Once upon a time, on a network not too far away. . .

For a period that has felt like a thousand years (ok, so it's only been a month), before the debut of the new Gaming Report, aspirations among gamers and readers alike were on the verge of collapse. Bioware, highly respected developer had just unleashed an unforgettable product upon a near-jaded community.

Crushing all pessimists, Bioware's cloud of gaming has left the Forum Order of the TNL community scattered and vulnerable to its greatness as countless gamers fall before its truth, and many more swear their time to the new oroduct release.

Throughout the gaming market, a fleet of developers attempt to dissuade the masses of KOTR gamers, while the editorial remnant vie to discuss their latest experiences in a traditional feature acknowledged as The Gaming Report.

Bahn

Capcom vs. SNK: EO (Xbox)

I just recently (or rather, finally) subscribed to the Xbox Live service, and it should be no surprise that Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO was revisited. It's been months since my first experience as briefly noted in my hands-on review, but truly some things never change.

Yes, players that liberally pull continue to go unpunished, while you too acquire an undeserved loss to your record (really, is it too much to ask to get a patch set up already?) Fortunately, most players have come to the conclusion that rankings are totally superficial and uphold the art of competition above anything else. It's really refreshing to have some sort of online game to enjoy now and then, especially since the arcade scene is practically non-existent in my new hometown.

On occasion, such as last evening, I experienced a few matches that quickly reminded me just how out of touch I've been with the gameplay engine. And it wasn't before long before some of my old purist guidelines crept up. I am just not fond of players having access to things like EX Grooves which do not exist in the arcade. More practice though is all I need. I am beginning to also think that a lot of players go out of their way to be disorienting towards their competition however they can. Either they have no sense of color association, or it's part of some master plan to make me go blind. I'd almost trade in the painfully non-aesthetic colors for playing EO players (ok, maybe not - they're also lame and should all have their connections to the service removed immediately).

Hm, give me about a week, and perhaps I'll love to tolerate it.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)

Bioware has unleashed a true gem upon Xbox gamers this year. For the diehard Star Wars fan, this is practically a dream come true (and if you're sharing time with the epic MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies - consider your social life ultimately locked away, forever). But even if you don't happen to know how many power conduits power the Death Star or the number of languages spoken by C-3PO, Knights of the Republic takes place 4,000 years before any of that truly mattered anyways.

"Who's scruffy lookin?"

Players choose from one of several character types which vary in such abilities like persuasion, stealth, combat or all of the above. I've always had admired Han Solo's character, thus I opted to play with a scoundrel aptly named, Bahn Solo. Shortly after customizing a few of the preset values to your character's attributes, the adventure begins.

"They'll be no escape for the princess this time…"

Contrary to the typical RPG adventure, the damsel in distress theme has taken a holiday. That's not to say there's nothing to typical here (should you care, it's Star Wars after all). Essentially, your mission is to aid an elite Jedi to quell the massive Sith fleet led by the Darth Malak. Naturally, you won't be able to do this alone with your current abilities. No, you are not ready.

Save for the whole game premise (see, that's what reviews are for), I've engage a modest dozen hours into the game (I like to take things slow). Compared to some of my peers, I've got a long way to go. Since time isn't my ally as of late, I expected learning the various nuances of the game to require a great deal of dedication. Though I discovered it's anything but. Take the battle system for instance. Players have the option to play either in real-time or pause the game and script their actions. The latter by far is definitely recommended for intermediate and more advanced players as it opens up a wide variety of combat possibilities. For example, you can select a normal attack strike, toss a grenade, and then follow up with a critical strike. There's also a battle script which can be optionally configured to facilitate the combat behaviors of the other members in your party, and then some.

"No disintegrations."

Although KOTR doesn't truly shine with graphic excellence compared to other Xbox titles of past and present, the appeal is defined by its depth, challenge and diversity. Offering approximately 40-50 hours of play, the diligent players that tap into the mini-quests, among other "easter eggs" will truly reap the rewards hidden within. Thus far, this game has become the Halo of RPGs, truly the latest blockbuster to grace the Xbox. We definitely need more games like this, even if it does take me the better part of the year to play them all.

