Product Description

Atari Anthology ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Definitely Good For Nostalgia & Why There's a Blue Screen
First off, one of the reviewers writes: "On Tempest as well as Asteroids, there's a huge blue inanimate bordor around the screen. Thus, it makes my 36 inch TV screen look like a 27 inch." There's a very simple, very good explanation for that.The games Tempest & Asteroids were arcade games, and back in the 1970s/80s, they turned the TV screen on its side... so you ended up with a shape like this:
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In order to fit that odd vertical rectangle into your TV at home, without distortion, they have to fill in the left & right side with a blue border.That's not a flaw.That's the way it's intended to be (same as using bars on a widescreen movie).

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And now for the games.I suspect this collection will only appeal to the ~50 million people who actually owned an Atari circa 1980, not the younger generation.A lot of these games are short, lasting only about 30 minutes, although they do offer infinite replayability.Also, the graphics are nothing to write home about (mostly large squares).Many of these games like Pole Position have been replaced with better, modern versions like Gran Turismo.


On the other hand, there are some true classics here that even young people might enjoy - Missile Command or Space Invaders or Asteroids - shoot, score, and try to live as long as possible.Also Pac-Man & Dig Dug.These games appeal to our natural tendency to compete, either with someone else or against ourselves, and score as high as possible.(Similar to Dance Dance Revolution in today's world.)


I bought it.I liked it.As with the original Atari console, this collection is a good way to take a break from the real world, kill 30 minutes, and have fun doing it!

thiscompleats my games from when i was a kid
this compleats the games i used to play in arcades as a kid i got activision,intellevision,and nanco so this atari compleates the arcade list too bad the companies don't have these games bata tested before releasing them they would know of the problems and fix them before release or atleast giveya a sheet telling you how to fix the problems. this game is alot like the arcade feeling only you can pause it when ya need and nobody take your turn.

The Scoop On Atari Anthology
This game definitely brought back memories.With all of the old Atari 2600 games like Combat, Yar's Revenge, Asteroids, Centipede, Dodge 'Em, etc., you'll find something that you will enjoy. The plus to the game I found is actually the original and sometimes annoying sounds.Now I use surround sound so I get the annoying bleeps and buzzes in full 5.1 MONAURAL sound.There is no stereo.Hey, but when we were kids, we played Atari with its vast array of 256 colors on the round screen TV with only one speaker and we were happy.The picture is standard.Exactly the way it looked in 1983 is the way it looks in 2005.After reading some of the articles I could not find anything wrong with the picture or sound that took away from the game.Chalk it up to user error.

The only thing I would fault the gameplay for is the games that require a paddle.If you love to play Pong, Breakout, Super Breakout, Demons To Diamonds, or any other game like those, your PS2 controller does it no justice.The PS2 controller either over or undercompensates your movements so the games are actually twice as hard.However, compared to the number of games you get and the fact that they all work well, I think it's an acceptable tradeoff.I enjoyed this game, and you will too!Your kids, however, will just laugh at you and call you old.

Brings Me Back To Simpler Gaming Times...
Five stars for Atari finally bringing out classic games, four for layout of the menus.

The menus may be a bit confusing (The arcade ones are grouped together, but the Atari 2600 games are grouped separately), but shines overall.

While the graphics are a bit dated for today's standards (especially on the PS2), but it brings me back to the times when video games were simpler, had one or a few objectives to complete and didn't require massive polygonal graphics. While some magazines that pertain to gaming say this game (mostly the games that are Atari 2600 versions) should be

