IGN

• PC
• 8.2 / 10
• États-Unis

Hegemonia is a good game and a good attempt at slimming down from Digital Reality's last title Imperium Galactica II. The interface is almost done perfectly but is missing some shortcuts that could have made things quite a bit easier. Combat can be interesting and fun to watch, but isn't a tactical dream due to the extreme similarities of each of the races and almost complete lack of need for smaller ships later in the game. And while it does have a spacey feel and atmosphere, and has some of the best looking space ships I've ever seen in a game, it falls a little short in that area as well due to a predictable story and lack of real tension. If you've been looking for a space RTS to get into, I'd certainly recommend Hegemonia over the other titles that are out there. It's a solid game that looks amazing. Just don't expect it to be quite the epic struggle that Homeworld managed to be.

• XBOX
• 1.9 / 10
• États-Unis

Forget about Pulse Racer, it's not a good game. It's an example of a very, very poor game. It's the kind of thing that was often slopped off on the PlayStation (you know what I'm talking about). It's a shame to see Microsoft is giving thumbs up to games so clearly flawed from concept to finish. Race fast enough to win, but not so fast your heart stops?? Remember when the primary function of a game was to be fun? Even for $30, this stinker isn't worth a look. Not even worth a rental. Run now, while you have the chance!

• PC
• 8.6 / 10
• États-Unis

People who couldn't get enough of Morrowind hardly need this review to prompt them to try the expansion. If you've been jonesing for more Morrowind, then you don't need me to tell you to try Tribunal. But for those of you who were a bit turned off by Morrowind, Tribunal might be just the thing. It won't make the vast options of the basic game any more accessible but it offers a similar experience in a smaller format. Morrowind may have had enough content to make an expansion pretty redundant, but the tighter focus of the expansion helps create an intensity that wasn't as well sustained in the base game. Although the few cameos of people you heard about but never met are neat, it's the big revelations that really sell the title. Some of the legends of Morrowind finally make their entrance here in aspects both splendid and terrifying. The dead house of your heritage is beat once again here but with just the right amount of mystery to make it seem barely obnoxious.

• NGC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS2
• 5.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Since I can remember I've been a Capcom whore. And I wanted to like AM badly, but in the end I'm left with a sour taste. It looks okay, has some nice cars and visual effects, but the most important aspect of this game is missing -- the control mechanics are seriously unrefined. Sure, try to convince me that this is a "drifting" game. Maybe that will convince me that the control isn't beyond help. Honestly, control is always what makes or breaks a game; in this case it's done the latter. I'm really sad, too, because this could be a nice sideways, sliding romp with some cool cars. A bit of advice Capcom, kill the announcer--he should have been shot after MVC2 and fire the tuning designer, too. Get someone in there who can fix the damn control.

• PS2
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• XBOX
• 4 / 10
• États-Unis

• NGC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS2
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• XBOX
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• PC
• 7.4 / 10
• États-Unis

Not quite a platformer, not quite a puzzler, Dragon's Lair attempts to take the classic appeal of the original's "beat a room and then continue" formula and shovel it into a game that relies heavily on platforming elements that just aren't polished enough to be perfect or even strongly competitive. As a platformer it pales in comparison to something like Rayman 2: The Great Escape, still one of our best and only efforts worth mentioning. As an action or an adventure title, it can't hope to a surmount Soul Reaver. As a daredevil, rope swinging, demon hacking, trap avoider, it doesn't best the old Prince of Persia. Still, these comparisons are somewhat frivolous, for though any one part of Dragon's Lair is uncompetitive, its whole is a memorable, nostalgic, vivid, and entertaining ride through an entirely trial and error puzzle broken into some 250 rooms. Every other element of the game is in place to further the challenge, interactivity, and believability of these puzzles, which have themselves been ripped straight from the original. See a puzzle, beat a puzzle, watch a story unfold. It's simplistic and addictive. Take it like this and enjoy it. Take it as the next Heretic II or some kind of beat 'em up meets Mario and be sorely disappointed.

