Return mine to me. No. 32 (Military-PSYCHICHIC February 2002)

Today we go in 2002, in which Activision looked at the successes of the game Return To Castle Wolfenstein, who managed to fall in love with players around the world in five weeks, decided to purchase a studio of Gray Matter Interactive developers. In absentia, the DOOM 3 engine was handed over to them, on which, as expected, a new studio game will be built. And also Activision planned to release the aforementioned Wolfenstein by the autumn of 2002 on the PS2 and Xbox consoles, which, in fact, made. But as time has shown, at first Gray Matter, together with Treyarch, worked on a couple of additions to the Call of Duty series, and then completely joined the Treyarch team, ceasing to exist as an independent studio in 2005.

The American company NPD Group summed up the results of 2001 in the United States, which was marked by a noticeable rise in the gaming industry. The previous record belonged to 1999 with sales of prefixes, accessories and games in the amount of $ 6.9 billion, in 2000 it decreased to 6.6 billion. And in 2001, thanks to the release of Gameboy Advance, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, as well as excellent sales of PlayStation 2, the industry literally woke up from sleep. And sales grew by already 43% and amounted to $ 9.4 billion. The most popular prefix game was GTA 3 with a circulation of 2.5 million copies, in second place Metal Gear Solid 2 – 1.8 million, and so on. The main premiere of the year from Microsoft – Halo was sold by a circulation of 850 thousand copies. And the hit Nintendo – Super Smash Bros. Melee – about 700 thousand.

On the PC, the unconditional sales leader is the SIMS from EA with a circulation of 2.5 million copies. Anyway, EA controlled more than 50% of the computer games market at that time.

In line we have a review of February 2002 today. And we remind you that in this program we rely, namely, we do not put on the reviews of the Russian press of those years, but only derive the average value for several editions. Also, if you did not see a particular game that you played at that time, do not be upset at that time, in any case, in the next issues we will definitely talk about it, there were many releases, and the transmission format does not allow to cover everything. So be patient. Well, now stock up with delicious and go.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

At that time, the theme of World War II in the industry gained the widespread popularity. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Commandos 2, Deadly Dozen, and Il-2, which is already there. It is difficult to say-what was connected with, maybe the 60th anniversary of the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor, maybe just overnight the players are tired of shooting monsters and bandits. One way or another, Fritz became the main enemies in the gaming industry of those years. And before us is the game from the 2015 development studio-Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

We are given a fighter of the first battalion of Lieutenant Ranger Mike Powell to the department. And with him, we have to visit 6 missions for not interconnected in different parts of the world. There is essentially a plot in this game, but each mission here is a separate interesting story with its own place of action and atmosphere. Their variety is achieved due not only to a change in the situation, but also to a change in the style of the game. Some tasks make you feel like an ordinary soldier on the battlefield, others in a spy style – allow you to penetrate the enemy camp.

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And of course, the same mission with landing in Normandy, as it seemed then, one into one detailed from Spielberian “salvation of ordinary Ryan”. This for a long time crashes into memory and causing many hours of ecstasy the episode of the game, for which all the flaws could forgive the developers. To convey what is happening in words, and even in our time – it is unlikely that you can get. With such directing and scope, no one made the game then. And it is difficult to find a person at that time that took place this bewitching mission only once. Damn, if the developers made only her, it seems that the players would already be happy. I myself remember how cultural shock this level made on me, and at school we only had conversations, as under the plump fire we hid behind the hedgehogs and shortly dashes moved from shelter to shelter with bated breath.

But this is not the only moment squeezing the heart and forcing to round his eyes – here we are waiting for a sniper duel under the pouring rain and theft of the tank from the enemy territory, and a journey through French towns with incredibly stressed street battles. Anyway, the whole and the game is made very, so to speak, cinematic. All of course thanks to a superbly set script scenes. It seems that at any moment a plane can fly here and bomb any house.

Shootings here flow simply rapidly, but there are a lot of them and, most importantly, they do not bother. The clip is empty before our eyes, but at the same time it seems that the cartridges will never end. The Germans here die immediately and in Hollywood for a long time, staining in dying convulsions, it is only a pity that the blood was not brought to the game. But, for example, the weapon of the enemy can be knocked out in a brush or shoulder.

By the way, AI of enemies here is quite a bit and the enemies willingly hide behind the boxes, and also fired from behind the corner leaning out only a hand with a machine gun. In addition, they can raise and throw grenades back to us, get away from the rear and so on. But quite often they, like your associates, are destined to die with a special effect – due to scripts, which are picked up here and there and, most importantly, cope with their task – to entertain the player. At that time, there was just the emergence of those very script scenes that, like the apogee, were sung in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series.

