THE LATEST NEWS FROM SEPTEMBER 2007
After mounting pressure from customers and the press over Xbox 360 hardware failure rates, Microsoft finally announced that warranty cover for all machines would be extended to three years from the date of purchase, effectively covering every console since the 2005 launch. According to Edge, Microsoft’s estimate of the cost of this scheme was “between $1.05bn and $1.15bn”. Edge also reported that a new chipset codenamed
Falcon “should increase airflow and reduce heat within future machines, also halving the cost of the manufacturing process”.
Those fortunate enough to have a working Xbox 360 console, or a sufficiently beefy PC, could enjoy a stone-cold classic – the first-person shooter Bioshock.
This spiritual successor to the
System Shock games saw players explore Rapture, an underwater city gone catastrophically wrong.
Official Xbox 360 Magazine felt it “manages to be both a tricky, exciting action game, a fascinating creation of an enclosed world and a deep inquiry about what it means to be human”, and scored it 10/10. “It might not be as flawless as Half-life 2, but it bites off so much more and accomplishes it all magnificently,” said PC Gamer, giving it 95%. X360 also gave it 10/10, saying, “We can still hear the groans of the Big Daddy, the pitiful cries of the Little Sisters, the insane ranting of the Splicers and Andrew Ryan’s ominous rhetoric in the quieter moments of our day.”
Beyond that, the notable 360 games of the month were mostly retro hits on Xbox Live Arcade – Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (8/10 OXM, 3/5 360), Sensible World Of Soccer (4/5 360) and Sonic
The Hedgehog (8/10 OXM). If RPGS were more your speed, Blue Dragon boasted the involvement of key Final Fantasy series staff but divided opinion. Edge gave it 6/10, claiming that, “Dialogue is stilted and unnatural and the lines and morals are trotted out without subtlety, shade or even personality.” By contrast, Official Xbox 360 Magazine praised it for having “a deep script” with
“superb translation” and gave it 9/10. Other scores included 3/5 from 360 and 7/10 from X360.
Fortunately, the venerable PS2 had the RPG goods this month. Play felt that Rogue Galaxy might be “the last great RPG on PS2,” scoring it 90% as it “rarely gets dull due to the characterisation and brilliant fighting system”. Official Playstation Magazine
wasn’t as enamoured, noting “irritating invisible walls” and a “horrible equipment menu” in its 7/10 review. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria earned 8/10 from Official Playstation 2 Magazine, which felt that the battles become “pure joy” once the player overcomes the “convoluted character development system and the unwelcoming battle mechanics”.
Over on the Nintendo side of things, the Wii version of
EA’S karaoke and dance game Boogie scored 81% in Official Nintendo Magazine and 8.1/10 in nrevolution, with the former saying, “You’ll be booting it up again and again for a 30-minute blast with your mates.” The DS adaptation of the PC real-time strategy game Anno 1701 earned 8.5/10 in nrevolution, which felt that it “captures the essence of the full-blown strategy games” and that the touchscreen controls were “superb”.
However, the big Nintendo game for the month was the Japanese import release of
The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, a sequel to Wind Waker that offered top-down adventuring with plenty of Dsspecific features. Edge singled out the dungeons for praise in a 9/10 review, saying, “Only the last is a major challenge, but all are rich in devious and delightful ideas that exploit Phantom Hourglass’ new interactions to the full and without repetition.” In another
9/10 review, games™ elaborated on some of those interactions, noting that, “Blowing into the microphone will, at several points, reap significant rewards while closing the DS and reopening it is another technique available here.”
And what of the other formats? The best PC exclusives were expansion packs, Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword (74% PC Gamer, 8/10 games™) and
Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms (90% PC Gamer). The PS3 got a port of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (8/10
PSU3, 8/10 OPM). On the PSP,
Monster Hunter Freedom 2 got 8/10 from Official PS2 for having “tons to do, and immaculate attention to detail”.
We’re sure plenty of exciting games will arrive as the holiday season approaches, so join us again next month, would you kindly?