Editorial Review

One of the best things about the Game Boy Color is that it'sbasically an original Nintendo Entertainment System that can fit inyour pocket. What this means for gamers is that many of the great gamesfor the classic system are being ported to the Game Boy Color, givingus a chance to re-play (or in some cases discover) the best game titlesfrom the '80s.

Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is among the first ofthese conversions, and it certainly remains one of the best. Actually,calling this game a conversion really doesn't do it justice. Thisversion actually contains more levels than the original game, includingthe entire Japanese version and a slew of extras (such as a two-playermode).

The controls in this game are easy to grasp--even for novice gamers.All Mario can do is jump (and shoot fireballs with the right power- ups), but it is amazing to see how much gameplay can be squeezed fromthese simple actions when the controls work in direct harmony with aplayer's thoughts. The only element of this game that could have beenbetter is that the Game Boy Color's screen isn't quite large enough toshow the entire layout of the original game screen, so players mayoccasionally need to press up and down on the control pad to see someoffscreen action. While this can be distracting, it ultimately hasminimal impact on gameplay. If you are looking for the quintessentialside-scrolling platform game, you can't do much better than SuperMario Bros. Deluxe. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Classic side-scrolling action gameplay
• Lots of extras

• Screen isn't quite big enough to show the entire layout of thegame

Reviews (159)

Momma mia, what a come back!!!!!!
I was a vivid gamer back in the day, and Mario was always one of my all time favorites. I have long since moved away from the video game scene, but now and then I play the classics on the PC. And when I played this version, I was amazed at how great it had been revived to the GBA. The graphics are the same, the gameplay is the same, the sound is the same, but there is new extras and bonus stuff, a pathway to choose, multi player ect.. I have to say this is the best Mario Bros. (1) game ever! Even better then Mario All Stars (snes) version!!!

the best
i had this game and its great i love the fact that it is exactly the same except for the fact that instead of 3 lives you start out with 5 and when you die you are asked if you would like to continue or start over. two great pros to the classic game which make it even better. also the new levels are challenging but great. i lost my copy of this game a fewyears and now i cant find it anywhere! :'(

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe - A True Classic
Super Mario Deluxe was my first Gameboy game ever.It was my first video game ever.It was my best video game ever.Even after buying 16 other Gameboy Color and Advance Games, this is still one of my favorites.
I know what you are thinking: This is a Gameboy Color game!It must have horrible graphics and ridiculously simple gameplay.Well, you are wrong.Yes, it is a Gameboy Color game.Yes, I bought it 2000.But, it is a great game.The graphics are blocky (What do you expect from a Gameboy Color game?) but still pretty good, and the gameplay is anything but simple.
You play as Mario, and you have to collect gold coins, jump on enemies, and save Princess Toadstool, more commonly known as Princess Peach. Once you complete every level in Regular Mode, you have to go through the same levels again as Star Levels.They do have minor changes to make them harder, such as replacing Goombas with Buzzy Beetles, but they are pretty much the same as their regular counterparts.Also, as you complete each level in Regular Mode, it becomes available in Challenge Mode.When you complete a certain amount of the game, the You Vs. Boo Racing Option becomes available. (You can also race against a friend via a link cable.)After you complete more of the game, the Super Mario Bros. 2 Option becomes available.But, that is still not all.You get a table of ten high scores that you can combine with a friend's table.You unlock pictures for your photo albums and other features that can be printed with a Gameboy Printer (which hardly anyone has) and you can tell your fortune and record important events on a daily calendar.Whew, that's a lot of features!
As you can see, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is a very complex game.It took me two months to complete the Regular and Challenge Modes alone, and I haven't fully completed any of the other modes.Super Mario Bros. Deluxe never gets old, though.When I brought it to school in 2003, four or five kids were swarming around me asking to play it, more people than were ever asking to play a Gameboy Advance SP game all at once.I have summarized my review in the following list of pros and cons:

Pros:

It has tons of different features and modes.
It takes a very long time to fully complete.
Even after you beat the game, it never gets old.

Cons:

It has blocky graphics.
Many of the features require a Gameboy Printer, which not many people have.

Wow

This game is the account to the SNES version, its graphics are way better than the original, it even holds alot of secrets, EX. Get enough points and you can play "The Lost Levels, boo race" and more! not to mention this game is such a great gift for the little ones, it is so easy, my little brother (Whose is 6) has almost completed the game!

Great Game!
I have this game and I Love It. It is a challenging game and teaches good stradgy.I rate this Game 5 stars. Buy This game you will love it (or whoever you are getting it for will). ... Read more

Features

• Over 750 authentic Rapala lures and you actually controls the rod for increased realism
• 11 species of highly detailed fish with realistic AI
• 2 gameplay modes: Freedom Fishing and Tournament
• 20 unique tournaments to enter in Tournament mode for realistic trophy fish action
• Tournaments include unlockable Amazon and Danube Delta levels

Reviews (3)

Disapointed!!!
I had the same trouble as Budster. It locked up on both my computers. I have the same complaint, it only has Rapala lures. Nothing against Rapala, they have been very good to me over the years. This game needs very serious updates.

Worked GREAT for me!
Can't explain why Budster had problems.I tried Pro Fishing on my homebrew 3 GHz / 2 GB RAM box using an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro at 1280 X 11024 BPI. It looks perfect and played like a dream.

Rapala Pro Fishing is far, far ahead of Bass Pro (at least in its trial version).The near photo quality of underwater scenes is something to behold, and topside for us air breathers is great as well. Just wait until you see the big fish swimming up out of the weeds to hit your bait.AWE-SOME!

The only small distraction I have is that this program, of course, only has Rapala lures.If we could only create a user editor to add Gary Yamamoto's Senkos and other great plastics, plus a few buzz-baits, spinners, etc. it would be almost as good as being there.

FYI, I loaded it briefly on my wife's 800 MHz Dell that has an ATI 9700 card and it worked OK at 640 X 480 BPI with shading set to 16-bit, but a bit jerky due to the slow speed and only 256 MB of RAM.

If you like to fish, get this one!I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Wish it worked
This is a fun game but it locks up my pc.I have a p4 2.8 with an ati 9700 pro card.It also locked up my other pc-- I hope thay can get the bugs out of game or an update to graphic drivers.Seems like they might have beta tested this or something.At least i got a free rapala lure with it. ... Read more

Features

• Take on opponents in cage and weapons matches
• Features all-new wrestler entrances complete with authentic clips and pyrotechnics
• For 1 to 4 players
• Wrestle as one of your favorite WWF superstars including The Rock, The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin
• Create-a-wrestler and edit modes let you design new characters with unique appearances and mannerisms

Reviews (149)

wresltemania 2000
i got this the day it came out while i love the variety of wrestlers the road to wrestlemania in this game was boring and had no storyline to it whatsoever it was just random matches for the most part and took away from the fun of it for me.

HHmmm....
the discription with that "Steroid powered" is like the game, I love no mercy but well Hmm.....at least this one has the best back stage I've seen. And there's no better comercial.

Get No Mercy Instead
When THQ lost the rights to WCW and gained the WWF this game was a must have for me. I loved this game for ages, more then REVENGE, but as great as it was for a while, I must say I advise you get the step up version "WWF NO MERCY" it was the new and improved version and left this one for dead.

the easiest wrestling game on earth!
the controls are very very easy to pick up.you can,with very little real effort do spectacular feats of dexterity and skill.you can also make your own wrestlers.no i dont mean some wanker with someone elses moves.i mean you make him and you program like 180 different moves into him!theres like over 10 types of suicide dives alone!it rules!if you dont like the guys you get,you can go in and change them also.you cant change the moves,just the appearence.youll be on medium level in no time!

horrible horrible
do not buy even horrible for the time but please read this and take consideration thank you

graphics for time 2/5
fun 1/5
gameplay 1/5
thank you for reading this i made the bad choice of buying it you dont have to ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002, Professional Edition is the latest version of Microsoft's highly realistic aviation simulation--the top-selling PC flight simulation ever produced. FS 2002 Pro introduces many exciting features, including interactive air traffic control (ATC) and auto-generated scenery, plus challenging new aircraft and stunning visual enhancements that truly make Flight Simulator 2002, Professional Edition "as real as it gets."

Flight Simulator 2002, Professional Edition includes a wide variety of aircraft for you to fly--from a new Cessna 172S single-engine trainer and a Caravan floatplane to the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet. You can splash down in a lake, hover in the Bell 206B JetRanger III helicopter, or practice aerobatics in the Extra 300S. FS 2002 Pro includes 16 aircraft, four more than in the standard edition.

Features exclusive to the professional edition include tools for creating your own planes and buildings, and a multiplayer "instructor's seat" capability. The most dramatic new features common to both editions are the interactive air traffic control system, crowded skies, and auto-generated scenery.

The interactive air traffic control feature adds a new dimension to Flight Simulator. Now you can ask for takeoff clearance, get vectors for an instrument approach, and hear other traffic as you fly. In fact, the "other traffic" is itself a new feature: a new artificial intelligence system generates air traffic around and between airports.

It'll be hard to pay attention to the air traffic, however, as the scenery in FS 2002 Pro is so attractive. As you fly above cities, towns, farmland, and dramatic landscapes, Flight Simulator adds buildings and vegetation appropriate to the terrain below. Office buildings, factories, homes, farmhouses, and trees smoothly blend in on the horizon and fill the entire area with detail that adds unprecedented depth and reality to the game.

Other features include more than 21,000 airports, multiplayer capability, improved weather effects, a moving map and GPS system, in-depth flight analysis, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (145)

cool as
this is got to be the coolist came around its like the real hting and my favourite plane is the boeing 747 they are so cool if you dont have this game and you like planes you got to get it i rate this game 100000000000000000000000000 millone stars yheah cooooool aaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssss

from Joshua Huntley

-Junior Pilot
- To Fly is all i have wanted since i was little andgame was right for me. Last christmas i got this simulaor and a sidewinder joystick. This game is so real i find myself yelling in my room because im doing barrel rolls in the extra. i play this simulator every day when i get home from school till i go to bed.You never will get tired of this simulator

There are so many things to do on this simulator including:

-Select a flight-where you choose a flight already made.
-Create a flight-you can choose your own plane, choose anywhere in the world you would like to fly and all the conditions of the flight
-Learn to fly-take lessons from instructor,Rod Dimacho, and earn your private, instrument, commercial, and airline transport Licenses.
-Multiplayer- Fly with other aviators online
-Library- You do not go to the local bookstore anymore! Get your charts, Ground school handbooks, and many others.

The only bad thing about this simulator is that the graphics arent the best.You may be thinking that if you fly off in your town that you can see your house but thats not true. Also you cant get the exitement of crashing out of this simulator, all it does is stick the plane in the ground and if you do not want to crash just turn that setting off and you will just bounce off things.

If you dont have enough money tot ake lesson or you just want to practice this simulator is for you.My uncle is a pilot and he is amazed on how i can fly just by playing this simulator.

Hope you liked my review!

However, this is NOT a game:
http://www.x-plane.com/

So, either play, or go buy a REAL simulator, licenced by FAA to be used in a simulator setting. Loggable!

the best flight sim even as it is older
the newer versions can not come close to this version

Woohoo!I ran this game on a 500mhz PIII PC!!!
I have a hp pavilion (most idiotic pc ever created by mankind) pc with 500 mhz p3, 64mb riva TNT graphics card and 128mb of ram and I was still able to enjoy this game.Yes, I had to shut down every single program to let this game eat up my system resources, and yes it was so slow that I could practically count the frames on the screen as I flew the cesna over a night shot of las vegas.But the intensity! the magic!!woohoo! this game rules!@!@! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

This anthology of classic Atari arcade games consists of Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Missile Command, Super Breakout, and Tempest. With the press of a button, you can switch between vertical and horizontal screen orientations to suit your tastes. Each game is faithfully reproduced and is just as easy and fun to play as the original. The anthology also comes with an Atari trivia game.