The weapon here pleases the players with high -quality and detailed models, which are also perfectly voiced. Although the opinions were divided here and, for example, the “country of games” believes that the weapon here is not poorly wretched. In general, the “country of games” does not particularly praise the game, saying that the design of the levels of miserable and that the borrowing from Spielberg is also amazing with their wretchedness – however, in the end they put almost 9 points.

The graphics in the game is magnificent. It seems that the game squeezes all the juices from the already experienced engine Quake 3. Incredible detail for their time of tanks, enemies and others – pleasantly pleased the eye. And the music recorded by the Seittle Symphony Orchestra is also worthy of all praise.

As a result, this 9 points of 10.

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This, of course, is one of the best jokes of that year, and one of the brightest games of that time in general. It is definitely a Masthev of that time and after years we can say that it is almost the legend of the industry

Command & Conquer: Renegade

The popularity of game series sooner or later grows to such an extent that within the framework of one genre it becomes closely. And shooters can try on the larva of strategies as, for example, the Halo universe, or strategies can dilute the shooter as our Comand & Conquer series today from Westwood Studios developers – Renegade game.

I must say that the fans of the series were overwhelmed by rather vague feelings. In the external design, notes of the famous series are guessed, but what is there, even the interface is designed in strict colors, and a frame with a line of Health-Bar’a appeared on enemies when aiming.

Prior to the release of the game, the developers promised to realize the opportunity to sit in any equipment, in fact, this is not entirely true, and you can climb into only specially designated cars left at certain points. Among the technique there are also frisky Baggy and famous in the Mammoth Tank series, whose guns are endless.

It is also possible to wander around the neighborhood and visit each of the buildings met. All this, as it were, expands the idea of ​​the strategy and you can personally see how the car is controlled there or how local buildings look from the inside. Their entourage for that time is very hollow and scarce. By the way, on the walls there are sometimes posters of the very famous leader of the Brotherhood of NOD – Kane.

If in strategies it was enough to give a volley on the building to destroy it, then in Renegade you need to move through its rooms and look for a terminal for destruction, periodically stumbled and entering into shootings with enemies. It is quite monotonous, but you need to do this more than once and not two, but a good dozen, although there is an alternative – you can simply lay a lighthouse for an ion gun under the building and after a few seconds its beam from the building will not leave a trace, at this moment you also do not interfere with the building away from the building. All reviewers, by the way, note the beauty and scale of this event.

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However, the whole game is served here, like Medal of Honor, with large-scale military operations, where you feel part of something more. Although, in fact, this is just an illusion and special forces descending from a helicopter, columns of tanks, and other running cannon meat in the gameplay does not make changes. And the smartest partner imposed on you in a mission is unlikely to live for more than a few minutes. The main destiny of computer statists is to die beautiful under bullets. They are here for extras, and not in order to shine with acting talents. In principle, the gameplay here comes down to constant running, fussy shooting of enemies and chaotic movement between key points.

The plot is here, not to say that for https://lowdeposit-casinos.co.uk/review/madcasino/ a checkmark, but also not burdened with frills. Rather, this is a common story in the style of Command & Conquer – and again we have a battle for Tiberium here, and again the conflict of the Brotherhood of NODs with the Global Security Council. We are brought to play captain of the Security Council of Nick Parker nicknamed Havoc, who throughout the game shoots stupid enemies that are able to run and shoot at different points of the globe. The tropical islands here are quickly replaced by some northern plains and back.

The famous inserts with living actors from the Command & Conquer strategy decided not to do here and instead of them the acting attempts of muddy three -dimensional models are far from better quality.

By the way, about the schedule – at that time it is godlessly outdated and the buildings are sometimes performed here with overly sharp corners, and local mountains, such a feeling, are covered with one texture. “Country of Games” again says – squalor. They love this word to see.

However, all the poverty of architecture and the clumsy of the models of soldiers and armored vehicles pay off a little aforementioned giant scale. But the game was launched by cars with very democratic system indicators.

The soundtrack here is also quite well supplemented by what is happening on the screen and makes remixes of compositions from a strategy from Frank Clepakka.

As a result 7-7.5 points of 10.

Renegade is a rather strange game and all read reviews were divided in half – some shout a game of a wretched and this is a spit in the direction of fans of the original strategy, others, exactly the opposite – the game is quite good, dynamic and this is literally a gift to fans of the series. The funny thing is that I also had a strange relationship with her at one time, my friends played a binge, and I somehow played a couple of levels and deleted it. Nevertheless, this game cannot be called bad, and let’s still say that this is a worthy shooter based on.

Darkended Skye

Previously, people knew how to make chic advertising campaigns for their products-not that now-every flash of nonsense. Skittles. It was these sweets, so to speak, that formed the basis of this creation, even despite the fact that it is on a fantasy theme. And before us is the action from the Kyiv developers of Boston Animation – Darkened Skye.

