at middle of some of the most fantastic skirmishes to fight in most of the vehicles featured in the movies. enemy onslaught. Online play, available in times, and stale at others. And it span the Star Wars movie saga, and some new areas The design almost resembles a simulation — well, as all three versions, is clearly the star of the wouldn’t be Star Wars without the besides. The scale of this action title is impressive, as much as it’s possible to simulate a science fiction uni- show, as nothing beats the thrill of human John Williams music. This is an in- the entire map, including Hoth, Endor, Geonosis, verse — with five types of playable units on each opposition and companionship. Voice chat triguing game, but those without Yavin 4, and more, teems with life of all kinds. force’s roster. Each specific character type has its own capability enables beautiful organization online capability may want to think Whether you’re playing on or offline, the emphasis is unique strengths and weaknesses which must be co- of attack routines with fellow players. twice. ### (out of four). Patrick on team tactics. Controlling one of four factions (the ordinated at a pressured pace with the actions of all Sadly (though understandably), single Kelly, National Post The man who sent Leisure Suit Larry looking for love thought he had a loser on his hands Larry’s one-track mind START Next week, Sierra Games releases “So I just hung my head and thought aware that promiscuity was no longer ac- a funny answer for them” says Lowe. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, ‘Well, I just wasted six months of my life,’ ceptable. The funniest response? Lowe says a TV the ninth in a humourosly erotic series not to mention I [had] told Sierra not to “I said ‘Softporn is so out of date it should producer was once considering a show MENU that goes back 17 years. G3’s Marc Saltz- pay me anything up front, just royalties.” be wearing a leisure suit,’ which based on this character and during a Little did Lowe know that by the fall got a lot of laughs during the demonstration of the product, Larry man sought out Larry’s creator to find TOP 10 RENTALS of the same year, the game (which meeting so we decided to run walked into a bathroom and someone out how the lovable loser got his start. shipped on two floppy disks!) with it,” says Lowe. playing along told Lowe to type in “mastur- Top console game rentals for would be doubling its sales He came up with a lead bate.” the week ending Sept. 25. month after month until it character, modelled af- The game’s response? The number in brackets is B Y M ARC S ALTZMAN became a Top 10 best-sell- ter a real “lounge “You know, Larry, the whole idea of this last week’s rating. er well into 1988. lizard” at Sierra was to STOP doing that!” Lowe says he for- 1.(-) Star Wars: Battlefront n an age when video games con- This DOS game who bragged got he had come up with that. (PlayStation 2) sisted of heroes protecting earth was soon avail- about his Despite its racy content, Lowe says Sierra 2.(-) Star Wars: Battlefront from an alien onslaught, or adven- able for other sexual ex- only received three pieces of mail about the (Xbox) turers determined to rescue a kid- operating sys- ploits. title. 3.(-) NHL 2005 (PS2) napped princess, a new kind of tems, such as the Lowe also “Any backlash we received on the game, 4.(2) Fable (Xbox) Ilead character was born, one whose goal Apple II, Com- tapped which was virtually nothing, was all from 5.(-) Def Jam Fight for NY wasn’t quite as … er … noble. Larry Laffer modore 64, Amiga Sierra artist people who never played the game.” (PS2) just wanted to get laid. And the poor and Atari. It was Mark Crowe, The box also clearly stated the game con- 6.(-) NHL 2005 (Xbox) schmoe simply had no clue how to go translated to multi- who was tained mature content, long before the En- 7.(1) Burnout 3: Takedown about it. ple languages and working full tertainment Software Rating Board came (PS2) Created by the affable Al Lowe, Leisure re-made with 256- time on Space into effect. 8.(-) Def Jam Fight NY Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge colour graphics in 1991. Quest, to create “I could have gotten away with a lot more (Xbox) Lizards debuted on June 1, 1987, as a The story actually began graphics for the than I chose to,” Lowe says. “I didn’t try to 9.(-) Tiger Woods PGA 2005 graphic adventure that let gamers control in 1986, when Lowe agreed to up- game night and on week- push the envelope, instead I wanted to (PS2) a lovable loser setting out to look for love in date Softporn, a risqué text adventure ends. It only took Crowe four make people laugh by putting them in fun- 10.(3) Burnout 3: Takedown all the wrong places. game published by Sierra in weeks. ny situations.” (Xbox) Players typed in responses to situations 1981. Much of the hu- And it’s humor that keeps Lowe busy to- Rogers Video as they came up, such as “open door,” “call But times were very mor in the first day. After a 16-year stint with Sierra, the cab” or “give rose,” and the actions un- different, the sexual revo- Leisure Suit retired 58-year-old offers a free “joke of the WIN WIN WIN folded onscreen, usually with comedic re- lution was about done, Larry day” subscription email service, CyberJoke This week at www.National- sults. and Lowe says he game was 3000. (www.allowe.com/Humor). post.com, you can win a copy Not an overnight success. realized the added Lowe says he isn’t involved in the new of NHL 2005, by Electronic Though this franchise would go on to only way during game, which stars Larry’s college-bound Arts Canada (worth $50 spawn eight sequels and sell millions of to redo the three nephew, though he held discussions with each), for PlayStation 2, copies worldwide, the original Larry game the months Sierra about working on the project. Xbox or GameCube. (Please first bombed at retail. game of testing. “I “I was smart to save my Larry bucks,” says specifiy which you want). To “We released the game to the worst sales was to tracked everything Lowe on his early retirement. “So now I’m enter, go on line and fill out that Sierra had ever seen to date — barely make fun of our testers typed in the game, sharing jokes and happily playing bad golf.” the form. 4,000 copies,” says Lowe, from his home the central collected all the files and any- National Post near Seattle, Wash. character, who wasn’t thing that people typed I had [email protected] PC users prepare to sacrifice hundreds of hours to the magic of Myst REVIEW from the 11-year-old Myst, a dles, including audio or video game that, while popular, was clips. Myst IV: Revelation condemned by some critics as an Players can also use a camera to Windows and Macintosh interactive coffee table book. It take photos of objects, diagrams Teen felt lifeless because of the static or book text for future reference. images gamers had to clic- Descriptive text can be added to B Y M ARC S ALTZMAN through, not to mention there each snapshot, if so desired. This was no one to interact with. No journal becomes an integral part The latest incarnation in the mul- such problems here. of the adventure. ti-million-unit-selling Myst fran- For the uninitiated, the Myst Even still, trying to electromag- chise is not only the most life-like games are best described as a netically charge the “Rockship” to adventure in the series to date, point-and-click adventure played reach its docking station in the but it’s arguably the closest thing from a first-person perspective, Spire Age proved near impossi- we’ve seen to virtual reality in a where players must use the ble. And this was only a couple of computer game. mouse to navigate around a sur- hours into the game.