Game Descriptions:

• Asteroids: A triangular spaceship blasts away at a crowded field of asteroids, breaking them into smaller, faster chunks with new, hazardous trajectories.
• Battlezone: Fire at enemy tanks and hoverships in a vector-drawn landscape from the viewpoint of a tank commander.
• Centipede: Keep the garden safe from spiders, centipedes, and other pests as they squirm around mushrooms and approach the bottom of the screen.
• Missile Command: Defend your city and its military bases by destroying ballistic missiles that rain down from above.
• Super Breakout: Break through a multicolored wall by batting a ball off a paddle to destroy it one brick at a time.
• Tempest: Stop all manner of aliens from breaching a 3-D cylinder by firing on them from the rim of your spacecraft.

Features

• Six authentic Atari arcade favorites.
• Single or multiplayer action.
• Exclusive Atari Trivia Challenge game.

Reviews (16)

Back to the Future!20 years ago!
Remember when video games were in the arcades, and you had a pocket full of quarters?When Chuck E. Cheese was your favorite restaurant, and Aladdin's Castle was a place to hang out not a locale in a Disney flick?If you do this game is for you! In it you will find faithful reproductions of Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Missile Command, Super Breakout, and Tempest.No updates, no "arrangements", just straight up video games from the early 80s.

Most people have noticed the controls are an issue, and I agree they do hinder you sometimes.Missle Command and Centipede were designed for a track ball, and Super Breakout really needs a paddle.Using the directional pad takes some getting used to.I ended up playing this more on my GameBoy Player for the GameCube which made them a little easier.

But fans of these now primitive games/then innovative will be glad to see them again in any form.The games are simple and immediately playable and addictive.I am a fan of the retro games, and this package has some great ones.I love being able to play ASTEROIDS just as it was in the arcades - a bunch of white lines on a black screen with just a bass line going the whole time!Even the Atari 2600 improved on it with color!

You have to see this for what it is - the dawn of video games.Its nostalgia, a living museum where you can go back to a time when video games were mainly in arcades.You won't see dazzling graphics or complicated missions to complete.Mainly geometric shapes firing dots at each other.:-)But for some reason I love the games for being simple.Just shoot and stay alive as long as you can.And no tokens!

Disappointing
I was eagerly anticipating being able to play some of my favorite arcade games from the early 1980s.Unfortunately, the reality of playing them on a Gameboy is sorely disappointing.

The trackball-based games, Centipede and Missile Command, are the biggest letdowns.Using the Gameboy's directional control to emulate a trackball just doesn't work.Centipede works adequately at first, but the inability to make swift moves quickly becomes a handicap.Missile Command is just unplayable.In the arcade version I would typically get a five-figure score; on the Gameboy I'm lucky to make it past the first level.

Battlezone is okay, but the small screen makes targeting much too difficult.I never played Super Breakout in the arcades, but as with Missile Command, the awkward controls make it nearly impossible.Asteroids and Tempest are probably the most successful of the bunch, but that isn't saying much.

The Atari trivia game is just bizarre.Do people really know the names of Atari's designers?

Amazing Retro Reproductions
Both the look and sound have been captured perfectly in this Gameboy Advance version of Atari Ainniversary. Asteroids is perfect down to the look of the high scores. Same goes for the rest of the games---truly amazing considering how small the Gameboy screen is, but every detail is there. The only difference is in the control pad since all of the original games had different types of controls. But once you adapt and get used to the Gameboy controller, this is fun play for retro gamers.

Atari Avanced: by Jeff
Atari Advanced is a great game. It has six different classic arcade games so its hard to get bored of it because you have such a variety. The controls are very easy and simple so you can spend time playing not figuring out controls. The graphics arent good, but its really fun and thats all that matters. You can play exiting arcade games w/o having to pay a quarter every time!

Gaming Returns to Basics
If you compare against today's games, this might garner a 3-star. However, I really like some of the old games because they require more than many games today. This is a very good replica, so it garners a 5-star rating. My favorite is BattleZone (I spit on the recent arcade version of it). It requires good timing, precision and good use of resources (no, you cannot merely holding down on the fire button forever). These simple games beat 70% of the games on the market. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Fun but falls flat on its face.
Sure the graphics are much more colorful than the last GBA Castlevania but the graphics and enemies look downright like cartoons in most parts.

Plus whats the deal with your main characters blue shadow?
I think that was a bit of a overkill.
And the magic system has been severely, and badly, toned down from the Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.

And the two identical castle system really lacks imagination and makes the game very very tedius near its end.
Exploring every area of the game TWICE does make the game longer but it definitely doesnt make it funner...

Depressingly Dissapointing
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is Koji Igarashi's second take on the CV franchise (his first being the critically acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the Playstation). While many have dubbed this as "heir apparent to Symphony of the Night," I beg to differ.Even as SotN is one of my favorite games ever, and even as I am a Castlevania fan, Harmony of Dissonance (HoD) has come across as an incredibly disappointing gaming experience in many respects.

Please read: I love Symphony of the Night to death. I hate Harmony of Dissonance.

Displaying different play mechanics, level layout, atmosphere, and many other traits, it is quite radically different from SotN, and pretty much any other Castlevania.Is this good, or bad?We'll take a look and see.

Let's start out with the story and the beginning of the game.Juste Belmont, grandson of Simon, decides to follow his friend, Maxim, to the area where Maxim saw a castle appear out of nowhere, and where he believes their friend, Lydie, is being held captive.Could it truly be the legendary Castle Dracula?
The characters certainly have some personality, such as Juste's "newcomer" characteristics as a Vampire Hunter, but, overall, it's nothing special or deep.The dialogue in HoD is quite mundane and forgettable. Castlevania has never really been about story, but after SotN's excellent plot and nearly "biblically-quotable" dialogue that was pure gold, I'd hoped to see better from Igarashi than what is here.Sadly, the girl, Lydie, is just another pretty face with basically no personality, and who is basically seen in less than 1% of your game playing time.

I've heard a lot of people praise this game's graphics, and say they are incredible step up from CotM's.I will indeed say that the graphics are more varied than CotM's, in that CotM's look was basically was comprised of brick-walls/pillars background, one after another.Oddly enough, though, CotM evoked so much more atmosphere than HoD does.With its huge rooms, and majestic and shadowy architecture, it truly gave off a sense of your smallness and its magnificence, and was quite unlike anything I'd ever experienced before in a game.In short, CotM pretty much got it right in making me feel like I was in a castle of darkness, mystery, and evil.HoD, unfortunately, leaves behind all notion of atmosphere in its more varied locales (except in the Entrance and the Chapel), something that is crucial in a video game, especially in a series such as Castlevania. The Castle Treasury is the first biggest piece of evidence for this subject.Offering us a mainly drab, gray background with various bits of unexceptional detail, it is randomly interspersed with unique, yet still unsatisfying, backgrounds, like the crystal filled hallways, which pale in comparison to CV4's lovely treasury, and are pretty much boring in their own right.There is no real level of progression.Rooms feel so randomly connected and unrelated that one sometimes gets an unnecessary feeling of confusion or longing for some type of continuity or relation.The lack of transition rooms between areas makes this more potent.

Numerous examples of HoD's boring level design can be seen in the "Aqueduct of Dragons," HoD's "sewer area."Besides the areas' rooms being basically 2 rooms repeated over and over, the lack of pretty much any details that catch our eye is depressing.The exceptions to HoD's dominant drab areas are the Corridor in the Air/Sky Walkway (HoD's chapel), and the Cave of Skeletons.The Chapel is such a breath of fresh air.Lovely, curvy architecture fleshes out this area, and there are all sorts of neat details all over, such as the statues.The scrolling clouds effect from SotN is back, though in a less impressive version, yet it's still nice, if a little disappointing that they so blatantly ripped something off from SotN and didn't come up with something new.In the "Alternate Castle" Chapel (more on this later), as you get farther and farther up in the towers, lightning will flash, and shadowy faces will randomly appear in the windows.Inversely, it also breaks my heart that more of this care to detail and beauty couldn't be dispersed throughout more of the Castle.The Cave of Skeletons isn't really pleasing as it is interesting in some parts, in that there are nods to other Castlevanias in the various backgrounds, such as the skeletons of Slogra and Gaibon displayed on a wall in the lower parts of the level.Other than that, it's another one of the forgettable places in HoD.In HoD, to put it simply, the "real castle" is too colorful, and the "alternate castle" is just way too gray and uninteresting.Areas like the Luminous Cavern and the Room of Illusion in the Marble Corridor are meretricious and colorful to the point of neon-vulgarity.Some may like this; I found it to be rather repulsive.HoD gives up the feeling of being in a true castle to the idea that certain aspects have to grab your attention, no matter how unattractive it is in its display, and in so, loses that subtle, wonderful progression of your realization of the surrounding environment, which SotN and CotM so excellently displayed.

Level design...something very, very crucial in games.It can make or break a game.Sure, a game can have spectacular gameplay mechanics and other special features, but can be brought down significantly by shoddy level layout (Lament of Innocence, I'm looking at you).HoD has some parts that are just great and fun to traverse, like the Chapel area, but ends up failing miserably on almost all accounts with its extremely repetitious nature.80% of the time, the room you'll be in will be some straight corridor with nothing to do but pretty much run down it and kill the small number of enemies populating it.Without a doubt, the low point of HoD's level layout is its vertical rooms, which, unfortunately, make a lot of appearances, including the infamously bad "elevator rooms."A description of these rooms are as follows: a room, which basically consists of a vertical route with multiple levels which you reach by walking to the left to, jumping up, walking to the right, jumping, walking to the left, and so on to get to the top.These are just horrifically, mind-numbingly boring rooms, and really detract so much from the experience.You'd have to experience them to see what I am describing.The Clock Tower is chock full of these rooms, some of the biggest ones in the game, in fact, and, as such, is one of the most dull areas in HoD.Other things that come to mind are the "Skull Doors," doors that require a certain key in order to get past them, and which are placed in your way to, more or less, make backtracking to areas even more difficult and less convenient.They're not blocking anything interesting, like some helpful equipment or armor.They're merely there just to extend the game's playing time by making the player needlessly backtrack through areas the player does not want to go through again, since they block off entrances which would make transitioning from area to area much easier.I'm all for backtracking, as the previous "Castleroids" are full of it.But, HoD just has such a boring and strangely laid out Castle when compared to SotN and CotM that it's more of a chore than a pleasure.As a whole, Harmony of Dissonance feels very unfinished and unplanned in the execution of the castle's layout.It's impractical in its design.

HoD's alternate castle is not turned upside down like the one in SotN.It pretty much is the exact same thing, with slightly different enemies and color schemes.HoD's alternate castle has different items to collect in different places, and different bosses, and that's about it.This time, it's crucial to traverse through it in order to beat the game, whereas in SotN it's more of a joyful revelation.As HoD's castle was not interesting to me, finding out that I had another nearly identical castle to explore was more of an unpleasant surprise than a godsend.

Exploring the castle is closely tied in with gameplay, and how the game feels, so I'll move onto that, next.You'll instantly notice that Juste feels "airy" when compared to CotM's protagonist, Nathan.His jump is more "floaty," and right from the get-go, he already slightly runs.Each shoulder button on the Game Boy Advance is used for the new dash feature, which allows Juste to slide across the ground in a burst of speed, either to traverse through areas more quickly, or to dash back from an enemy's attack.However, I felt that the dash attribute really dumbed the game down to feel like you're ice-skating through the castle.That's not something you want to be reminded of when you want atmosphere.You will pretty much use the dash feature to go everywhere.Why walk when you can dash?It was just an unpleasant experience for me that felt overused.It was almost as if the developers wanted you to rush through all the areas in hopes that you wouldn't notice the startlingly unimpressive level design.Juste loses in terms of his whip-handling skills when compared to Nathan, as when you whip and jump, you cannot change your direction until you land.This, obviously, leads you to accidentally jump into the enemy more than you care for.A lot of the time I just felt like the character was controlling me, not him.Not a good thing.This game controls nothing like SotN, or CotM.Don't believe otherwise.