Atari does NOT make a good transfer to PS2 here
I bought "Atari Anthology" primarily for "Asteroids" and "Tempest". While I must admit, it was definitely fun to see these games again, they were somewhat of a disappointment. Not that I've been spoiled by PS2's recent high tech games of 2003-04, but because the game play from this Anthology was just bad. First, on "Tempest" as well as "Asteroids", there's a huge blue inanimate bordor around the screen. Thus, it makes my 36 inch TV screen look like a 27 inch. Second, when I pressed the buttons on my PS2 controller, the games just didn't move very well for me (while playing "Tempest", the little thing you have to move around in a circle/shape is very hard to do utilizing all 4 PS2 buttons on the controller). Other games featured this useless bordor as well, and others (mostly) from the Atari '2600' system did not. The picture itself seems dull. I remember "Asteroids" being so basically simple - yet the little triangular white ship and the white boulders flying across the screen were so sharp against the black background. My 20/20 eyes don't see these shapes very sharp (almost blurry) at all on this game. The sound is also lacking... like it's totally MONO sound quality. The cover of this game boasts 85 game titles (18 of which were actually found in the arcades)... but after you play a majority of them once, I guarantee you'll probably never look at them again. Definitely a fond throw back to see games I grew up on; like "Missile Command", "Battlezone", "Red Baron", "Centipede", and even the grandaddy of them all, "Pong". However, as stated before, the game play is difficult on most, the picture quality is average at best, and the sound is poor... overall a poor representation for PS2. Looking for a halfway decent attempt to bring back some of the old classic games - check out "Museum" by Nameco (featuring "Galaga" and "Dig Dug" - both look and sound great). ... Read more

Features

• View original Intellivision commercials and archival footage!
• All games optimized for the DUALSHOCK 2 analog controller for PlayStation 2.
• For 1 or 2 players
• Play a library of over 60 classic Intellivision games
• Historical information and fun facts about the games, including interviews with the original Intellivision developers.

Reviews (7)

Classic Intellivision gameplay on a new console!
Many of the reviewers have given this bad reviews because it lacks some of the more popular titles, such as the AD&D games (Treasure of Tarmin, Cloudy Mountain), and the TRON titles (3 were released for the original Intellivision). The fact is that the Intellivision group does NOT own the copyrights to these games anymore, thus, the reason they are missing. Overall, a huge collection of Intellivision games on one disc; most of the games are playable on the Playstation 2 controller (and there are some "workarounds", such as using the right analog stick or pressing the "select" button to bring up the original Intellivision keypad). Some games are still frustrating because of the original versions dependence on the original Intellivision controller, such as Major League Baseball, but overall I would recommend this collection, both for its faithful adaption of the original games ported to a current generation game console, and for the sheer number of games present. It is also nice to play some demo and playable versions of never-released games. There are plenty of younger kid friendly games on this disc, too, such as Frog Bog, Word Fun, Math Fun, Pinball, etc. Some elusive game titles are now playable for the first time for me, and I am an original Intellivision owner that still has over 50+ games, the Intellivoice, etc. Also note: the reason that there are not any Imagic third party titles is because Activision owns the Imagic game library (Activision bought the rights when Imagic folded in the mid-1980s). If you want a few of these titles, I would recommend the PS2 Activision Classics game.

Intellivision does not live!
Being a kid in the heyday of Intellivision and its Intellivoice add on I was revved up to get all my favorite "old school" Intellivision games on one disk....taht was until I tried to play it...almost all of the games do not work with the playstation controller...do they really expect you to pause the game try to figure out the keypad with a corresponding move then un pause and try to do whatever move you wanted to do in the first place...Do not buy this game...Also they should have put the Tron games on it anyway....the only game worth playing on this disk is Astrosmash and thats a no brainer...just move and shoot....The should have let it die instead of ruin its legacy

Thanks for the memories
A wonderful collection of retro games from a era gone by.The graphics are classics and selection expansive.An adjustment is required to get use to the new style of controls, hope someone comes out with the classic disc/keypad controller!Although some colors and sounds aren't exactly authentic, the bonus material make up for it.A very high value collection for those who experienced the original.

Loved Intellivision but....
I was an Intellivision junkie until I was about 12 years old. I can't even begin to remember all of the titles I once owned. Needless to say, I was excited to see that 60 games have been grouped together for use on the PS2. Unfortunately, the transition for INTV to PS2 was far from smooth.

Cons-
1) The controls are horrible. Most of my favorite games (Tower of Doom, Utopia, and etc...) are unplayable. Who in the world did the QC on this product? Wasn't it pretty obvious that in order to "play" any of the games you must first be able to control the characters?

2) It was next to impossible for me to even get the game to play. "Blue Disc" or not- this is completely unacceptable. Once again, a decent QC department would never have allowed this product to be shipped.

3) A minor complaint is that some of the better games are missing. However, compared to problems 1 & 2 - this is pretty minor stuff.

Pros-
1) It is nice having the games in one collection. Not because the games are playable, but more because it is like watching an old familar movie.