The tie is that the evil magician Necros decided to take on the burden of managing the world. Well, our heroine – the girl Sky must stop him by passing five fantasy worlds and looking for prisms in them, and with the help of the amulet left by his parents and how it is not paradoxical Skittles sweets to return prosperity and, so to speak, rainbow of tastes. And the right satellite will help us with this a couple of minutes after the start – Gorgul DAC. By the way, the conversations between the main character and the Gorgulia were successful here – they are full of humor, and often affect the theme of computer games and self -irony.

The worlds themselves are everything that the developers heard and saw somewhere, and perhaps they came up with a little. So for 30 levels, various landscapes and landscapes are waiting for us: green forests, gloomy caves, medieval castles, and rivers of hot lava and so on and so on. True, it was not set with open spaces, and we run rather along the corridors with the surrounding entourage, but this, in principle, does not interfere with the game. But this made it possible to make very democratic system requirements.

The levels are filled with tons of all kinds of living creatures: orcs, demons, ghosts and what is not here. We have to deal with them either by magic, for which, just, we need Skittles, or in hand -to -hand – staff. And initially it is only allowed to beat enemies with this same staff. By the way, they are not burdened with intelligence and take them more likely. You will not allow you to wind their intestines on the trunks of trees, and there is no blood here again, we need to attract customers here, and not scare away. On the contrary, flowers appear on the site of a defeated enemy, with the help of which you can restore health.

Magic is opened during the passage of levels and worlds, and in the process our inventory will be replenished with multi -colored sweets that are responsible for different skills – some allow you to see all the hidden objects, others to throw fireballs or lightning and all in the same spirit. The more sweets collected, the wider your magical possibilities.

During the passage, you will meet a lot of talkative characters – the replicas of which are also treated by humor, references to advertising and other gags.

Not without the game and without annoying arcade elements. Jumps on narrow protrusions and stones, as well as runs on thin beams from which it is easy to jump off – there is plenty of provides, and management is quite crookedly. So swearing, starting with the nearest conservation, the players were very common.

Riddles are not very complicated and experienced players, in principle, should guess what needs to be done here, for example, if there is a catapult somewhere, then a stone should lie nearby and so on.

Graphics, from an aesthetic point of view, looks decent – without frills, but animation, and the characters themselves leave a pleasant impression. Music and voice acting, the main character, by the way, was voiced by actress Linda Larkin, who gave a voice to Princess Jasmine from Disney Aleladin.

“The Country of Games” as usual is dissatisfied, apparently, they had the time, and it was precisely because of them that the average assessment of the Russian press could be higher, and they put 5.7 points-they are dissatisfied with literally everything: graphics and some wretched levels, and simple tapes, and an absurd tie and everywhere sees deficiencies.

In general, it is 7 points of 10.

The game makes a great impression, not a hit, but players could not pass a couple of evenings into it, not without pleasure.

That we have a lower rank?

Red Shark, Well, or in common people, Red shark. Arcade from developers G5 Software.

The local plot tells us that in 2010 in Russia there was (at that time there will still be) a time machine was built. Hmm … In the meantime, you ride the floor from laughter, I will continue. A year later, a super-dwelling helicopter was made, which for some reason, like two drops of water, looked like a Ka-50 “Black Shark”, but either the developers did not have a budget for a license, or for some unknown reasons, the developers had to finish a couple of antennas and call it the “Red Shark”. Further more … It was decided to send this turntable during the Great Patriotic War, in order to help the Soviet troops in confrontation with the Nazis. Well, you, in fact, are given the role of the pilot.

It is worth saying that for 15 levels of players a variety of tasks have been waiting for. Here you have the executions of the motorcade, the execution of airborne assault, the destruction of headquarters and even the murder of German generals. In general, there was enough work.

There is no need to talk about any historical reliability and Fritz was stocked up with tanks, anti -aircraft guns, armored cars, air defense system and other towers. In a word, as if they knew that the Russians would send a miraculous car. The damage system, as it should be arcade of that time, boils down to a green strip of life, reaching the final mark of which, the helicopter explodes in the air.

Most missions take place in our country and a couple in Libya. But in any case, you will not get to fly over big cities – they simply do not. As, however, there are no real names of the villages – everything is invented. The levels themselves are similar to one another, like two drops, birch trees and mountains, in Libya and even worse – cacti and desert, besides FPS in the desert fell like that? that sometimes betrayed almost a paramilitary regime. Arsenal does not shine, according to the standard-a machine gun, rockets, and self-advanced missiles, for a super-trumpeted helicopter, you could come up with something else.

Graphics in the game, in principle, is not bad for its time. The quality of textures is on top, tanks, unless, more details could be more detailed, but even without it it looked normal. Yes, and the management here is quite convenient. In principle, it was possible to pass the evening. Reviewers note that it seems to be nothing special, but sometimes addictive. Yes, in general – a good arcade. 6.5 points

The Shadow of Zorro from developers in utero.