On to the designs of the main character and enemies.Again, Juste loses in terms of believability and fluidity when compared to Alucard and Nathan.His gait is quit humorous and graceless, comparable to someone doing a strange type of running workout.His falling animation is quite pathetic as well.Hair half turned up, as well as his coat, and his legs completely vertical, it's actually quite comedic to see in action.While he has more frames of animation than Nathan, his actions are much less believable, and look more outlandish.There is also the sense that parts of Juste are too large or goofy looking, such as his hands.Iga chose to put some type of blue glow around Juste, and give him an after-image, as well.I suppose this was to let the player see him easier, but this made me cringe; first of all, it's ripping off Alucard's trademark of essence trailing out behind him (though it is still a lot less graceful than Alucard's), and second of all, it just looks too bright and silly.It really just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.I would've been able to see him just fine without it.

Some of the enemies are reused from SotN, though they're all a little less impressive looking, as the graphics are being displayed on a system with Super Nintendo capabilities, not Playstation.Generally, though, the legion of enemies this time is much less impressive than SotN's and CotM's.Perhaps this is due to most of them being comprised of variations of a single enemy, such as the Skeleton enemy, or the Living Armor.I was left feeling unimpressed.The enemies' A.I. is stupid and non-aggressive for the most part, and they usually won't attack until you wait a few seconds, and when they do attack you, they hurt very little.There are no "super enemies" in this game, like the Guardians from SotN, and the Dark Armor from CotM.The bosses are equally lame, usually not moving around much, always extremely easy, and having uninspired designs, such as the "Biggie" enemies, like the Giant Merman, or Peeping Big.Only three bosses caught my eye.It's evident that all the bosses in HoD were made merely to show off the G.B.A.'s capabilities, rather than to present a fun or challenging fight.

HoD is quite possibly the easiest game I've ever played.SotN was easy, too, but made up for it by being pretty much perfect in all other aspects.CotM was going the right direction with its difficulty, exploration and combat-wise.For HoD, the only slight difficulty one may encounter during the travel through the castle is finding all of Dracula's Relics, and probably the final Spell Book.As far as status effects go, "Poison" basically has no effect in HoD, whereas CotM's poison status was a beast."Curse" status makes Juste walk slower and unable to use his dash move.As I mentioned before, the enemies are all very easy to defeat and don't require much thinking, if any.Bosses are complete pushovers.A majority of them are big, and, sadly, that's all they have going for them.Most boil down to you whipping them in one spot, dashing back from one of their slow attacks, and then coming back to whip them mindlessly.The worst boss of all is probably Max Slimer, who never has gotten an attack in on me.All one has to do is crouch right next to it and whip it until it dies.It's all very dull, and there is never any sense of accomplishment when you defeat a boss.It's all made more annoying by the fact that some have a lot of HP, but don't present any challenge.Don't think that it's easy just based on the enemies; you can find so many potions and healing items in rooms and from dead enemies that you'll never really worry about your condition.As this game is like an RPG in the leveling up aspect, it's disappointing that it's pretty much impossible to get past the level 50s, considering basically every monster gives only 1 EXP once you reach the levels near the 50s. This gives the player very little incentive to fight monsters later on.First of all, any item that en enemy may drop can be merely bought from the merchant or found in the castle in easy to find spots.Also, enemies won't drop weapons like they did in SotN, as your only weapon in HoD is a whip, so that is another reason to not kill them.Suddenly, the enemies become mere speed bumps.

Remember how you had to work really hard or get really lucky to get the best equipment in SotN and in CotM?Remember killing the 100th Guardian and finally getting the God's Garb, or beating the Battle Arena and getting the Shining Armor, and feeling that great sense of accomplishment or excitement?Well, not here.Merely get to a certain area by doing a special jump, and voila, there is one of the most powerful armors in the game.I can't tell how much this gave the game an anti-climactic feeling, especially when I got the best armor basically handed to me.There are many whip types; some are characterized by Elemental attributes, but this still doesn't make a difference.I switched up my Fire attachment for a Lightning attachment during the Giant Merman fight, and noticed only about a 5 or 10 damage difference.It's all very negligible and useless.The only helpful whip is the one that breaks apart the occasional cracked barrier that is in your way.Why does HoD have so many pointless things?Another thing that detracts from HoD's experience is that you won't be getting any cool items to use, like SotN's Power of Sire, or the Monster Vials.You'll find none of those great trinkets here in HoD.This game just gives you healing items as things to use.

There is a merchant this time around; unfortunately, he has absolutely no value in this game.The only things he'll ever sell to you that are remotely interesting are the Spring Boots, which let you jump forever, but even this is useless.You're handed so many potions and good armor during the course of the game, the merchant is rendered obsolete, ultimately.

Feeling he needed to best the DSS Card System from Circle of the Moon, Iga has implemented his own gameplay gimmick, the Spell Book Fusion system.As you traverse through the Castle, you'll come upon books of different Elemental qualities, such as the Wind Book.By equipping these books with certain sub-weapons (such as the Cross, Holy Water, Dagger), you can trigger certain spells.For instance, if you combine the Ice Book with the Bible, you can trigger a series of shockwaves to spread out on either side of you, damaging all enemies on the ground, and in the air, if they're low enough.While the Spell Book system sounds good on paper, in actuality, the Magic spells are simply too powerful, and there is no real "penalty" for exploiting the system. You regain MP at a quick rate, and you use little to no Hearts when you cast spells in combination with your Sub-Item. Most bosses fall within a few spell casts. Once you find the Wind Book and Cross combo, any challenge the game ever had (which is basically none at all) is gone. The worst part is that normal Sub-Items become entirely useless. One of the cornerstones of the series has suddenly become obsolete.On top of this is the fact that none of the Spell Books are hard to find; basically, you'll walk into a room, and it will be sitting right there.This also ties into the fact that HoD is nearly rid of any kinds of secrets, except for three.SotN was full of breakable walls, ceilings, and floors all over, and CotM had an incredible amount of hidden rooms, some that were truly very difficult to discover.Why HoD loses this aspect of exploration, I have no idea.

The music...yes, indeed.HoD sports what is probably the most controversial soundtrack ever in the series.The developers of HoD claimed that in order to achieve the certain graphics they got in the game, the sound department had to take a hit, rendering HoD's soundtrack on the same sound quality level of Gameboy or NES music.Having played Aria of Sorrow as well, I can't understand how this works, as AoS's graphics are notably better than HoD, yet the sound quality in AoS is significantly better sounding, quality wise, than Harmony's.As a side note, let me say that I rather enjoy the Castlevania NES soundtracks.Though they're chock full of the "beeps" and "boops" of the glory days, Castlevania 1, 2, and 3 all manage to produce probably the best soundtracks for any games on the Nintendo Entertainment System.The sound wizards at Konami managed to pump out some seriously fitting tunes for the games.

Now comes HoD, more than a decade later.As I've mentioned before, the songs for the Entrance and Marble Corridor are both pretty good.HoD is a departure from the preceding recent Castlevanias, in that it has a very action oriented soundtrack.While SotN had a wide variety of music, it mostly was melancholy.The N64 games were atmospheric forays into the world of music for Castlevania, and CotM brought back a lot of the old tunes, and demonstrated a very majestic and "large" score.As I've also pointed out, the music begins to take a dip when one reaches the Castle Treasury.While it could be said that the early Castlevanias were action soundtracks, too, they beat out HoD in every aspect, as HoD fails in presenting fitting songs, and even some awfully composed ones.The bottom of the proverbial barrel in HoD's soundtrack is the Clock Tower theme, which is odd, considering most Castlevanias' Clock Tower themes are usually one of the highlights of the games' scores.Starting off interestingly for perhaps the first few seconds, it slowly morphs into a sea of depressing sounds.The climax is truly something that needs to be heard in order to comprehend its horror; ripe with squeals, whines, and, funny enough, dissonance, it's the main song that makes me turn off the sound of my GBA when it comes on.Castlevania shouldn't make one turn off the sound; rather, it should make one turn it up.The Luminous Cavern's song apparently is trying to go for a dark and mysterious feel, and starts out interestingly enough, but it ends up being extremely repetitive.In the Chapel, like some others, the melody starts off very originally and beautifully, sounding almost like a Gameboy quality SotN-grade song with its almost sad, ebbing notes.Sadly, it degenerates into a speedy mix of opposing beats and melodies about halfway in, which really is out of place for an area such as the Chapel.It just feels too fast-paced and un-focused.Those are a few examples, but overall, I wasn't that impressed with the score.It was too drab and out of place, and even depressing.Castlevania 4 perfected the "depressing" music of a Castlevania game, but still maintained an incredible amount of atmosphere and beauty in its soundtrack.Again, I'm not taking points off because of the sound quality (which doesn't help, either), but because the songs failed to evoke very much emotion with me and weren't memorable.It had too much of a fast and active feeling soundtrack for such an empty feeling castle.Experimental?Yes, very.Good?Depends on your tastes.

In trying to emulate SotN, HoD merely lets itself down by displaying itself as an inferior rip-off of an incredible game.It seems as though Iga thought he could throw in a bunch of stolen ideas from SotN and automatically make the game brilliant.However, these ideas weren't realized to their full potential, and, thus, create the feeling that the game is somehow incomplete, like a test version of a Castlevania game.Gone is the challenge; gone is the wide array of cool items; gone is the incredible music Castlevania is known for; gone is the genius level design; gone is the atmosphere; gone is that "Castlevania magic" that makes this series so endearing; gone are a lot of aspects, which ultimately make HoD a failure of a Castlevania game, and a very, very mediocre game on its own.

A great adventure at times obscured by myriad blemishes.
Harmony of Dissonance (HoD, for the contraction) begs to be compared with any and every Castlevania game that has appeared since the series began in 1986, but despite the large number of cameos and overall classic feel it is best to ultimately judge this title on its own merits, providing comparisons merely for reference. It accomplishes what it sets out to in providing a gameplay experience that has some incredibly strong points and a variety of goals, but tastes as though it has had some artifical extenders added into the mix.

The GBA's shoulder buttons allow you to dash left or right at nearly any time, setting an emphasis early in the game on making an attack quickly and dashing away. Tellingly, there aren't any poisoned waters you will be collecting a necklace to treat; while many upgrades will be familiar from Circle of the Moon (CotM, Konami's 2001 GBA Castlevania), Harmony of Dissonance adds some of these essential items as whip upgrades and effectively integrates them into the game. In place of CotM's DSS card system is a new Spell Fusion system which allows the player to use only the classic subweapons (a dash of holy water or a thrown axe in your enemy's face) or to pair a subweapon with a particular type of elemental magic to great effect. Inscrutable enemy tolerance/weakness come into play once again, but an Encyclopedia of fallen enemies will help you figure out what's helpful - though the trouble of changing your whip upgrade or Spell Fusion combo is usually greater than simply whipping away at the enemy would be. As a bit of a spoiler, at least one combination allows you to rotate your d-pad to get something extra out of the attack, and it's also possible to use one type of music by itself (though you must lose the subweapon first - can you figure that one out?)

The magic and item systems are responsible for the wealth of "bosses are easy" comments. Played in a traditional fashion without magic or using healing items during battle, Harmony of Dissonance is indeed challenging. Even with some use of the Spell Fusion system against bosses, they absorb many hits before you can finally vanquish them and their attacks often deplete a fourth of your life meter or more.

HoD also differs from Circle of the Moon in that characters are is much larger than in CotM, while areas are smaller in scale and don't feature the same panoramic vistas of that other title. HoD provides, pixel for pixel, more variety and actual content in all areas despite this.