Great Nostalgia! Horrible controls!
Ah, waking up on Christmas day in 1982 and opening Intellivision was one of the best Christmases of my youth!I remember laughing at my friends who had Atari with their stick graphics as we would wait for George Plimpton to appear on the TV to vindicate those of us who sought a better system than the standard 2600.

Alas, nothing becomes obsolete faster than video games, and unfortunately, it is totally apparent in this compilation.Specifically the sports games which separated Intellivision from the pack at the time now appear as dated as an 8-Track tape.However, it is nice to play the games that remind you of better times in childhood.

"Astrosmash", the space shoot 'em up, is still a challenging blast to play."Bowling" still is as tough as I remember, "Skiing" holds up the test of time fairly well, stripped down, solid and timeless."Star Strike" looks great (especially in the commericals), but has lame game play.The list goes on (over 60 in all), most are barely playable by todays standards, that aside, there is some great nostalgia here.

Negatives? Some of the best games for Intellivision are not present.Mainly because they were put out by 3rd party manufacturers (Imagic, Activision, etc.) Too bad because "Atlantis" and "Demon Attack" (both from Imagic) were very good looking and fun games.

Lastly, the game controllers on the original Intellivision drew ire even from the most devout of Intellivision fans, and were downright despised by the 2600 faithful.The mapping of the controls to the Playstation2, to put it mildly, borders on utter failure.The effort is there (e.g. graphic represenations of the Intellivision 'overlays'), but the execution is just poor.Better controls, would make this compilation 4 stars.Nostaligia alone makes it a worthwhile purchase.And for 20 bucks, you really can't go wrong! ... Read more

Features

• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Genre: Sports
• Mission: Chose from over 32 different Ford Motor Co. vehicles as you complete in a race to the finish

Reviews (6)

Zoom zoom zoom!
I'm new to PS2, but i think this is a fun casual game.You get to pick from a wide variety of cars, including a t-bird!Go t-birds!The steering is fidgety, and the corners are sometimes tight.All in all, it's fun if you are an experienced player in driving games.I think my dad plays it more than i do.In fact, he's playing it now.Hold on let me see how he's doing.......................................................... He said he was sure glad it was't a real car he was drivng. Maybe the steeting ain't so great...
Note: the reason i gave it a 5 for durability is because you can get a lot of fender benders and it looks like the car is brand new.Beleive me, i know.

Okay, but could've been much more...
Sorry to have to bring the rating down a little, but, well, here's my two cents. I love Fords. I'm somewhat of a Ford guy. I own a '91 Ranger pickup, and am saving up to buy an old Mustang. (Don't get me wrong though, I love Chevys too. I have a '63 Impala SS.) So when I saw this game in the ten buck bin at [my local electronics store], with a big pretty Mustang on the front, I said, "How can I go wrong?" and got it instantly.

Well, it's probably worth the $10, but not much more (if anything). Here are some pro's and con's:

CON'S:
- Car selection is limited
- Race tracks are kinda redundant
- Ditto for music
- Graphics aren't that great

Let me elaborate on the car selection comment. I think that there weren't enough Fords to be had here. If I designed the game, I would make it so every model/year would be available, and you could also customize it with colors, engines, etc (you can't do that on the game).

PRO'S:
- MUSTANGS MUSTANGS MUSTANGS!
- Gives you an idea of how the car handles/drives in real life
- Basically a simple racing game
- Preview some upcoming Ford concepts
- With my budget, it's probably the closest I'll ever come to driving a Ford GT
- Has the official Ford license

Anyway, if you're interested in this game, my advice is to rent it and see what you think. It's not bad, but it's not really great, either. It can hold my interest for a little while, but eventually I'll turn on something else. But that's just me. You might be different.

This game is a great stress release!!!
I didn't really think that I would have liked this game when I bought it but I've come to love it and I can play it all day without really caring about anything else. Well maybe stopping to watch a football game or two but other than that I don't stop playing it.

Able to Swap Paint with the Ridge Racer Series
Ford Racing 2 is definitely a far superior game to the original Ford Racing, which appeared on the original PlayStation in March 2001.While many may scoff at a racing game featuring only Ford vehicles, the true genius of the game shows in both the race venues and the overall gameplay itself.