• XBOX
• 8.3 / 10
• États-Unis

• NGC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS2
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• NGC
• 7.2 / 10
• États-Unis

Jedi Knight II is a problem-ridden port of a good PC game. It's obvious that no work at all went into trying to get this game to properly run on GameCube. The framerate is erratic and constantly alternates between smooth and choppy, further complicating the already clunky control system. If you're a huge Star Wars fan and you're looking for a well-paced action game that focuses on on-foot battles, give JKII a try. But be aware that it's tough to go back to Jedi Knight II after playing games like TimeSplitters 2, Bond, or Metroid Prime. Whereas these games offer smooth experiences even with multiple enemies on screen (and the last two deliver it with dynamic lighting to boot), Jedi Knight chops up even in small rooms with no enemies in sight. It's baffling, really. The great level design and authentic Star Wars feel are just enough to save this game from slipping from fun to merely average status, but one can't help wonder what a more experienced developer could have done with the port. Give it a look, but only after you've played the two other Star Wars games on GameCube -- or any of the currently available first-person shooters for that matter. If you're a multi-console owner, get the superior Xbox version to see a better realized port.

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

It's not the precise, balanced, speedy brilliance of Wipeouts of yesteryear. Nor is it by any means the definitive racing package. But, Beam Breakers does manage to create and admirably deliver an enormous, believable, and simply awesome sense of scale and liveliness. Being able to barrel through George Jetson and kill Judy on her driving test has its allure. Couple that with an outwardly broken but actually intuitive and functional control scheme and some rather killer level design, and we've got a contender for quality. Even though Beam Breakers' mission play and voice work (not to mention the rest of the audio) try desperately to obliterate its appeal, the fun remains. Later course layouts with tighter turns and excessive traffic weaving make things complex and interesting. What's better is that this is not a game of unskilled memorization. A player need not study a map and play a practice run six times before jumping in, always careful to handbrake at that exact moment the indicator line turns red on that one, horrible, hairpin turn. No, Beam Breakers is crafted and balanced in such a way that on skill alone, avid and even casual gamers can partake in and enjoy its many pleasures, while naturally being subjected to several of its shortcomings and a few of its glaring faults. Not perfect, but commendable, respectable, and certainly worthy of a look, Beam Breakers is a lot like those floaty, quirky, unpopular people you reluctantly dated in school. It's going to take some time for it to grow on you, but when it finally does latch on, you'll likely be glad it did.

• XBOX
• 9.6 / 10
• États-Unis

This is the kind of game I imagined when I used to dream about the experiences next generation consoles were going to give us. Splinter Cell is one of the smartest games I've ever played in that it challenged me to lose myself in this world of espionage and to use everything I think I know about secret operatives to get through it. While there were plenty of times I would get caught in a trial-error-death cycle trying to clear a certain part of the game, I never once felt helpless or confused to the point where I was ready to blame the developers for poor level design or something. When you run into a difficult part in Splinter Cell that's just kicking your hide, it only means you're not thinking outside the box and exploring all of your options. It's not quite as open as a Grand Theft Auto game, but there are unorthodox ways of solving some problems. But in this world of super spies, there's no such thing as unorthodox, just do or die. This game literally shines on the Xbox and has enough gameplay hours to satisfy dedicated Halo junkies who've been waiting for the next landmark single player game on the system. Since you can play with varying degrees of stealth and aggression, you'll have every reason to play through Splinter Cell multiple times. I often found myself saying "Whoa, I don't know if gamers are going to be ready for that." But once Splinter Cell is in your system, and this game has a perfectly balanced learning curve, you will be ready for all it has to offer.

• NGC
• 4.7 / 10
• États-Unis

Hot Wheels Velocity X Maximum Justice is almost a fun game, except that its controls really hold it back and kill any enjoyment that might have been had with the game. It's too hard to keep speed in corners, or at least take them properly without crashing into the wall. There are a couple multiplayer modes, and a fairly large number of cars and weapons to unlock, but once again, the controls get in the way and you can't really enjoy using any of them. The stunts were also intended to play a large part of the game, but after seeing your car flip once or twice, that gets boring as well.