At release, HoD was considered to be a significant step up from CotM in terms of graphics with many highly detailed backgrounds taking the place of CotM's usually repetitive ones (in addition both games have paralax scrolling in many areas). Visibility is now less of an issue with the introduction of the GBA SP and the GB Player, but at the time the "neon castle" approach was very appropriate (it reminds one of the original Rastan arcade game in a way), and fans were relieved for the reprieve against visits to the eye doctor and purchasing Afterburner kits. Harmony goes overboard with tons of large artwork pieces to be found that fill a good section of the screen and many large details filling in parts of the environment - it actually manages to compete with the third GBA Castlevania, Aria of Sorrow. Unfortunately, this game also contains some amazingly ugly and repetitive areas; a few of the game's tallest shafts are nothing but a series of floors to jump onto over and over, with a slow elevator in the middle. Harmony would have been served better to have some of these less interesting areas spruced up a bit; a few superfluous elements to the game should've been axed to make it happen. The save rooms in particular simply look pathetic, with a silly bouncing ball in the middle. The sprites for the three main characters also aren't anything to look at; your hero's running animation is comical. Overall, though, many of the trippy graphical ideas come off excellently.

HoD has taken a severe pounding for its music. Notably lower in quality than Circle of the Moon's neat music which at times sounded on par with the SNES; the reasoning here is that to provide the (usually) incredible graphics they had to fall back to PGM sound - basically back to programming sound for the Game Boy Color. Given this, the music sounds very good, with some incredibly strong tracks such as Successor of Fate (the Entrance theme), Offense and Defense (the next area BGM), and Chapel of Dissonance (the Sky Walkway area BGM) is rather nice as well. That said, some of it might be favorably described as a strange attempt to set the mood (the Luminous Caverns track)...or simply unpleasant to listen to and even depressing. This is a mixed bag, but Juste's Theme (the Entrance Theme again) has become a personal favorite from not only the game but the series.

There are some other minor quirks, and the game employs a trick to allow more of the same castle to be visited (along the lines of SotN). I felt that this idea was executed brilliantly overall; sometimes the changes are quite stunning and unexpected. On the down side, some interesting references to previous Castlevania games in the item list were botched for the English translation - Sypha (the female magician from Castlevania III) became Cipher, and a curious item that allows you to fling fireballs from your whip when at full health is no longer called Christoper's Soul. There's also a bit of (humorous!) unedited translation in the script that should keep you chuckling. The "true endgame" is very hard to find and figure out, but the pieces are all within your reach early on.

This is a great game - not great enough to make one a fan of bangles and room decoration, but it's a solid game overall with some incredible moments that few other games have.

good... but there are better...
Being a long time castlevania fan, I was really excited about this game. I however was somewhat disapointed with it. What the game gets right is great play controll, cool areas, some neat items and a neat gothic-vampire-esque story. But this game has almost no difficulty (except for collecting ALL of the relics... that is a chalenge)... To be honest, the only time I died was while playing the final boss, and even then, that death could have been easily avoided if I had used one of my 13 potions. The magic system in the game is ok, using spell books with weapons to create powerful magic, but these spell books are too easilly obtained (except for the last book, the summoning tome, which reqires a little bit of searching)and just a little too powerful. The bosses are also VERY uninspired and boaring compared to previous castlevania bosses. The game is a great time killer and is fun, but if you are looking for some gothic, vampire slaying action, You should probably look at Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, or Castlevania lament of Innocence.If you're a fan, then pick it up ..... but if not, you might want to consider another castlevania game.

Castlevania continues it's reign of quality
The Castlevania series are my favorites, for sure, and this one's another gem for the collection.This one's about Juste Belmont, blood descendant of Simon Belmont,a master vampire hunter who has slayed the Count on multiple occassions. The plot is different than just slaying Drac though. Juste's friend Lydie has disappeared within the walls of Castlevania,and Justeand
his childhood friend MaximKischne setout tofind her, yeteverything endsup goingawry somehow...Just to boot, Maxim's body is invaded byDracula's spirit...BUT...Thereal aim of this game is to find all of Dracula's Remains(Fang, Tooth, Nail, Ring, Eye, Heart) though most players will not realize this without help froma strategy guide of sorts...

As for the actual review, there are a variety of things right and wrong with this game. To boot, we have superb graphics, boasting some of the most vivid, easy-on-the-eyes background scenery on the Game Boy Advance, but the blue aura surrounding Juste makes him seem somewhat out ofplace. Not to mention when he walks and jumps, he seems like he'smagnetically attracted to the ground-but that's a completely seperate problem!

The castle is huge. There's so much to explore, and I'm glad they brought back the teleporter system, which predecessor Circle of the Moon sloppily butchered.There are two castles, one being a harder version of the other (a Symphony of the Night element.) with greater puzzlesandchallenges. Everything's easy to adjust to, andit never seems like you have to guess where you'regoing, which is another thing Circle of theMoon didwrong. Alsobrought back is the currency system with the Merchant's Shop though the items are a little cheap...which can add or take away challenge depending on what the player wants...even though the game is challenging without being strenuous as it is.

The music is well orchestrated, but the sound quality is a throwback to the days of NES. A select few compositions are simply superb, while the rest are mediocre. Listen closely for the one in the Sky Walkway, which is haunting. Moving on...

The bosses are redundant and oftenpointless (Gettinga jewel that inreases MP restoration rate for getting rid of one of the game's harder bosses for example...and MP is not important) but some areuniqueand well-thought of (the Devil, for example.)Death (Grim Reaper) also makes a lovely appearance (or four) One thing they stole from Symphony, however, that they shouldn't have is the cheesy dialouge. Yes, it's back. Misplaced curse words and utterly stupid scriptwriting at some points add a flavor of kiddy gameplay to the game- not that the game is, however, a kiddy game. My biggest qualm, however, is that thegame is simply a pain (...) few points, if that tells you anything. Some enemies have no pattern to them, hence, they're so unpredictable that it makes the game frustrating.But you'll adjust over time, and thegood faroutweighs the bad. The best of the three Castlevania GBA games, by far, if simply for the replay value (very, very high...) and the overall quality. It would have made asuccessful Playstation game. The 2nd best in the series, in my opinion, even with the negative points.

BOTTOM LINE: Harmony of Fun
GRADE: A ... Read more

Book Description

Law & Order: Dead on the Money is an exciting 3-D game based on an original, complex murder case created by a Law & Order TV writer. You'll step into the dramatic world of criminal investigation when you're called to a crime scene in Manhattan's Central Park. You and your partner, Detective Lennie Briscoe (actual voice of Jerry Orbach), will work to uncover the identity of the victim, gather evidence, track down witnesses, and identify viable suspects. Once you've got enough evidence to make an arrest, your supervisor, Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (actual voice of S. Epatha Merkerson), will sign off on your warrant. Once you have the killer in custody, the focus shifts to the criminal courts. You'll work with Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn (actual voice of Elisabeth Rohm) to build a compelling case that will convince the jury to return a guilty verdict and convict the defendant. ... Read more

Features

• You are a Detective:
• Crime Scene: You and your partner, Detective Lennie Briscoe, arrive at the crime scene. Scout the entire area for clues and collect all the relevant evidence.
• Map: Use the map of Manhattan to get around town. Throughout your investigation additional locations will appear on the map as you develop new leads.
• Witnesses: You'll encounter many witnesses during your investigation. Pull out your notepad and fire away with your questions. Ask the right questions, get closer to the truth. Ask too many wrong questions and it's back to square one.
• Case File: Evidence and witness testimony you collect will appear in your Case File. Use the forms to order a lab test, surveillance, background checks or a psychiatric evaluation. You can also request search warrants and arrest warrants.

Reviews (56)

Would be fun if it didn't have a time frame
There is way too much stuff to be picked up and sent all over the place for testing and researching and whatnot. Unfortunately, some witnesses are only "unlocked" after you submit the right item, so unless you're quite fast picking up stuff etc. you can't solve the case within the allotted time frame.

This game would be very interesting and entertaining if they didn't cut off the investigation after a week (that's gime time, not real time).

Law & Order: Dead on the Money
This game is fun.This game makes you look and listen real good.If you like the show, you will love the game.

Good but needs improvement
I am a Law & Order addict and was thrilled when I came across this game.I couldn't wait to get it loaded on my PC, only to find it was frought with problems!Even after upgrading my memory, installing all the patches from the software manufacturer, and cleaning out my hard drive, I still had problems running the game.The speed was quite slow and I had difficulty getting from scene to scene because of this.Despite this, I was very interested in the game and the more difficult the "investigation" proved to be, the more I wanted to see what happened next!After many times failing, I finally made it through the "investigation" and on to "the courthouse," only to have the game freeze up when I was very close to solving the case!I was livid!I am in the process now of replacing my PC system and resolved not to play the game again until the upgrade is complete.

Despite all the problems, the game is quite interesting and the character roles are really close to the actual TV ones.I did have to use the hints on the manufacturer's website quite a bit, as I found the game quite challenging!After patrolling the same area several times, I finally wised up and went for the hints!Another reviewer stated that frequent saves are a must in case the game locks up and I agree completely with that statement.Saving your progress ever so often would prevent having to repeat the same parts of the game over in the event of a freeze-up or botched investigation.

I am looking forward to finishing the game and will purchase the second Law & Order game that is now available.I just hope it will have less technical issues than the first.

Best Game Ever!
It is a good game, interesting like the show. It's bad because it has a short time limit and freezes up every once in a while. But I would recomend it to Law & Order fans.

Yes, 4 stars...even w/ the bugs
I have to admit that at first this game seemed ridiculous. Going through weird pieces of evidence at the crime scene seemed like a waste of time to me and I didn't find the right thing for awhile so I was stuck. I felt a little silly sending cigarette butts to the crime lab. LoL. But once I got the hang of it, it was great. I was lucky to be able to check this game out for free at a local library. Otherwise, the bugs would have really bothered me. One other problem...for a game that stresses logic, the gameplay at time lacks it. I just thought it was odd that when something about a piece of evidence revealed something new about other evidence, the Researcher made no connection when you asked him for analysis again. Other than those things...and of course, the common error of the game freezing sometimes, it is well worth playing. Playing again? Maybe. It might be better to play the game in secret from another person, then have the other person play the game and you monitor their progress. That might be fun to see who solved it faster. ... Read more

Product Description

The best courses, the finest equipment and the coolest players as well as the ability to play as yourself make this golf-simulator a hole in one. ... Read more

Features

• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Genre: Sports
• Mission: Play as or against the Tiger himself in this high-stakes battle for the championship title
• Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Reviews (15)

Good interface, if you pick the right one
When picking whether to go with this title or its rival (I'll omit the name), one big factor was the courses being featured and the overall deisgn. I liked the idea that a person had to develop their character, and build him into a champion, rather than simply setting stats and running.

The one thing a person needs to look out for is in regards to which difficulty level is selected. On either the novice or expert settings, making a good swing with the mouse (pulling it back and pushing it through along the same line) is important, but novice only lets you hit the ball strait. There is little challenge, and little chance of the occasional whoopsie that accompanies a real round of golf. I played the game on novice close to the end, but it got completely boring when my golfer could hit the ball 330 yards in a strait line every time. The challenge of the game was gone, and so my interest.

On the other hand, if you start on expert and work with it, the game adds the element of not only your personal performance, but also shotmaking. With novice you have to really do something weird before you hit the ball bad, but on expert it takes a better touch with the mouse on top of the possibility that what you thought was a strait shot may have had a little sidespin on it that will take it off course... or strait at the hole.

Being able to hit draws and fades greatly increases the interest in the game, as you then have a huge number of options besides just picking the club you think you can hit the fairway with. The choice becomes "which club can I hit with just the right amount of draw spin to get it down the fairway in just the right place?" My advice is to play on expert from the start and just get used to everything.

Graphics wise, the game is OK, and apparently vastly improved with 2005. If your machine can't handle the new version, or you like the older courses better, going with 2004 should still be satisfying.

The only things I really wish the game included are more detailed equipment adjustments and selection (the ability to build custom clubs... why not?), and an expansion pack of courses. Naturally, there is probably a little matter of royalties for the courses in the game, but one or two extra wouldn't hurt, would they?

Highly overrated
Players are not different enough cause you only get Tiger.

I dislike how putting is done.

Too many arcade elements for a "sim" game.

CPU AI is not worth playing against.