The most critical aspect of any racing game is the physics engine; if there are flaws with the physics engine, then the gameplay suffers greatly and the game's enjoyability factor plummets (All-star Racing is a prime example of a game with virtually NO attention paid to the physics engine).Ford Racing 2 has a nice, solid physics engine which is definitely better than average for arcade-style racing games.The handling is nicely variable depending on the model of vehicle chosen for an event; there is a noticeable difference in handling between the traditional FR drivetrains and the MR drivetrains, for example, and older vehicles (such as the early Mustangs) are definitely more challenging to drive at high speeds than more modern vehicles, especially when cornering.

The selection of vehicles, gameplay modes, and race venues in Ford Racing 2 is also far superior to its predecessor.More than thirty vehicles are available, but almost all must first be added to the player's Collection ("garage") by completing the appropriate Challenges; plus, a Challenge must be completed at each difficulty level to use that vehicle in higher-difficulty events later.Seven gameplay modes provide a great variety, but even these must be unlocked by winning Challenges first.Sixteen race venues (comprised of six different environment themes) are also available, almost all of which must also be unlocked by first completing various Challenges.

Where Ford Racing 2 could use some "help," however, is in the tuning area.NO tuning options are available in this game, which is somewhat sad.Even just the ability to change tire compounds, upgrade to higher-powered engines, etc., would help to provide the player with an extra edge over the competition, especially in the Hard difficulty events.Allowing more color choices per vehicle would also be nice in terms of aesthetics.

A "neutral" aspect in Ford Racing 2 is the lack of damage.Typically, if a game uses licensed vehicles but there is never any physical damage shown, it is because the vehicle manufacturers have not granted damage modeling in the licensing for the game.While damage modeling would certainly make the game more interesting from a strategic standpoint, the lack of damage to the vehicles allows the player to freely bang around the circuits, bouncing off barriers to force sharper cornering, ramming competitors off the roadway, etc.Certainly, this is far from professional in terms of driving conduct, but in the final sprint to the Finish Line, such tactics can mean the difference between winning and finishing in last place.

Ford Racing 2 is definitely not able to compete with the Gran Turismo series, but can definitely swap paint with the Ridge Racer series.It is truly unfortunate that Ford Racing 2 is not receiving much attention, as it is a worthy addition to any serious player's collection of racing games.

FUN RACER ( LOVE THOSE MUSTANGS)!!!!
This is a wonderful, fun racing game at a FANTASTIC price (only TEN BUCKS)! You'd think that at such a cheap price the game would be cheap but it is NOT. It is a well made game with a great selection of famous Ford vehicles (cars, trucks, stock cars, concept cars) and nice looking tracks (road and street courses, ovals, off-road dirt tracks) with trains going by overhead, planes lifting off from near-by airports, helicoptors in the air, fireworks, an erupting volcano (watch out for the lava seeping onto the track, it slows you down), a ghost town, a military base, and a great deal of wonderful detail.

You must complete certain challenges to un-lock all the vehicles and tracks of which winning races is just one part. You must use your driving skills to win certain things by driving on the correct racing line which is highlighted in green when you are on it. Stray off and it turns red and you incur a time penalty which is added to your lap time. Incur too many penalties and you lose. Or you must complete a lap and collect time bonuses or drive through cone gates to help you have a good lap. All in all, with the different and unique challenges this game is fun to play.

There are 35 Ford vehicles to win. I personally love the various Mustangs (they are cool to drive and look nice, too). There are also two 1949 Ford's, an old T-Bird, the new T-birds (convertible and hardtop), a number of trucks, concept cars and Ford Taurus stock cars. A very nice selection, each with various paint jobs to choose from.

For such a low price this is a high quality game that gamers will enjoy for quite a while unlocking the various goodies. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! - George Bauch. ... Read more

Features

• Loaded with movies & information for tons of games
• Prepare to be blown away by the best new games of the new year!
• Previews are for M-rated games

Reviews (1)

rterted
this item is bad. I don't like very many things. ... Read more

Features

• With this buffet-style sample of new and upcoming games, you'll get just a taste of what's in store for the summer
• Covers all game categories -- from racers to shooters, from fighters to platformers and everything in between
• The latest games with an adult flavor is collected here for your enjoyment!