Interesting, but the new generation of players, perhaps, did not hear the letter Z on his enemies by the hero with a skew by the hero. The last suitable film on him “Mask Zorro” was released back in 1998, and then he did not work out somehow. Slothing continuation “Legend of Zorro” and this game forced people to forget about it.

The local plot will tell us about the arrival of the new chief of the police, Captain Fuentes, whom Alejandro de la Vega (that’s what Zorro’s name is in ordinary life) suspects the criminal relations and for 7 levels will be found out if this.

As the developers stated, Stlas-Excel was supposed to go out, in fact, a shit was released. In general, you run around the levels and occasionally meet guards-you can shoot from a pistol in them, at the time of the shot the game switched in the first person, or join them into a fierce battle by pressing buttons in a certain sequence, features, this is not even a QTE system.

Literally everything was done – starting from the camera ending with graphics. And so 28 locations at your disposal. The gameplay evoked boredom from the first seconds, the control system for the octopus is present. By God, it is better to see who did not see, the above film with Banderaz “Mask Zorro”. And here, as a result 3.5 score.

Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles

The stereotype has developed about platformers at that time in our country-this is necessarily something naive-child and mari-like. But here, in Game construction, first, American McGoy, who became a hostage to his creation, “Alice”, and now the developers of In Utero with his game Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles, settled down. Damn, these are those guys who made the above The Shadow of Zorro – because they may want to.

The main advantage of this work reviewers call the plot. Ten -year -old Kiprian Pupil of an orphanage shelter. The death of parents, communication with idiots friends, and other events seriously moved his roof. And after a failed party and a conversation with a plush Mishka Lenny, with the words “Enough from me”, our hero turns out to be in the world. This world is the fruit of inflamed children’s imagination, and here all the offense, anger and fears of Cyprian lurks here. Literally immediately we meet Wilber – a monstrik vaguely reminiscent of a stooped elephant. He calls to behave reasonably and keep himself in his hands, and also explains that he is still not as bad as it will be in the near future. And our hero will have to get to the lord of hit and defeat him in order to bring peace and prosperity to this world, and at the same time return his consciousness to the right direction.

Unlike the same “Alice”, this game is not so insane as gloomy and bleak. But the atmosphere of hopelessness and despondency is transmitted so expertly here that many players like. In a word, designers and composers tried to glory.

However, if you look closely, then there is a heap of problems characteristic of three -dimensional platformers of that time. To begin with, the main enemy in the game will not be giant praying mantis, chopped knights, and other psychedelic monsters – and the camera, which, here, such a feeling, is trying to take an unsuccessful perspective. Even special buttons for tuning the camera and first -person view at the time of aim from the slingshot do not save the position. By the way, for some reason, the developers decided not to do the sight and we have to shoot from it, so to speak, on a vapid.

Further management – if the situation with it is good, then it would be better to purchase a gamepad on a PC, because with the control on the keyboard there is no better than in Zorro and at the same time it does not change. And the preservation system is very original here – think about it, the first time you will be offered to be preserved only after passing the second world out of eight possible. And they are not to say that it is straight and small. Of course, there are control points with which you can start if the hero fell in the battle, however, you can’t load from the menu from the menu. Thus, the players needed to stock up on time – if they were already sitting down for this game.

However, you do not pay much attention to all these things – playing here is really interesting.

In the gameplay, we constantly have to fight, jump, and indeed somewhere to climb. There are a lot of ledges here, so again the gamepad is simply vital. Having gathered a number of bonuses, our hero can take the appearance of the dark side of his essence and hang Lule to local inhabitants with tripled force. It’s a pity the supply of power quickly runs out and we have to play for the usual Caprian again.

The game engine extremely poorly showed itself in the same zorro, it looks at a surprisingly worthy. He does not open new horizons, but copes well with his task. The number of landfills in landscapes and characters of the characters here, of course, is not large and sometimes looks rude, but everything pays off magnificent psychedelic landscapes.

The reviewers also praise sounds very much, and the soundtrack in particular – calling it without five minutes masterpiece. By the way, I wanted to put it in the background, but it is too gloomy, I will definitely add it in the VKontakte group, so subscribe – the link in the description is present.

And in the end it is 7-7.5 points of 10.

Evil Twin made a very favorable impression on the players, which is slightly overshadowed by the shortcomings in the interface. In any case, at least it was worth trying to play at least, if only because it is one of the most unusual representatives of the genre of that time.

For today it is time to say goodbye to February 2002 and we, of course, will return to him in the future, because there are still many games left about which you need to tell. And now all civilians – to leave the territory, there was an officer Startarev with you. Bye.