Recommend a 128MB Vid Card
This game is EXCELLENT, IF a person has a decent Video Card. I tried it before I upgraded my Video Card. Liked it but once I installed the upgraded Graphics card, and checked all the options in the settings. The GAME CAME ALIVE! The trees move; the grass flows with the wind; and the water ripples; shadows look great; reflections on water... Great test on the performance of a PC.

BEST GOLF SIM EVER MADE
If you want the definitive golf simulation for Windows XP, look no further than this title.This game will knock your socks off folks.Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is the best out there.

Really Disappointed
I rented Tiger Woods 2004 for xbox and fell in love with the game.Best golf game ever.Only one problem, no online.So I bought the PC version with great excitement.I must tell you it is junk.The graphics are horrible.Your player looks like he is pasted on the course.There is no interaction between the ground and the feet.The sound is awful, you make a shot and the announcer gives the wrong response.Your putt drops in the hole without a single sound.By the way your ball looks square as it is rolling around. The game play depth is very limited and uninspiring.Compared to the console game you really have very little options.The controls to aim and putt are difficult and time consuming. To be honest I could go on and on with the things that dissapoint.It is a cheap port in form the console.Get the PS2 version go online and have a blast.It is hard for me to understand why so many rate it high.Maybe I am missing something.I have been gaming on computers for 5 years and this is one of the worst game I have seen. This one is rough. YUCK!! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Sid Meier's SimGolf puts you in charge of your very own golf resort. You'll get to play the roles of course designer, CEO, and resident pro as your try and grow your business from a small, public pitch-and-putt to a five-star resort complete with private memberships, airstrips, and luxury hotels. To do this, you'll need to design courses that are fun and challenging and manage your resort's resources to satisfy your guests' growing needs. You'll even have a chance to test your course and golf skills when your Sims challenge you to a round.

You can create the world's most challenging and outrageous golf courses in a variety of different environments, including woodlands, desert, tropical, and Scottish links. Then you can build an entire golf resort from the ground up around your course. Hold tournaments, sell memberships, and entice the rich and famous to build homes at your resort. But make sure you manage wisely. Modify your course and resort so you can respond to the needs and interests of your Sims guests.

The skills test against your Sims is the penultimate challenge. Players can bring their existing Sims characters into the game with a user-friendly import tool or create their own Sim golfer from scratch. Customize and play your resident pro against other pros for a big cash purse you can use to upgrade your resort. ... Read more

Reviews (54)

Great.... but falls short.
I think SimGolf is a great game. For the people who gave this game a 1 or 2 star rating... you're just jealous. You couldn't build a better game (unless you know games). The championships that you can hold are pretty cool, but too easy, which isn't a dissapointment, but it could get in the way of some buyers. The game has good course options, such as pot bunkers, waste bunkers, and some course options you know already (if you play or watch golf). A few dissapointments... there's not enough land on the sandbox (no money-hassle) mode. You can buy land on normal mode (but only a little), and it's still not enough to give you a good course, and like some reviewers said, there's not enough buildings, which is kinda dissapointing. For golf and sim fans, buy this game! Or borrow it.

so fun .................. with cheats
This game is great .... with the cheats. In the game you only start off with $2000- $6000. I'll give you a cheat. for more cash hold shift with = for more cash.

ADDICTING & FUN
As an admitted hater of computer games, I have to admit that this is a very fun & addicting game. SIM GOLF combines the strategy of money management with the fun of competition. Build a good golf course and the members will flock to your resort. But beware, the more people that become members translate to the more employees you need to hire to compete with their demands. Make your members happy and they spend more money.This is a fun game for a rainy day as you can lose track of time and play for hours.

Sid Meier has yet to disappoint me!
I'm a big fan of Sid Meier's previous games - Civilization and Civ II being some of my all-time favorites!I can't even count the number of hours I've spent playing those two games - probably well in to the hundreds.Anyways, I normally would never pick up a golf game, I don't usually play sport-type games, but since it had Sid Meier's name on it I decided to give it a try.I was not disappointed!

It plays like most other Sim/Tycoon games - you start with your basic empty plot of land and build it up to a huge golf course.You build golf holes, hire staff, get different buildings and attractions (driving range, etc).One feature that I really enjoyed was selling plots of land to celebrities - they're a lot of fun to watch!You also can play in a tournament against another golfer, which is pretty easy.I am not skilled at golf games, so I enjoyed it a lot because it was not too complicated.

Another fun feature is to watch the patrons of your course.. because sometimes they'll start on a funny story.If you watch them the entire time they're golfing, they'll keep going on with the story.If they finish (a sign of a good course I guess!) then you get a special prize (some kind of decorative item usually).

I was surprised I enjoyed this game as much as I did.I played it for several days exclusively, but haven't played it since.It doesn't have the longevity that some other games do (namely the Sims for me), but it did keep my attention for many hours over the course of a few days and for the price, I say its worth it!

The Best "Tycoon" Simulation I Have Ever Played!
In short, this was the best simulation of a real life "tycoon" sort of game I have ever played.The game allows people who do not play golf to enjoy the exiting aspect of it, and actually play in-game tournaments and matches agaisnt pro's

At first, the most appealing thing of the game to me as a pre-teen was the "Sim" name in the title.Once I started playing, I couldnt stop.I loved the challenge of pleasing my members, the real life golf things like the hazards, and I enjoyed the actual golf games and skills you had.

In short, I loved this game, and I can see why "Sim" is still a leading producer of excellent simulation games! ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Spider-Man: The Movie brings your friendly neighborhood web slinger to life with engrossing realism, proving that a superhero game of such complex nature can be achieved with nearly flawless and nonintrusive gameplay. Be it wandering the city's environs in search of villains, or just checking out your surroundings by web-swinging high above them, you truly can do whatever Spider-Man can. It's all here: high-flying aerial battles, the ability to web up and yank your enemies close for pummeling, and the capacity for crawling or web-zipping up, down, and over any surface--and that's just for starters. All in all, this is one involved game that does not fail to live up to the hype.

The game parallels the motion picture's story line, steering you through a progression of challenges that begins with the hunt for Uncle Ben's murderer, and ends with a final showdown with the Green Goblin. You begin as Peter Parker dressed in his wrestling costume and must defeat a variety of thugs throughout each level before advancing to the next set of challenges. The game gets progressively tougher as you encounter, in turn, Shocker, the Vulture, Scorpion, and, of course, the Green Goblin.

Visually, Spider-Man is a treat: cityscapes unfold in realistic detail and are enhanced by sunlight shining between buildings; cutscenes offer seamless animation; interiors are painstakingly re-created; and Spider-Man and his enemies are well rendered, moving about the screen in clean fashion. As an added bonus, most characters are voiced by their movie counterparts, and the training mode features the sarcastic wit of Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell. --Larry White

Pros:

• Detailed controls bring Spider-Man to life
• Challenging gameplay enhanced by numerous fight styles
• Stunning visuals at every level

• Camera angles slow to respond at times
• Some interiors too dark
• Repetitive one-liners

Note: This review refers to the PlayStation2 version of this game. ... Read more

Reviews (94)

Pathetic
This game isn't nearly worth what I payed for it. The camera for the game is backwords and you can't fix it, and it has other camera glitches that get very irritating. I decided to get a cheat so I could play the last level instead of wasting my time, but five minutes looking for the cheat wasn't worth playing the last level. I beat spider-man 1 for the playstation 1 at least 7 times and I would recommend it instead of spider-man the movie if you have a playstation 1. (...)

im sorry this games pathetic
its waaaaaaay to simple it takes 5 minute a mission thats 5 times 22 it equals 110 minutes of gameplay that not even two hours.even oon hard mode its simple.Im sorry i just dont understand why it got peoples choice but i hate it. but the graphics are all right and the fighting is all right thats why it got 2 stars. But its just way to simple even on hard mode.

FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the most fun game in the world!You can throw tires at the bad guys!Fighting Vulture is the best!FUN FUN FUN!!(...)

Does whatever a spider can....almost
A key part of the marketting machine for summer blockbusters is a tie-in game. Usually these are horrible efforts, lacking originality, taking major liberties and expecting the license to sell the resulting mess. Amongst a sea of these, Spider-Man is a tie-in game done right.
The story of the game is similar to the film but also takes cues from the comics as well as some ideas from the game creators. You start off on the trail of Uncle Ben's killer, swinging from roof top to roof top to try and get information from local thugs (the implausibility of them all being on the rooftops as they are is nicely spoofed in the dialogue of a side quest). This leads you to a warehouse where you discover your Uncle's killer is a gang leader. You have to battle through the rest of his goons to ultimately get a showdown with him. Afterwards the game has you facing off against well known Spidey villains as well as OsCorp, who are after Spidey to study his blood for their human enhancement serum. After getting familair with all your skills and staying one step ahead of OsCorp's efforts, your greatest enemy enters onto the stage- the sinister Green Goblin.

The range of combat available is impressive. The game takes Spidey's webbing and agility into account to create some interesting attacks. Web enemies up, swing them around and even go for a piggy back ride. Your attacks can be upgraded by collecting golden spider icons hidden throughout the levels. The more attacks you unlock, the more fun you can have combining them into cool combos to take out enemies. The levels are large enough to encourage exploration and experimentation. That's not to say that there isn't problems- in the outside levels, trying to go down to the sidewalk will cost you a life. You're stuck just swinging from building to building and fighting airborne enemies. Thankfully this has been corrected for the sequel.
Completing a level requires you to fill mission objectives. For example, you may be required to help the police fight thugs, rescue civillains in peril or keep up with a fleeing villain. If you know where you're going you should have no trouble completing the neccesary tasks.

The game has some star voice talent in the form of Toby Maguire, Willem Dafoe and Bruce Campbell. Maguire's work as Spidey is a mixed bag- sometimes he nails his lines and other times he sounds like he wants to be elsewhere. Spidey will throw out random quips as you play, which your enemies will reply. Call them ugly and they'll tell you where to shove it. Sadly, the game seems to favour the same one liners over and over which can get annoying. Dafoe plays Norman/the Goblin as well as he did in the film. He really seems to be enjoying himself and makes Goblin the menacing villain he needs to be. Campbell brings his well known humour to the game. He's the narrator for the training levels and the in game tips you'll encounter early on. He brings a spirit of fun to the proceedings, coming out with some of the best lines of the game. Didn't take the training levels before you started playing the game? Campbell will put you in your place.

A fun part to the game is the cheats and unlockables. A well thought out bowling mini-game, animation tests and the ability to play the game as the Goblin are waiting for players who rack up enough points. The Goblin is well worth unlocking. Although the levels are the same as Spidey's, the Goblin (Norman's son Harry looking for answers) has different powers including super speed, pumpkin bombers and the Goblin glider.

In all, a great game and a display of how tie ins should be done. The sequel may have improved on most areas, but the original is still worth picking up.

