Wow, where do I even start with this one? Rockstar Games and Bungie from the erarly aughts seems like a combination that is nothing short of a match made in heaven. Right? Well, for the seminal third-person action-adventure game from the first (and last) time this duo teamed up, this was more like a match made in hell. And I mean that endearingly.
Players: 1 – 2
Platforms: PS2, Xbox, GameCube
Release Date: September 9th, 2004
Developer: Paradigm Entertainment
Publisher: Atari
Rating: Try It
Where do I begin with this one? Terminator 3: Redemption is a movie tie-in game to the Terminator 3 film that came out back in 2003 to middling reviews. A year late and a few features light compared to most video game fanfare of the era, and Terminator 3: Redemption fits into a rather odd slot as a game that’s not quite as bad as a typical movie-game, but not quite good enough to warrant much acclaim. Like many movie games of the era, there are some really good ideas underneath the hood, but the execution is rather poor, and that dampens the overall appeal of this particular outing.
Wow, what a game. What else can I honestly say? This is one of the most original and unique beat-’em-up, action-adventure games ever made. It mixes cinematic action-movie set pieces with a storyline that very well could have come from Chung Sun, Sammo Hung or John Woo crime-drama flick from the 1980s. This is one of those rare games where it wasn’t quite a licensed-based title themed around an accompanying film or big Hollywood production, but it has all the hallmark trappings of a licensed-based property with the inclusion of a lot of big Hong Kong stars attached to the product and it clearly shows. From the stunt choreography to the absolutely awesome motion-capture work done by Jet Li himself, this game hits almost all the right notes in almost all the right ways with a few exceptions.
Do you remember the single-player first-person shooter game from Criterion and EA called Black? It was for the PS2 and OG Xbox, had a decent marketing campaign but didn’t really make waves in terms of post-launch mind-share other than that everyone who played it felt it was one of the best first-person shooter titles ever made. I originally missed out on it while playing other games of the era, but recently had a chance to get around to it again, and it’s easy to see why it’s the cult-classic everyone claims it to be.
Urban Reign is a little known beat-em-up that Namco rolled out in between Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 back in 2005. It’s essentially an arena-battle mode that mimics the beat-em-up qualities that Namco was experimenting with via the Force Mode from Tekken 3 (which was further evolved in the subsequent sequels). However, unlike the Force Mode from Tekken, Urban Reign’s battles are sadly limited to arena levels instead of progressing stages like in the Tekken games.
I’ve never been a fan of remastering games, oftentimes because the efforts are usually low, the results are less than stellar, and the game being remastered usually doesn’t benefit all that much. Some games seem to receive multiple remasters, such as Uncharted and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (the latter of which was not only remastered but also remade from the ground up). Other games that could actually benefit from a fresh coat of visual paint and some improved modern day tweaks to the controls and handling are all too bereft of such benevolence, such as 2K Games and Real Time Productions 2006 outing of 24: The Game for the PS2, which is a prime candidate for such endeavors.