Reviews (5)

Looks good
does not contain what other people have wrote about----

includes:Kinectica, Jak and Daxter, Extermination, Okage, Drakan, SSX Tricky, Splash down, Baulder's Gate, Timesplitters 2, and Gitaroo Man

and i think final fantasy 10 video, maybe more

these demo disks are good if you are on the fence about games so get it if you are half interested in any of the aforementioned titles.

This is a must-have for anyone who is shopping for PS2 games
This action-packed cd has some of the Playstation 2's best offerings for this holiday season.The playable demos include:

Zone of Enders (a Konami anime-robo, action game)
Starwars: Starfighters (by Lucas Arts)
Klonoa's 2 (a Namco action-platform game)
Legacy of Kain:Soul Reaver 2(an action-rpg game by Edios)
Sony's own ICO (a horror-type game similar to the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series)

This is a worthy, wise purchase for anyone who owns a Sony Playstation 2 system.

Jam on Brothers ;)
The winter jam pack is the best sampler CD ever!!!!!! ;)

This hobgoblin tomfoolery has got to stop
The hobgoblin tomfoolery found in yeay video diskette is beyond thy wildest dreams.Thou mustest purchase two in conjunction with a certain coupon code or two to understand the tomfoolery of the hobgoblin found within.

Jam on Brothers
The Winter Jam Pack is the best sampler CD EVER!!!!!!! ;) ... Read more

Features

• This special collection of game demos and samples brings you a taste of what gamers will be talking about for the summer
• Covers every sort of game, from racers to shooter to role-players
• It also comes with a collection of the newest codes, reviews and game news from PlayStation Underground Magazine
• Comes with the following playable demos -

Features

• A complete set of great game demos, from arcade action and racers to sports simulations
• Make a hit movie as the guy who takes all the risks in Stuntman
• Get out on the blacktop for street-style basketball in Street Hoops
• Wild Arms 3 challenges you to face an advancing space armada, with the most powerful weapons known
• Become champion of the skate parks with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Product Description

Get an enormous amount of demo action! ... Read more

Features

• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Genre: Action/Adventure
• Mission: Find demos of your favorites and great hits; try them before you buy them

Features

• Astigos is a tiny Meditarrenean island that is fighting for its independence. You'll control a pair of secret agents as you help Astigos before its too late
• Choose from multiple weapons -- use a handgun, shotgun, machine gun or grenade launcher
• Collect power-ups to help you get through each stage before the time runs out
• New sniper-mode for slower, more deliberate gaming -- a nice change from the hail-of-bullets action
• Take out the enemy twice as fast with two-player mode

Reviews (22)

The BEST Virtual Video Game EVER!
Time Crisis 3 is the BEST virtual video game I have EVER played! It makes me feel like I'm actually the person shooting. It comes with one of the best light guns ever, called GunCon2, which is very easy to hook up. It's a challenging game that tests your first-person shooting skills. There are 3 different game modes. The 1st one is Arcade Mode, which is the mode that is available at the beginning at the game. You play as Alan Dunaway or Wesley Lambert (Depending on which USB Port you plugged the GunCon2 into your Playstation 2). The 2nd game mode is Rescue Mission Mode, where you play as Alicia Winston. The objective is the same. You just play from a different perspective and the missions are a little different. The last game mode is Crisis Mission Mode, which is training missions where you must fulfill a certain objective, such as defeating a certain amount of enemies or scoring a certain amount of points. You can also change the difficulty setting for every mode except Crisis.

AWESOME GAME, EVEN IF BOUGHT USED
I bought the game used to save me a couple of bucks. Came with the game and an USED gun. Brought it home, both the gun and the game played perfectly. If you plan to play with an friend, have a big tv for a split screen. Unless you have a set of two tvs, ps2's, two games and an i.link to connect the ps'2 together so both played have their own tv but play as a team. If you're like me who has Time Crisis 2, the gun that comes with TC3(if you bought the whole set), the gun that comes with TC3 comes in handy if you wanna play Double Barrel.

A Grand Achievement
Once again, Namco has produced a very successful installment into the beloved series of Time Crisis. This installment produces MAXIMUM fun, and in my opinion, is the best out of the three. This game includes Arcade mode, Rescue mission, Crisis missions, sniper combat, The weapon select system, and Multiplayer. I will explain all of those later on. Now, onward to the review....