DO NOT BUY!!
This game is not worth buying. If you want a good Spider mangame pay the extra money and buy spider man 2. You will be glad you did. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is the fifth game in the highly acclaimed Close Combat series. Play as the Allies or the Germans in the World War II's most dramatic battle. Sneak attacks, stalwart defenders, spies, and saboteurs are among the surprises available to both sides. The improved campaign system allows movement of multiple battle groups on a scrolling strategic map of the Cotentin peninsula. An all-new battle-group screen allows you to not only customize your own battle groups but your enemy's as well. The option to play with historical conditions extends even to the weather and its effects on air and naval support availability. Track the progress of your men from battle to battle, as they improve their combat skills and earn medals. With dynamic map tracking, the shell holes, trenches, and vehicle wrecks you create today will be there tomorrow. Tactical successes and failures will have a direct impact on strategic play with extended continuity from battle to battle. Create your own battles, operations, and campaigns with the scenario editor. Review the action in-depth on the improved battle debriefing and soldier screens. Play head-to-head via TCP, UDP, serial connection, modem, or the Internet, with free matchmaking services. ... Read more

Reviews (33)

Not For Action, But For Strategy
This is a game that you will probably find yourself playing many, many times, depending on whether or not your intentions for purchasing the game are for action or strategy.
Historically, I felt it did a great job of duplicating the scenarios of the real invasion of Normandy.Hedgerows were a major nuisance for the Allied forces and it was that way in Close Combat 5, as well.It makes it hard to put the tanks into some sort of effective use, without the help of supporting infantry.Sometimes the amount of troops allowed to fight in a battle were actually too large to be historically accurate, when considering the scattered drops of the U.S. airborne, and that made offensive moves in this game too easy, but it really didn't take away much from the game.In all honesty, it wouldn't have been much fun to lead an attack with only a group of men the size of a few squads.
Strangely enough, an entire division is lost if it's involved force, in a battle, loses every man.Although not the entire division participates in the battle, the entire division will no longer exist, as if the rest of it is disbanded.
Overall, the game was much fun for me.I was interested in learning more about Operation Overlord, and the involvement of the U.S. in World War 2, and found this game to be very helpful, although I could still tell which historical aspects were true, and which were inaccuracies due to the game itself.
I read a review that described that, in the beach landings, there weren't enough bullets whizzing in the air and that it basically seemed too tame.But this game focuses on Utah Beach, not Omaha.Utah WAS much tamer, and had much fewer casualties, so don't expect a slaughter.Besides that, the "Atlantic Wall" that the reviewer talked about being climbed was not the Atlantic Wall, but a simple sea wall.This game is much more realistic than you may have been led to believe.And, yes, sometimes the aim of the soldiers was horrible and humorous at the same time, but the cons are outweighed by the pros.Strategy is definitely the way to go in this game.Don't expect to win battles by charging the enemy head on.

close combat : normandy
I think that C.C.I.N is great unlike C.C. 1 & 2 This one has better graphics,experiance and fun! i would say anyone who liked C.C. the russian front would like this A+++++ 5 star class!

Ironically, the name shows where the game fails most.
I loved the series when it debuted - primitive, yeah, but fun nonetheless. CC2 moved the series a step in the right direction - music to the ears of fans of the genre. Fast forward to Invasion Normandy, and it's honestly hard to see what's worth playing anymore.

Gameplay: terrible. For a series which prides itself heavily on AI, this game has little, if none. Units will often hold their fire, even if an inferior enemy unit is cleary charging right at them. Line-of-sight problems plague the entire game, with areas of identical elevation and free of obstacles sometimes being impossible to fire at - it's sometimes even impossible to fire at an elevated position, which is otherwise visible.

Another thing - unit worth and accuracy. Units such as snipers, mortar teams, etc. are basically useless. You would think a sniper could easily pick off a stationary target, not hidden behind cover, at a distance of 50 metres - not so. Mortars seem to land in random locations, and, even if it graphically appears as though it would have taken out a whole squad, they're left miraculously unharmed. There are many instances where I will have an enemy scout unit surrounded by an entire platoon, and, although the maximum distance will be 30 metres, the enemy will be on an area of no cover (i.e. middle of the road), the nearly one hundred bullets per second raining down on them will fail to hit - and this pathetic little squad will STILL manage to take out enemies while under massive suppression. Not only that, but AT squads are nearly useless as well, since they have a tendency to miss 99% of the time, and the 1% where the round would hit, it will instead land on the other side of the tank - which is physically impossible, since in reality, rockets go in straight lines, and this isn't duplicated properly. The tedious 20-metre engagements between whole platoons for 10 minutes is so ridiculous, I feel like I'm fighting on a battlefield full of Gomer Pyles.

Still, passing the game is incredibly simple, ... and, somehow, inferior German forces. I found it hilarious in the invasion scenarios that there wasn't even any gunfire raining down on the beach, and that the Atlantic Wall could easily be climbed by the average person - STRAIGHT OUT CLIMBED.

I'm getting pissed off at this game just thinking about it. The last thing I need is to play a game where everyone's aim is about as good as an extra in a Schwartzenegger movie...

Storm The Beach!
I have always been a close combat fan since the series came out. The game is fun overall, but can get dragging at times. I do like how the game is focused more on the infantry, rahter than heavy armor. Sounds are great, graphics are great, game play is great, but my only complaint is that there is no zoom in button. I know other CC games had them and I don't know why this one shouldn't have one. But that is ok. The planning feature of the game is intersting too. You are in control of what forces you are sending in as back up. The game is fun, especially if you are a hard core CC fan. There isn't much of a huge improvement over any of the other CC games, but like I said it is still fun to play. I hope they come out with more theaters of combat in future installments.

Invasion Normandy returns to Close Combat's roots
Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is probably the best recent title in the Close Combat series.It returns to Normandy, the battle ground for the first CC title.You are commanding either the US divsions invading at Utah Beach or the Germans trying to stop them.No Tommies in this one!Personally, I would have liked to have been able to control British troops as well.Invasion Normandy puts the emphasis back on infantry and returns the armor to its support role.For those of you who thought that The Russian Front had way too much armor in it, then you will be happy to know that in Invasion Normandy most of the missions have no more than two armored vehicles to each side.Of course at times there are more, but for the most part this is an infantry strategy game.In some of the battles between the airborne divisions there isn't any armor at all!

Game play is still pretty much same as compared to previous CC titles.During campaigns, you can now control your different battalions movements on the overall strategic map.This lets you move your battalions forward to take a new section of the Cotentin Peninsula and assign your mortar barrages, naval bombardments, and air strikes to battalions that you think will need them the most.It adds another dimension to the game and makes you think a little more. And sit back and enjoy the show when your naval bombardment comes from the 13in guns on a battle ship!!!

The graphics have been improved slightly since The Russian Front.I haven't played Battle of the Bulge, so I don't know how the graphics compare there.The AI is still...well the usual CC AI.The infantry AI has never been that all that bad.The armor AI has improved some in this game, but you still end up wondering, as you watch tank after tank get destroyed by some stupid blunder, if maybe the tank commanders aren't really Nazis at heart!

There are a few minor bugs in the program, but nothing catastrophic that I have seen. All in all this is a well rounded, real time strategy game, that is historically accurate and a whole lot of fun to play.This game ranks right up there with Age of Empires II as one of my favorite strategy games.It is definitely one of if not the best WWII strategy game out there right now.SSI made a smart move in aquiring the rights to the series as it fits right into the genre of games they produce. ... Read more

Product Description

Command historically accurate civilizations ranging from the Medieval Age up to the World War II era. Choose a country and a time period, and lead your nation to world dominance. ... Read more

Features

• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Genre: Strategy
• Mission: Lead your nation to dominate the globe
• Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Reviews (23)

Ordered game 2nd day and received a copy of Old Yeller
Some dumb hillbilly in Kentucky placed a copy of Ole Yeller instead of the game I ordered in my shipment box.
Now I find out Amazon.com has no listed phone numbers to call to rectify this problem.
So, thanks to Amazon.com ignorant staff, I have no game to rate !!

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
This game, Empires Dawn of the Modern World, is one of the best in RTS gaming history. However, I do not say "the best," only "one of the best." The game has strong points and some flaws.

In this game, one advances through ages, just as in many other RTSes. The ages are Medieval, Gunpowder, Imperial, WWI and WWII. Although these are good choices, there is one drawback: When advancing into WWI, the player has to change his/her's civilization to a more recent one. It is easy to accept the fact that the Franks (one of the civilizations available) had changed somewhat from 1500 to 1914, but the US (another civilization) was around before 1914. In fact, it was around during the middle of the Imperial age. Also, China (a pre-WW civilization in this game)played a major role in WWII, and is still one of the most powerful nations on earth!

The gameplay in this game is almost exactly like the gameplay in Age of Empires. One builds a base and a couple of barrackses, tank factories, stables, or whatever, and then launches an attack on the opponent's base. However, with the addition of some special abilities for units, buildings, and even wonders, this game improves on Age of Empires. Also, every unit in this game is unique to its civilization, even townspeople. While not going as far as such RTSes as Rise of Nations or Rome: Total War, the game does have its allure.

If there were a graphics rating availabe, this game would get 5 stars. Not isometric, this game has beautifully programmed 3D graphics and in-game cinematics.

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is definitely recommended for first time RTS gamers as a good all-around RTS, but longtime RTS gamers might find this game a little repetative.

Okay, but needs a lot of improvement
This is an okay game. There are some ideas that make it interesting and enjoyable to play, but otherwise the game is not worth buying. There are different countries represented at different epochs, and you have to chose which country you want to be as you progress through the game. I think this is an innovative idea and makes gameplay interesting. The three campaigns let you use some different strategies besides collect resources, build an army, attack, rinse, repeat. Also, each team has strengths and weaknesses, although other games have touched on this, E:DOTMW brings it to a new level. Each team has completely different units and technologies. This makes the game very interesting, and playing each team is a unique experience.
Despite the positives, there are many more negatives to this game. Although many people tout the graphics as innovative, the graphics in AOE II were pretty much the same. The AI is pretty stupid. For example, workers will sometimes get trapped between some buildings and the "edge" of the map or a group of trees. Mistakes like these were almost non-existant in AOE II. The campaigns need some serious story-line revamping. They start out interesting, but it seems like the story writers ran out of ideas and so just ended the stories without really resolving them in the same exciting fashion they started them in. The "random map" feature and multi-player ability is just like every other RTS on the market. Build up an army as quickly as possible and fight with it, rinse and repeat. The game is also lacking on units and entire countries. For example, Japan is not included in the World War I or World War II eras. Navies have no option to build destroyers to battle submarines. The USA does not have Iowa battleships during the World War II era. I'm sure that these "oversights" were done on purpose to make room for an expansion, but until there is an expansion, it is a serious lacking in the game. This is an addictive game, but has little substance. My recommendation is to go out and buy AOE II used and play that.

There are better, but this is worth getting
I have played many Empire-esque games and I view this as one of the better ones. It is, unlike it's predeccessors totally based around war and that is very good as that's all you ever want to do anyway.
I'll just give you this advise, get it if you like this genre as there are few better, but for someone buying the first of the genre I advise you shop around for a better starter game as this one rather assumes the buyer is familiar with the genre already (I'm using the word genre a lat aren't I?)
Anyway, have a look at some of the other review for contrasts of opinion...
I hope I've been of use, Toodle Pipskie (is that how you spell it?)

Empires Dawn of the Modern World
Empires Dawn of the Modern world is a great game. The
gameplay is easy, the graphics are very good, the sound/music
is just perfect. The campaign is very fun and very nicely made.
There are three campaigns in the game, about the life of Richard
the Lionheart, Captain Yi Sun-Sin, and Gernal George Patton.
Each campaign is different and each they are set in a different
age. Richard the Lionheart's campaign is about the english and
the french battling in a war for the french throne. Captain
Yi Sun-Sin is about the Japanese invasion of Korean. Gernal
George Patton's campaign is about the how the US fought in the
European front in WW2. All is very fun and is historically base.

The mutiplayer for the single or online is very fun. In the
single ramdom map, you choose a civilization, an age, the map,
and either action or empire building. Action is fast and is all
about military. Empire building is longer and you must build
large empires or you shall see enemy unit in your base. You can
also choose to have a deathmatch which you are given alot of
resoures is a all out attack upond your oppenent. You can build
wonders (one olny) and protect it until time runs out. Online is
the same but olny the host do all the stuff I saided. It is
better becaues you have tactics, and coordinates attacks. I have
never played online, but I seen it with my friend playing it.

The ages is the olny thing that I have a camplain about.
There are five ages, medival, gunpowder, imperial, WW1, WW2.
IN the imperial age, when you go to the next age, you have to
choose a different age because that civilization is not a majar
power in the WW1 and WW2 age. It should be change.