Ape Escape 2 (PS2)

If you're one of the few that never picked up the first edition (like myself), chances are you'll feel that you missed out on the initial craze. Sqoon sums things up quite nicely below so I'll leave his impressions for you to take in. Although I will concur that the graphics by far are the biggest improvement and the gameplay is loaded with replay value and challenge. Definitely a keeper and by far, a recommended purchase if you've been somewhat curious what the buzz has been about throughout the net.

Reno - Multiple Titles

I left work on Friday to head up to Pacific Mall in Markham, Ontario to meet up with three other Soul Calibur 2 players in Toronto, as we were going to Montreal for a tournament. We left Toronto for Kingston at 8pm and got there at 10pm. Luckily one of the Toronto players going to the tournament lives in Kingston, so we got free room. We played a bit of Soul Calibur 2, Viewtiful Joe and Mario Golf and then went to sleep.

We woke up the next morning around 9am and left at 10am. We arrived in Montreal at 1:30pm and went to this arcade called JM Amusement to meet up with the Montreal players who were setting up the tournament. The arcade itself was pretty swank. It had all the obligatory machines such as DDR, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Initial D, Soul Calibur 2 and Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. After we met up with the Montreal players they took us to this Chinese restaurant called the Moonflower Cafe, which is where the tournament was being held. This cafe was REALLY nice. Not only did it look really cool (it looked like one of those old Chinese restaurants you'd see in the movies), but they served some amazing bubble tea for only $3, and some awesome Chinese Popcorn Chicken. For the 8 hours that we were at the cafe, I had one order of Chinese Popcorn Chicken, some Fried Dumplings and three orders of bubble tea. One strawberry, one green apple and one taro. Mmmmm good.

The tournament itself went on without a hitch. Once again, I got in 2nd place, only this time I didn't win any money. The entire purse money went to the winner, who was also from Toronto. After the singles tournament we did a Toronto vs. Montreal tournament. We won that 25 - 20, although no thanks to me. I find it hard to stay serious for back to back tournaments and as a result of that I had a record of 5 - 4 record against the Montreal players. After the tournament we went back to JM Amusement for about an hour and then we had one of the Montreal guys show us a place to eat. He showed us this swanky and cozy (re: not a lot of space) place called the BBQ place. No joke. Anyways, since one of the Toronto guys won the tournament, he agreed to buy us all dinner. We all ordered this awesome dinner of 6 honey garlic spare ribs, a quarter piece of chicken, french fries and a bun all for $18. It was good stuff.

After dinner we drove back to Kingston and got in around 1am. We stayed up for a little while to play even more games and then went to sleep. Woke up the next morning, drove into Toronto, and that was it. Since then I've been playing more Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, going through Quest mode with Lion (Reno O_O?!) and Goh (Viewtiful). I have to say that Goh is quite possibly the dirtiest character I have ever seen! His moves remind me far too much of characters like Akira, Astaroth and Hugo. He's not all that flashy, but his moves look like they hurt. A lot.

James

It's been a pretty eclectic couple of weeks for gaming. After getting the Weapons part for my Magic Pengel creatures I let the game slide, but to make up for it spent some good time back in Animal Crossing. A bit of weeding and some chatting with the various critters in town and everyone was happy again.

While scanning the racks at my local Gamestop I found a $10 copy of G-Darius. I know I owned it at one point but after a quick search of my stuff I found out I don't any more, and I've no idea why. Thankfully it was still there the next day, and in great shape too. It seems more fun now than I remember it being, maybe my shooter practice is paying off at last.

When I got my GBA SP, I decided I might as well farm out my old GBA to someone worthy. This week I dumped it on my older sister and promptly got her addicted to Chu Chu Rocket's puzzle mode, and also managed to solve 2 of the final 5 puzzles left in Mania difficulty. If I hadn't left Chu Chu with her I'd probably be obsessing over those last 3, but they've been unsolved for 6 months now so a little longer probably won't hurt.

Finally, I at last picked up a Dreamcast lightgun. I already had House of the Dead 2 and Death Crimson Ox but I'd never touched them up until now. Though HotD2 is quite good, as expected, I'm glad I didn't pay more than $1 for DCO. Also, the trigger on the Pelican gun gets a bit hard on the trigger finger after a good gaming bout, or possibly I'm just off my gun gaming at the moment.