STORY 7/10

This is the best story any of the Time Crisis games could offer. Usually, the story is pretty linear and retarded, but now the story has some twists. for example, on rescue mission mode is based around the character Alicia, who is on a mission to rescue her brother. Along the way, Alicia runs into one of her brothers comrades, which to my actual surprise, pulled a gun onto Alicia.

The actual plot is that two of V.S.S.E's best officers were sent into the once-peaceful town of Astigos to stop the Zagorian forces from launcing tactical missiles towards Lukano. Along the way, they meet up with Alicia, the sister of a leader of the lukano troops, who joined up with them to rescue her brother. Enough of this though...

SOUND AND MUSIC 9/10

This is the best music i have ever heard on any of the Time Crisis games. It is VERY catchy, and will force you to pause the game and listen to it. There is a problem with the music however. During the cutscenes, the music is so irritating that i want to bash the skull of whoever made that music, as it is very lame, not catchy, and makes me want to vomit.

As usual, the Sound is top-notch on this game, as the gunshots sound like gunshots, and the enemies grunt and scream when you shoot them. Helicopters sound real, you can hear the engine in the jeeps, and so on.

GAMEPLAY 10/10

The most fun light-gun shooting game available. this game portrays many challenges, such as helicopters, enemies shooting from jeeps, or the flamethrower enemies (ohhh those guys piss me off). A VERY fun and challenging item that they added onto this game are shields for the enemies. what I am talking about is that it doesnt take one shot to kill one enemy, but certain enemies have to be shot about 5 times to kill, making the game longer and more enjoyable.

Another add-on that Namco produced was the weapon-select system. this system allows you to choose from four different weapons: The Handgun (unlimited), Machine Gun, Shotgun, and Grenade launcher(last three are limited). In order to receive more ammunition for the limited guns, you have to search and destroy certain yellow-armored soldiers. This new select system is very fun, and if for some reason you get angry at this one section, you can just shoot a grenade at all of the enemies, making you happier, and clearing that area.

The one thing that I think that Namco should have left on from Time Crisis 2 is the double-gun mode....That mode was superfun. Namco created more Crisis missions, even harder and even more than before. Also, after you beat Arcade mode, you unlock a mode called the rescue mission mode, where you play as Alicia on her way to rescuing her brother. along the way, you can play a new feature: Sniper combat, which is pretty fun.

GRAPHICS 10/10

top-notch. that all I have to say

REPLAY VALUE 10/10

I, myself, play this game many times over again, as it is a very nice challenge with lots of fun in it.

I recommend you buy this game with a guncon 2 (about 60 dollars. I know it is expensive, but you'll get over it)

A perfect recreation of the arcade game
Namco's Time Crisis 3 is about as good as any arcade gun game ported to a home system can get. It's fast paced, the graphics and music are sharp, and being able to duck behind obstacles/switch between 4 weapons gives it an innovative edge over other shooters of it's type. The rescue missions unlocked after beating the game also provides an interesting diversion from the main mode. The light gun works fairly well: I've experimented with it on several different TVs, and the only problem I can detect is that aiming at objects in the upper and lower corners of the screen can be difficult at times. Unfortunately, the two player split-screen mode is a joke. The unusually small, squashed screens make it impossible to keep up with the action no matter what controller you use. If you want to get any enjoyment out of the two-player mode, you'll have to play via link cable, which may be more trouble than it's worth. Aside from those flaws, Time Crisis 3 is a formidable port of the arcade version and worth checking out for anyone looking for a solid gun game.

1-player light gun heaven, 2-players sux
Wow!!! what a game...This has to be one of the best light gun games out there! Nothing to complain about except for one flaw...the MULTIPLAYER MODE!!! If you have "only" 1 PS2 (which is how many most normal people have) when you try to play 2 players...the screen splits in half and you can barely see anything...i know this happens in time crisis II also..but damn...they should fix this...This problem does not occur when you have 2 copies of the game and 2 PS2s plus an iLink but who the heck has all the cash to buy $200+ more just to enjoy one game in multiplayer mode? But besides this, the one player mode is tight and the extra rescue mission mode is awesome as well!!! ... Read more

Features

• 1 Player
• Analog Control
• Vibration Function

Reviews (3)

