pageten AROUNDTOWN Need For Speed grinds series to halt to the game’s huge list of unneeded additions. of the gameplay, but there are some good things game, and minor glitches could have been fixed w Rexly Penaflorida Highway battles put the player that can be found in the game. to make the game run smoother. In his 1UP. w Managing Editor in a one-on-one race against a The car list is amazing. No com review, John Davidson stated that the game racer. The point of the battle current racing game can give could be considered a “greatest hits” of the NFS Electronic Arts’ (EA) Need for Speed (NFS) is to be ahead of the opponent the player a more satisfying franchise, and he could not have been truer. series has always brought gamers octane-filled by 1000 feet. From playing car list that includes the Nissan Borrowing cop chases from NFS Most races, high-speed police chases and a collection numerous highway battles, the GTR, Shelby GT500 KR and Wanted, a deep storyline from NFS Carbon and of the most popular and exotic cars known victory is easier said than done. the all-powerful Bugatti Veyron. the amazing graphics from NFS ProStreet, the throughout the world. However, in EA’s new All of the highway battles are Car customization is another game seems not to have its own unique mark. release, Need for Speed Undercover (NFSU), filled with a large amount of positive side of the game. With When put to the test, NFS Undercover fails to all of the previously mentioned elements do traffic that can be compared to Autosculpt, players can make evade this reviewer’s negative criticisms. not meet the standards of previous NFS games. any freeway in Chicago on a their spoilers, tires and hoods as With a plethora of glitches and unnecessary add- Saturday night, and the slightest big or small as possible, all of ons to the game, NFSU doesn’t quite impress hit to any car going at the speed which produce a very unique car. Need For Speed Undercover this reviewer. limit can decide victory or Overall, the game looks as The main character is a cop who is sent by his defeat for the player. though EA were making a game boss (played by actress Maggie Q) to infiltrate a Without a doubt, the negative characteristics for the sake of just making a game. It looked small gang to find evidence that could put a big- of the game seem to dominate a good amount as if there were not a lot of effort put into the Multiple Systems time criminal boss behind bars. As the game progresses, the character moves up the criminal hierarchy until the player reaches the top boss, Million Dollar Quartet brings legends’ hits to life who eventually sends the player to retrieve create great sounds. He is the story’s narrator re-inventing the lost legends of the past, but it the evidence, at which point, the predictable w Naomi Prale and tells the audience the history of Sun Records is Clending who does not come through with betrayal of an ally and inevitable downfall of w Around Town Editor and the history of each of the four stars. Phillips a fiery Elvis. Although he is still a fantastic the villain occurs, which usually signals the end is the glue holding the musicians together, guitar player, Clending’s low-key approach to of a very repetitive and short game. On a cold afternoon in December of 1956, because sometimes the musicians don’t get his character pales in comparison to the other The look of the game is great. The city four of the greatest musicians of all time along. Tensions flare in the story when performances. is huge, and the details of each car are very coincidentally showed up at Sun Records in Cash and Perkins decide to leave Sun Musical numbers feature all four of precise. Damages that cars receive when hitting Memphis, TN, on the same day, gathering for other record companies. Phillips the players together and also feature obstacles and rival cars are surprisingly detailed, together to create a series of recordings under defuses the situation by saying them separately. Songs such as even though it might be saddening that a player the watchful eye of owner/producer Sam that he believes that it is more “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Who would be looking at his paint-ridden Mitsubshi Phillips. Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis important for the young men to Do You Love?” “Sixteen Lancer Evolution X and half of the front fender Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were united and create great music, even if that Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire” is grinding across the ground. when word was spread of this foursome, the means them leaving the company. and “Whole Lotta Shakin’” are As for the story line, it is not even an original boys were dubbed the Million Dollar Quartet. The actors fills the 400-seat Apollo performed memorably. Each of idea that was created by the production team. It This foursome never reunited again. Theater’s small, three-quarter thrust stage to the 22 musical numbers is worth looks as if they tried to recreate the movie The Million Dollar Quartet, the theatrical re- create a rocking show. Despite the small work seeing over and over again. Each Fast and the Furious with the exception of Vin enactment of that fateful day, is a performance area, the characters do a good job of blocking member of the foursome is a master his Diesel joining the cast in the game. The cast that should not be missed. The musical numbers the play without ever changing the scenery. instrument, doing justice to Lewis on the piano itself performs under the standard, and it also stun the audience with the power of a grand The characters in this show are realistically and Cash, Perkins, and Presley on the guitar. looks as if they were torn out of the script from concert. In between musical numbers, the defined, adding more drama to the show. Tempers Million Dollar Quartet proves itself worthy another movie, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo characters interact, providing insight into the flare between the brash Jerry Lee Lewis and the of the music icons it portrays. Of the four, only Drift. The actors voicing the characters try too distinctive personality of each. angry Carl Perkins, who dislikes the fact that Lewis survives, so this brilliant recreation is hard to sound confident that they can be beat the As the play opens, Sam Phillips (Brian he created a hit (“Blue Suede Shoes”),that was as close as modern audiences ever will get to player, and their overall performance probably McCaskill), already has promoted the popularized by Presley. Each actor brings his hearing these pioneers play live. Million Dollar won’t win an Academy Award anytime soon. skyrocketing careers of Cash (Lance Guest), character’s quirks into the performance, such as Quarter is a combination of a concert, a play As for the game play, the controls are about Perkins (Rob Lyons) and Presley (Eddie Elvis’s popular shaking of his leg, adding to the and a history less, and (great balls of fire!) it the same as previous NFS games, but the feel Clending). Jerry Lee Lewis (Levi Kreis) is a reality of the performance. Kelly Lamont (as is a hit. of the game is somewhat strange. When trying newbie to the world of music, but is filled with Elvis’ girlfriend, Dyanne), shows off her strong to avoid traffic, the animation seems choppy. It talent and attitude, played through the chords of vocal cords in a few songs. Million Dollar Quartet feels as though the speed of switching from lane his piano. The performances tend to re-create the to lane can be compared to the same way the Phillips takes an active role in the recording characters as opposed to impersonating them. video game Frogger tries to cross a certain area process; he constantly encourages the artists to Kreis, Guest and Lyons all do a stellar job of without getting eaten or run over by a truck. Apollo Theater There are a lot of tight corners during races, and the game tries to make the player drift through the turns instead of just making a smooth Spears’ Circus proves to be merely a freak show turn that can maintain the car’s acceleration. There are also moments where the game will w Hillary Lindwall overplayed on the radio, the repetition of the tracks are copies enough. momentarily freeze and then resume the race. w News/Wire Editor same lyrics over and over with a way too heavy However, what Spears lacks in depth, she This ongoing distraction can sometimes mean beat in the background makes the track even definitely makes up for in sexual innuendo. winning or losing the race. However, if there Circus could not be a more appropriate more montonous. It is interesting to hear a song called “Blur,” is one thing that epitomizes the many mistakes title for the latest album from Britney Spears. Trying to describe the remainder of the in which Spears voices her concern about not of the game, it is, ironically, the hallmark of the Circus is Spears’ sixth studio album, more songs on the album is like trying to describe the being able to remember what she did last night, entire series—the police chases. appropriately labeled an attempt. Having differences between identical a mere three tracks away from Police chases are what made the franchise as helped write only four of the 15 tracks on the twins.