Looking back, there's been nothing really major I've been playing. I've basically been flittering from game to game rather than really investing any time in any one title, although I do plan on getting back to Magic Pengel in the next few days. Still and all, it's summertime and the perfect time of year to try out new things, taste a bit of this and a bit of that, and just see what's out there rather than engaging in deep affairs of Dark Cloud 2 proportions.

Haohmaru

Outlaw Volleyball (Xbox)

I have Beach Spikers in my pile of woe and Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball (Japanese) in my limited edition collection, so let's just say that I can't compare this to either of those two other than the cover art, which I seriously doubt you're interested in. Typical hot babes and decent tunes that you've (now) come to expect in volleyball software. The training modes are mandatory to improve your characters "skills" and some are amusing. However, the thought of having to level up each and every character is a drag. Visually, the game is impressive. Jury is still out on the gameplay.

Another War (Mac)

Wow, what an idea! I'm just getting started in this 1940's RPG that's set around World War 2. Yes, an RPG that takes place in WW2. Too early to give any impressions worth mentioning other than the story looks to be very intelligent. Intriguing, to say the least.

Swingerz Golf (GameCube)

Despite already reviewing this, I'm still hammering away at the courses and trying to get additional power ups and characters. A good title that's growing on me more and more as I continue on.

Sqoon

Ape Escape 2 (PS2)

Ape Escape 2 is essentially almost a carbon copy of the original. There's new levels and better graphics and a few new gadgets and a new hub layout and a new main guy, but the control scheme, gameplay, and all the foundations are all the same. Which is, of course, perfect, since the original was probably the best game on the PlayStation. And the system works: make the perfect game, and then improve on perfection every four years or so. Nobody, in their right mind, should get tired of it. It's like getting a visit from an good friend; it never gets old. Of course, people will poo-poo it for being formulaic, or whatever, but blame it on the world's unfortunate overaddiction for novelty. How else would you explain the consistent box office failures of Woody Allen?

Ren

Final Fantasy Tactics (PS One)

I'm still working away at good ol' FFT. Unlike every other time I've played through it, though, I'm really trying to level up a lot and have each character master a lot of different job classes. Still, it wasn't enough for Velius. Oh, we all know the fun of the Velius battle, don't we? I've heard of some excellent strategies for this boss fight, but they require a lot of leveling up and mastering job classes that I haven't yet mastered. Oh, but when I'm done, Velius is going to know a whole new meaning of the word "pain". Just you wait, you crazy evil sheep-man-demon-thing. Super Ramza's on his way!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)

I had a chance to play a bit of KOTOR at work last weekend, and I must say that I'm very impressed. It's a highly addictive RPG, and it looks like there's a lot of depth to the game. There's so much to explore and experiment with. It certainly feels nice to be able to step into the Star Wars universe and take a good look around. And there's always the dilemma of, "Light Side... or Dark Side?" Although I really, really want to be evil, I seem to be having moral difficulties with killing innocent people for money. Stupid compassion.

Taloony

Persona, Final Fantasy VII (PS One)

My pile of shame is large and dates back several years besides. I have games from the SNES that I still want to get around to. Of late though, I've been playing the first Persona, one of the earlier RPG's released over here for the PS1. It's a solid game; I'll say that at least. The battle system involves a nice bit of strategy, and the overall story shines through beyond the hack job that Atlus perpetuated on this title. Things do tend to progress slowly though, so I decided to take a bit of a break and play something else, which segues nicely into.

In the case with Final Fantasy VII, it's been nearly six years, and while aspirations to replay it has been looming for quite some time, I'd managed to avoid the bite of that particular bug. However, shortly after putting Persona away, I found myself drawn to the game. To briefly reflect, these are Tetsuya Nomura's best designs out of the three Final Fantasy installments he's worked on. Progressively, they've become more and more outlandish, and I imagine this is because his name has become synonymous with Final Fantasy, granting him a greater amount of leeway as time goes by.