A big improvement
I just got this game, and I'm very impressed by it, especially by the additions.The shield doesn't just slowly increase like in the last game, if you manage to block your enemies attacks right and wait a short moment, it fills all the way back up, allowing you to get right back to the butt kicking.The attacks have also been made more powerful and certain attacks can now be powered up.I also like the addition of new characters, giving the player some variety once they enter the fray, though you do have to play through to the first boss till you can actually use them.The ability to knock back attacks like missles is another interesting addition, plus the fact that there's plenty more of the environment to destroy compared to the first one.

much better than the first one
gungrave overdose isa very fun game. the first gungrave was very short and was pretty much a button masher. overdose is longer harder and more engossing than its predessecor. the multiple characters are a nice edition and the story is very very good. the graphics are a bit antiquated and could use some improvment, but if you can get past the blocky characters and bland levels, it quickly becomes a visualy stunning game. Gungrave is a very stylish shooting game that deserves some respect.

Less Than Stellar Sequel
I'm not so sure what's with these recent sequels hardly surpassing their original predessesors (DMC2, BR2, Max Payne 2 etc.), but GG:O can also be listed as one of those disappointing sequels that had the potential of becoming a phenomenal title, but was instead rushed.

GG2 supposedly takes place after the first GG game, but hardly feels like a sequel (in terms of gameplay).The game does offer more ingenuity aside from the first GG, however ingenuity alone is not what makes a title, it's how it's acquired/accessed which makes it sufficient.Features such as being able to repel cannons, taking better advantage of the "jump" command, coffin swing (when playing as Grave), and finally, the ability to switch demolition shot styles without having to pause the game and choose if from a separate menu, are a step ahead of the original GG and prove to be useful.

At the same token, GG2 has also lost some of it's aspects from it's original GG which made the first a more enjoyable gaming experience.For starters, your ability to regenerate your shield after receiving damage has supposedly been eliminated (possibly to make the gameplay more challenging) and is now regenerable only after having completed an area or battle, it will be regenerated by a small tad (not constantly like it did in the original, after having finished receiving damage).Also your ability to heal (life) from the demolition shot option has also been eliminated for immediate use.It almost seems as though the developers tried to make the game more challenging and in the process made it more frustrating and not enjoyable.

The voice acting in GG2 is done fairly well (dubbed this time and not subtitled like the original) though at times the dialogue can be very slow and repetitive.There also seems to be too much dialogue in between battles (GG is supposed to be a fast-paced action shooter, not an anime soap opera) and really seems to slow down the action.Mika and Spike (Mika in particular) are very annoying.They'll constantly interrup you while you're in the thick of battle, only to try and give you some advice that you could have figured out on your own.Sure, Mika's advice for the tutorial (very beginning of the game) may have proved useful, but that doesn't mean interrup every thirty seconds of a stage to tell me something that I already know.They tell you absolutely NOTHING that you couldn't have figured out on your own! Stating comments suchs as "Look out!! He's got a Cannon Gun/Rocket Launcher!" Yeah, we see that!!!Since when did the unshakable killing machine Grave need advice in the thick of battle?I guess the developers figured that since Grave doesn't talk, they'd just have some friends entertain him, doing all the talking for him.Bad move.

The music is decent.It borrows heavily from the anime series. The same jazzy sound of GG1 as well.Not much to compain about there.

The camera angles are pretty bad, and trying to adjust the camera so that all can be seen is nearly impossible since it goes into this horrid inverted view that focuses only on the player whenever trying to adjust it.Also, whenever your character gets knocked down, the camera goes into a terrible inverted angle that completely throws you off as to where you were.

Boss battles are very tedious, just your average/typical running around in circles shooting and repelling object thrown or shot at you.Not much debt to it.Very unimagitive and repetitive.

The game does have replay value in the sense that after completing the game, it will give the player access to unlockable hidden features (that's if you're willing to ignore the frustrating gameplay and level design to play through).
To be quite honest, GG2 isn't much fun at all compared to the first title.So, by me giving it three stars, I'm being very merciful. Even for a game that retails for about $15 bucks.I could have easily deducted stars for the poor level design, bad frame rate, and very poor unimagitive bosses, but I'll leave that all to the players to decide.If you like games to which are frustrating enough to make you send your controller across your room in a raging flash, then this will probably suit you well.You play and be the judge. ... Read more