Overall it is a good game to play for RTS gamers. Buy it!
... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Based on the popular PlayStation2 title, Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars is a 2-D, turn-based strategy game in which players take control of an army of trucks, tanks, fighters, and giant anime-styled robots, called LEVs, to fight for liberation as part of the Mars underground resistance. Players must carefully select their actions, move around large battlefields, and think tactically when engaging enemy units. Battle experience will make you more powerful, and you will be able to optimize and upgrade your units. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

One of the Best GBA Games
ZOE: The Fist of Mars is easily one of the best Game Boy games ever made. The story is intriguing as are the characters. The graphics are very good during Battle Sequences and cut scenes. For any fan of anime series with giant robots, some romantic elements and plot twists, this is one game you have to buy. Even if you're not a big fan of anime, this game is still worth your money. Outside of the battle sequences, primarily in the map, the graphics aren't very good. The landscapes are not well made. Most of the scenarios are also simple, destroy all enemies maps. There is also a hands-on element called the IAS which allows you to go inside the cockpit of your vehicle to either dodge or hit an enemy vehicle. While this can become tedious and prolongs the fight, you can turn this off along with battle animations, which brings me to the next point in this game. The battle sequences are amazing and are some of the best elements in this game. The scene shows a highly detailed animation of your vehicle performing its attack. The game runs HEAVILY on story and plot, and players who don't like to read and want to get right down onto the battlefield should NOT buy this game. To enjoy it the most, you must have PATIENCE and read through all the scenes.

I think this is a very enjoyable game
addmittedly, once you can aim well it is a little easy but it is still really, really fun.get it if you don't have anything else to get. : )

For Anime/Mech fans.
This game is classified as strategy, yet the game takes no strategy to win. The game is VERY easy even for people who have never played strategy games before. The enemies are very easy to beat and the missions usually consist of "Eliminate the Enemy" objectives. In addition, the IAS system (which is basically a targeting minigame) basically lets you choose whether or not you want to be hit or hit the enemy. If you use the IAS all the way through the game you can beat the game without ever getting hit once. The only problem is that the IAS becomes tedious and annoying, so you'll turn it off midway, and the game will still be a piece of cake.

So why did this game win a place in my hcollection? Because it's absolutley beautiful. The battle animations are wonderful and very pleasing to the eye. The mech designs are very cool, and you grow to care for each one, like a collector's item. The battlefields are well detailed as well. The CG pics are far and few inbetween, but put the cherry on the sundae. And to top it with sprinkles, Konami added an amazing musical score to the game, making you feel each part of the game through the music. When a hyper-insane mad-scientist is burning down a city, the music depicts the atrocity and horror through the music, making you all the more eager to stop him.

But the main draw is the story. The game is played through a mission-by-mission basis, but seems more like episodes to an amine series. The game starts out with lots of mysteries and finishes off with 2 different endings, making the game even more replayable. The dialouge inbetween missions help you relate to and get to know the characters and you actually care for what happens to them next. Not many plot-twists, but the story remains constantand well contructed till the end. Very little cheesiness here. My favorite part of the dialouge are the character portraits that come up when a each charater is talking. Each character has 3-8 pics for different emotions, and they are beautifully drawn. The story itself is very well translated and flows smoothly.

So click "Add to cart", and get yourself some headfones too, because this is a theatrical experience for any anime fan, but too easy for a strategy buff.

Depends on the player
After reading all the reviews, and playing the game five or six times, I have come to a conclusion.

You must enjoy anime and /or manga as well as plot to enjoy this game.

I read about ZOE in a magazine, and it stood out. I decided to pick it up a few weeks later, and I played through the entire game in a matter of weeks.
This videogame has extroadinarily long cut scenes, followed by midlength battle sequences. If you like story, great, if you like alot of shooting, not so great.

Don't pay attention to the E status on there, this has quite a few swears, and some adult situations, though you must understand that all of it is written.

I must urge those who say this game has no replay value to try it again. I have played three times so far, and I have gotten two different endings, though I am sure there are more.

If you want a videogame from Nintendo that encompasses all the aspects of life that people like to glaze over, death,..., and sorrow, then get it. I did, and found one of the only games by Nintendo of it's kind.

As I said, it's all about what you want. It all depends on you.

Greatest game for the GBA ever
This is my favorite GBA game of all time. It's great but a little short (I beat it in a few hours). Other than that I think it's the best game for the GBA.Thanks for reading my review. ... Read more

Product Description

Prove yourself the smartest trivia-whiz on the block in this digital version of the classic Trivial Pursuit board game. Features fantastic graphics, exciting animations, brand new gameplay styles, hundreds of multimedia clips and clues and thousands of celebrity read questions. Hop online (requires Internet connection) for anytime brain battles against thousands of players. ... Read more

Features

• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Genre: Puzzle/Board
• Mission: It's Trivial Pursuit like you've never seen it before with brand new gameplay styles and thousands of questions!
• Platform: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Reviews (2)

Lots Of Fun!
This is the first Trivial Pursuit P.C. game I've played, and I enjoy it very much. This game includes the classic trivial pursuit, as well as the unhinged version. The first version I tried in this game is the classic. I was immediately addicted! A few days later I tried the unhinged version, and found it even more fun and addictive. The reason I give this game 4 stars instead of 5 is that at times during the unhinged game, it can be difficult to hear and understand what the "host' is saying. Furthermore, in the unhinged game, it is not possible to play solo.

One Giant Step Downward
Okay, the best point of reference from which to view this game is from the perspective of someone who played Trivial Pursuit Millenium Edition (TPME) for the PC until it literally ran out of new questions. That someone, is me. I really loved TPME and was looking so forward to this Unhinged game blowing me away, but like most modern games fot the PC, this game is all show and no go. Let me explain.

First off, while the game advertises *thousands and thousands* of questions, I really find that at least 1/2 of these questions are the same questions from the Millenium Edition rehashed. Second, the interface is counterintuitive with the gameboard bobbing up and down like some cork in the water. The color scheme and the fonts make it hard to see exactly which direction you should be going in at any given time. The statistics keeping system (the one that tells you exactly how may questions you got right in each category in ME) has been replaced by stupid bar graphs that leave you guessing which categories you are doing well in.

However...the biggest slap in the face has got to be the lack of explanations after the questions. The original TPME produced by Hasbro Interactive was extrememly thoughful in this aspect. Almost everytime you got a question right, the narrator of the game would explain it to you. Somtimes, there would even be a very funny cartoon to illustrate the answer. VERY THOUGHTFUL and moreover, something that added to the educational value of TPME!!! Instead, in Unhinged, more often than not the only supplementary commentary you will get on a correct answer is playful banter (ie: Whoopi telling you things like *the wedgie is your's the wedgie is yours!).

However, I suppose that Atari thought they couldn't go wrong. Instead of having no-name narrators in this game, the questions are read by a team of celebrities including Terry Bradshaw, Brooke Burke, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, John Ratzenberger, and Bill Nye (the Science Guy). Since I like all of these celebs, I was looking forward to the game being perfect. Instead, Atari just messed up a good thing and now I find myself wondering, what if...instead of paying these celebs to read the questions, they would have invested the discretionary funding into hiring a better software design team....hmm...

Anyway, I don;t think that the game is totally without merit. If you haven't played TPME, you might like it a lot. However, fans of the Millennium Edition will certainly be dissapointed on many levels. ... Read more

Features

• Actual SeaWorld attractions and rides; free play or challenge mode
• Play as park manager and design the entire theme-park layout
• Construct and maintain new attractions; hire and fire staff; collect admissions
• 1,000s of options including roller coasters, water rides, and shows
• Animal browser with information on animal habitat, feeding habits, and more

Reviews (1)

Not as fun as I thought
I expected this to be a lot of fun, but it isn't.There's no real guide to the game, so a lot of the little details (how to raise the beauty rating, park rating, buildings broken down, descriptions of different buildings--what they do, etc) has been left out.Freeform is kind of nice, but you can't practice raising the beauty rating.Scenarios are ok, but the intermediate scenarios are a lot harder than they should be.If you really like a challenge, this is for you.But I was expecting a little more. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Building on the superb 2-D graphics, fluid animation, and vibrant backdrops of its predecessor, Street Fighter Alpha 3 promises to take the handheld beat-'em-up series to new heights. Along with the array of classic special moves, combos, blocks, and counters, this installment boasts more than 30 playable characters (including mainstays Chun-Li and Guile), 12 fighting modes, three new fighters, three fighting styles for each player, and a head-to-head game mode via the Game Boy Advance link cable (two copies of the game are required). ... Read more

Features

• The definitive Street Fighter classic, now on the Game Boy Advanced System
• Over 30 characters to choose from
• Choose from 3 different fighting isms for every character to perfect your fighting style
• Play head-to-head with a friend using the Link cable

Reviews (20)

Great Game on the go!!!!!!!!!
This is a very close port of the original SFA3 arcade game. The game really shows off the power of the GBA pretty well. The fighters move smoothly and all the little subtle animations are there too. Overall I was blown away at how good this looked on the GBA. The controls are a little hard to pull off but you do get used to it, I just forget about doing certain moves that are too hard and stick to the easy ones. Overall I would recomend this game if your a HARDCORE fighting game fan and need your fighting fix on the go!!!

Good translation ruined by controls
I'll keep this brief: If you want Street Fighter on the GBA, buySuper Street Fighter 2 Turbo Revival.That game handles the fact that the GBA only has 4 buttons by letting you assign punches and kicks to brief-vs-long button presses.It's not ideal, but it works.Alpha 3 doesn't even give you this option, instead it forces you to assign them to combinations of the triggers and the A&B buttons.Try throwing a fireball with L+B. It just doesn't work.I partially blame Nintendo for refusing to give a portable more than 2 face buttons, but I mainly blame Capcom for not giving you the brief-vs-long button assignment options.

near perfect
the games translates very well from console to handheld. all moves come over intact and graphics aren't too noticably scaled down. the only think i've noticed is that it is hared at times to do a combo correctly when the directional pad is smaller. that isn't a problem with the game though, just the gameboy. you may find it easier to use an older gameboy instead of an sp though.

Street Fighter In The Palm Of Your Hands
Street Fighter Alpha 3 is one of the best in the series but this port lacks its full potential because of its difficult controls. If only the game boy advance had 6 buttons instead of 4 this would be true to the arcade. It may take awhile before I can get use to these controls but so far its a great game.

Awesome game!!!!
I?ve been a SF fan for a long time.After purchasing my GBA earlier this year, I discovered that SF alpha for GB color does not play too well on the GBA.Well in response to the GBA?s screen glitch I purchased this version of the popular Capcom title, and I chose a winner!This game has more pack and punch than any SF game I have ever played!It just simply rocks!Some recommendations as to the choice of fighters that are poweful are:Choose Fei-Long, he?s a Bruce Lee imitator and almost fights like him.He?s my favorite character in this version, and typically pounds most of his opponents!Guy was extremely powerful in the GB color version, but in this version he cannot drop throw as easily like he could before.Purchase this game and have fun! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

The year is 1943. You are William "B.J." Blazkowicz, the Allies' bad boy of espionage. Your mission is to infiltrate the Nazi fortress and find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, the Nazi's blueprint for building the perfect army. Captured in the attempt, you're taken to a Nazi prison where you await execution. However, you know where the plans are kept, and the Allies face a great defeat if you don't escape and risk the horrors of the prison known as Wolfenstein. Playing as an escaped prisoner in a Nazi war prison, you will move smoothly through a 3-D world full of guards, snarling canines, and rooms packed with Nazi treasure. With 60 action-packed levels full of secret passages and hidden rooms, Wolfenstein 3D for Game Boy Advance will appeal to audiences from the novice to the experienced.

Note: This is a rare M-rated GBA game, and is not appropriate for those under 17. ... Read more

Reviews (33)

Great classic!

I just bought this for the GBA, and for some reason, I prefer this over the chopped up version on my SNES. Granted, it is old, but who cares? This game is still addicting. The only flaw is the lack of music, but I can live without that. Overall, though, I highly recommend it.