Regardless, I was having a blast playing through it again, and in no time found myself at the Undersea Reactor, where I decided I needed yet another break, this time from games altogether.

On an unrelated note, give Stephen Kings's "The Dark Tower" series a try if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Teddman - Serious Sam (Xbox)

First of all, Sam really isn't that serious. It's more like Hilarious Sam. In fact, this whole game is refreshingly over-the-top... Chainsaws and dual-fisted revolvers as weapons, hoards of fantastical enemies swarming you (like suicide bombers and water buffalos?), sidekick characters like Groovy Gregory and Santa Sam, and nice humorous touches like whistling the Indiana Jones theme when you step into the Ramses Tomb level. After playing Halo for months upon months as my only first-person shooter fix, Serious Sam on Xbox is a great change of pace. It really feels like I'm back in the college dorm gleefully blasting away at Doom II again, and that's OK by me!

What Serious Sam lacks in refinements, it more than makes up for in style. Had a bad day at the office? Why not grab a "Serious Bomb," a double-barrel coach gun, and an XOP flamethrower and head on down to a mythical Egyptian pyramid where scores of Hellspawn critters await your punishment? This game is pure FPS kickass, and it knows it. There's no pretense at reality--no two-weapon carry-on limit like Halo here. The enemies have no AI--they just want you dead NOW. Go in, and kill everything that moves! That's the strategy for levels one through fifty (the Xbox version contains both Serious Sam 1 and 2 for the PC).

The cool thing about Serious Sam is that it's great pickup and play fun in small doses. Control is easy to master--it's just like Halo. Want to bring a friend along? There's a co-op story mode so you can play through the whole game with a buddy--just like Halo. But unlike Halo, the game works with Xbox System Link so that you and a friend can both have your own full TV screen to take in all the action (provided that you rig up two Xboxes, two copies of the game, and two TV's).

Best of all, Serious Sam only cost me $16 new, and retailed for $20 when it first came out. That's a great value, comes out to about 1/1000 cent for every enemy I've blasted to smithereens so far. What's not to love about this zany first-person shooter? Hey, everybody needs a little lighthearted destruction now and then to get them through the day... Seriously.

P.S. One caveat: The first pressing of Serious Sam for Xbox turned out to be a defective batch of discs. If the serial number around the center of the disc ends in "03" you may notice long loading times (over 30 seconds), framerate drops, and occasional crashes and "dirty disc" error messages. If you do have that version of the game, email Take Two Interactive at customersupport@take2baltimore.com. They'll replace your disc with a new, glitch-free copy by mail.

Hero

Mega Man Network Transmission (GameCube)

This harkens back to days where platformers were notorious for being difficult, and with Megaman games leading in the pack. Toss in a bit of 'flava' in the form of Yugioh-esque card collecting via 'battle chips', with functionality that actually works for and adds to the game, and I'm all over it. Only drawback - I'm already at the end after 10 hours. I wish there was more, but I'm also missing a third of the battle chips. Gotta catch 'em all!

Warioworld (GameCube)

Despite the fact I completed Warioworld over a week ago, I'm going back to relive the vivid worlds, looking for the last few treasures, and wishing Treasure had made it longer. Overall, it's filled with fast-paced action and fun, albeit too short for my liking. Do yourself a favor and play this NOW, but keep it to a rental or buy cheap.

Warcraft II (PC)

With the recent acquisition of a computer that does not suck, combined with the fact I haven't bought a PC game in ages, brings me to the latest gaming addiction...err, addition. Warcraft II is still easy on the eyes, and quite a time consuming game. I'm sure you all know the rundown, but I was hooked with breeding a top-notch human army and loosing it on unsuspecting Orcs. There's nothing more satisfying than watching a plan of destruction come together.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GameBoy Advance)

On the bus trips out to work this summer, I've had a nice companion to busy the gaps in time. Although I just recently nabbed Lost Age and am still at Air's Rock, I can tell this'll be as good as the first RPG. Lost of challenging puzzles and fast paced battles make this game a personal favorite. Most importantly - I can finally find out how the story ends. Cheers to Camelot for making such spectacular RPGs - jeers for stretching out a single storyline over two separate installments.

· · ·TNL Staff