It's true,Wolfenstein 3D is even out-dated on the GameBoy.
The worst FPS available for the GBA is Wolfenstein 3D.It's not the worst by much, Medal of Honor; Underground is pretty darn close.Wolfenstein 3D was the fifth FPS for the GBA but the first FPS ever to be released for any system.Bringing this title back from the dead probably wasn't such a good idea with games like Ecks Vs. Sever competeing with it.Doom and Duke Nukem were old games coming back to life on the GBA but those turned out so darn good.Those games featured beautiful graphics.Wolfenstein 3D's are just plain outdated and ugly, however not as ugly as Medal of Honor: Underground's.The game features the original 60 levels and 4 weapons.Only 4?Yes, I know, there were only 4 in the original but that is to little.This game is even outdated on the Game Boy.The game is still fun but there are a lot of better choices in the FPS genre for GBA.Trust me.

Great combat game
I have found the game to be quite challenging and involved. It appears to have a random action generator as I find the number and types of opponents varies, along with the damage you incur during the game, so if you don't succeed, try again as many times as it takes, eventually you get the hang of it. I think a game guide would be a very useful accessory for this game but I have been unable to locate one, at least so far. A game guide would be particularly good for the higher level on the last couple of missions. Frequent saves are a must with this game. Overall a great game that will keep you involved for hours. Probably not one you want to give the younger members of the family.

Doesn't stack up against Doom II or Duke Nukem
This is a 3D shooter classic, which many old Wolfenstein 3D fans may cherish. However, after playing Duke Nukem Advance and Doom II Advance, this game doesn't quite stack up. It is not a bad product at all, but it's just not as fun. The best games for GBA that I've found so far are the Mario Bros series, the Metroid series, Doom (I and II), Duke Nukem, Super Street Fighter II, Max Payne, and Tekken Advance. I don't want to buy every game for the GBA, and I suggest you don't either. I carefully read reviews and attempt to purchase only the best. Wolfenstein 3D is a good game, but not like the others mentioned; in my opinion it is not a must-have.

SEIG HELL!
The 1st(and one of the best)first-person shooters on GBA It is good, but not terrific.For those of you who think that graphics make the game, you will be very disapponted in Wolfenstein 3d.Flat bitmap characters and dated sound effects give this game a ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Spider-Man: The Movie takes players on a web-swinging adventure through more than 10 levels of obstacles, henchmen, and supervillains. Players scale buildings, swing over gaps, and fight baddies such as the Shocker, the Scorpion, and Spidey's archnemesis the Green Goblin with kung-fu moves and web blasts. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Parents- Please Read
This review is not to critique the game and say if it's fun to play or not.I'm writing as a parent of a just-turned-6 year old boy who was loaned this game.While it is rated "E", and you may think it's safe for your kids like "Finding Nemo" or "Cat in the Hat" which are also rated "E".This game is VASTLY different.If you love your child and don't want him or her to see images of Spider-Man being ambushed by 5 gangsters with machine guns in the opening minutes of the game, then I'd suggest you pass on this one.
My son cried his eyes out for 5 minutes when I told him he couldn't play it anymore, but then happily went on to other activities.It was hard to tell him no, but I'm so glad I did the right thing.

Pack spidy up for the academy arwards.
Spider man is fun for me tell you get to let's say the 4th level.But It is a good game.The most challengeing level is the 2nd one.Here you can try to get out a collapsing building.Just remember to watch out for the bad guys.The sound is awsome.Unlike Pacman collection you can save your score and save the game.The color is nice exept in a dimm room It's hard to see without a GBA worm light [And I can see frogger in the same room].You need a plan to get into level 5 [which I haven't figured out yet] because you need stratgy to get to level 5 and keep your helth up. Kids under 6 probaly need to wait a year or two. In this game you can live the movie and have a ball.

Cool
I got this game for my birthday and I love it. Action, Villains, dying, absolutely no getting past Kraven The Hunter, But still. I like this game a lot, but I like the movie Better. Although it's rated E, it has more violence than Samurai Jack, rated T. I'm sorry that I couldn't make this longer, but like I said, I'm only up to Kraven The Hunter. But still, it's fun. Well, that's it. I hope this review has helped you and encourages you to get this GBA game cartridge.

Spiderman Game Boy Advance
This game was so cool, and it has variety of enemies so you won't get bored with this game. And this game sure will make you addicted (in a good way of course.) Anyway, what I'm trying to say was that this came was really COOL.........

4th Spidey Adventure is a must own
Starting back with the first Spiderman adventure for Gameboy color I have played all of Nintendo's spiderman games. All of them have been great and this is no exception.What I liked best was the brand new style they gave Spidey. It sets it apart from it's predocessors. And apart from a few lackluster bose battles (which are all original) there is great gameplay to be found. The makers don't delve too much into the big plot points of the movie but the story comes along nicley. Add that to tuns of secretrs to unlock and you have a unbeatable combination. Can't wait till Spideys next adventure. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

With 36 different missions, including academy tutorial, Top Gun lets you experience every situation jet-fighter pilots can put themselves through, including high altitude dogfights, low-flying blitz attacks, and civil rescues. You will have to fight against dozens of different airborne and ground-based enemy vehicles to prove yourself worthy of your pilot rank. There are 36 different missions set over three distinct periods of time. You will master the Navy's top five planes and try to unlock the three bonus planes. Locations include Southeast Asia, Gulf States, the Arctic Circle, and Miramar Base, each with numerous landscapes, cities, sea, oil rigs, and arctic and desert zones. There are very detailed graphics, especially in low-level flying combat. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Awesome Game!
Okay I only have one complaint when there is a message thing coming on when you are facing a wall and your fairly close when the transmission is over you do crash and die but it doesn't happen very often. Oh, I was about to forget; hey, no Navy planes guy, so what if they're not all Navy planes, I don't care just as long as they're cool, which they are! The firepower is pretty cool too.

Not that fun...
This game is just not that fun. I go in on hard and the game is still easy. On top of that, you have to fly in specified war zones. If you leave? Game over... Get a real flight game for like the computer because this game is stupid. On top of that, this game has some nice graphics, but that is only in the clouds. Everything else is way too boring. Another thing, the models on the planes are a little too big because sometimes you can hit your tail on the ground and not even really touch it.

Here's my review:
I am fourteen years old and I absoulutely LOVE this game. There are eight different planes( actually, one of them is a helicopter, and I haven't unlocked that yet), all with great piloting. There are four different piloting controls, #3 being most like flying a REAL plane. The graphics are VERY realistic. If you get close enough to the ground and fire, you can hear your rounds pinging off the ground. GREAT graphics; on some levels with water you can see ripples in the water when you fire. I don't know if this is with EVERY game, but somehow my game has gotten erased twice. When I got on, it told me the data was corrupt. I'm pretty sure it was just my memory card, though. Many other reviewers told everyone to rent it, but I strongly suggest that you don't. You will not have enough time to unlock all of the extras, and what fun is that? There is also a QUICKSTART option, where you can choose air2air or air2ground, etc. You choose how many opponents, and what map you will play, and PRESTO! You've designed your own war. Overall a GREAT game, and I strongly suggest to anyone that liked Rouge Squadron or X-wing alliance (PC) to buy it. Thanx! <><

An okay game
Top Gun: Combat Zones is a game that, on the back cover, claims to allow you to master the Navy's top 5 planes, which I disagree with.First, four of the planes available aren't in the Navy.The MV-22 and AV-8 are Marine aircraft.The F-22 Raptor is Air Force, and the YF-23 lost the contract to the F-22, and isn't in any branch of the military.Second, This game only seems to focus on fighter/attack roles. Combat Zones failed horribly in capturing different aspects of Naval aviation. A good selection of Navy aircraft would probably include the F-14D, F/A-18C, E-2C Hawkeye, S-3B Viking, EA-6B Prowler, HH-60H Seahawk, and P-3C Orion.This would've allowed mission variety, including air to air combat, special forces insertion, anti-surface and anti-sub roles, AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System), and the ever-popular air-to-air combat.But, unfortuneately, the designers made a game that gets old after a while because the only thing different in each mission is the scenery.
I loved the control setup for this game, though. That is, I loved the Expert controls. Expert controls allow you to control the airplanes with realistic three-axis movement (pitch, roll, and yaw). One big flaw, though, was throttle controls.The throttle controls really stunk.
While the control setup was near-perfect, the way the aircraft handled was very unrealistic. I mean, paint dries faster than the time it takes for you to roll completely around one time. Another complaint I have is that you can't really dive inless you roll on your back and pull up. Nothing like real aircraft.
Sound effects were okay, although the explosions sound muted. My favorite sound in this game was your 20mm cannon. The gun in the game almost sounds like the gun in real life (believe me, the real life guns sound a lot different than in the movies.
I did appreciate the graphics. The planes were very detailed, right down to the markings. Everything was in the right spot.
One thing is, I like to play flight sims from a cockpit view that actually looks like a cockpit, and I also like to be able to take off and land. This game didn't have any of that.Half the challenge of flying is taking off and landing, especially for a Navy pilot.IT's been said over and over that it is incredibly unnerving to have to land a 50,000 pound jet on a floating airfield moving away at 30 knots, no matter how experienced you are.This game failed terribly in even giving you an inkling of what flying in the Navy feels like.Anyone can just slap together a "fly in and blow everything up" game.Tsk, tsk.
Overall, this was an okay game. You have to give it a lot of credit because it is the only semi-realistic flight sim for GameCube (hint, hint, Nintendo bigwigs), but I really felt that it didn't do naval aviators justice.
Only buy it if you really truly want a flight sim for GameCube. Otherwise, rent it or wait for a realistic sim to come out.

Husband and Son are both hooked on this game!
I got this game for my husband for Christmas and it has been in constant play ever since.The graphics are great, and the game is very entertaining (we even caught Grandpa at the controls!).My 7-year-old son finds it challenging and it is not too overly violent for him.All in all it is a fun and exciting game that probably won't be set aside any time soon!Have FUN! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

This handheld version of The Two Towers will allow players to take control of five characters: Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo, Eowyn, and Gandalf the Wizard. Over 30 levels per character will challenge each member of the Fellowship, bringing the grand total to over 150 levels in the entire game. Linked two-player actionis possible via the GBA link cable. ... Read more

Features

• Platform: Game Boy Advance
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Genre: Action/Adventure

Reviews (90)

kick asssssssssss
this game rocks; i liked the ps2 version alot and i liked this almost; as much its really addicting; it kicks ass even if youre not a lotr fan; buy this game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patience
This game is okay. If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings and/or Action-RPG games then you might like it. Otherwise skip this game. The features, such as 5 characters and 100 levels sounds cool, but the game gets monotonous and very boring if played more than 15 minutes.


I sold this game. Yeah! I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!



Sorry...couldn't help myself... Get Shining Soul II instead. It's much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good, but the character selsction sucks
This is a fun game, but why Eowyn? Why not Sam, or Gimli. This game would be awsome if the character selection was more like the ps2 version.

skull smashing
well I dont like that you can only swing your blade one time instead of combos.But this is a fun game to play even if you dont like LOTR you will enjoy it.You can also play as Gandalf,
Aragon,Legolas,Frodo,and Edowyn.Creatures pop up out of nowhere
and it gets you excited.You can pick up items such as super
swords or strong bows and equip them with your person.
You go up levels in the game by how many you kill and you
collect gems and use them to buy upgrade points.

Good game with a decent difficulty
This is a classic. As a devout LOTR fan, I was looking at LOTR stuff when I saw 'The Return of the King for GBA!'. I bought it after carefully reading reviews for FOTR, TT, and ROTK. Seeing that FOTR was not very popular and ROTK was declared "too hard" by many, I settled for TT. I'm glad I did.

TT is a solid game that runs pretty much along the story line (no Merry or Pippin!?). It is entertaining for those long car rides and if neither too difficult nor too easy. There are five different characters to choose from that employ a variety of strategies and tactics. You can be Legolas for the sniping attack, Aragorn for the hand-to-hand melee, Eowyn or Frodo for hit-and-run, and Gandalf, who can do just about everything.

I really enjoy this game and think it was worth every penny. It will keep the gamer occupied for quite a while and isn't too frustrating when you have to start over. ... Read more