Grand Theft Ottsel

Game: Jak II
System: Playstation 2
Release date: October 14, 2003
Developed by: Naughty Dog
Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was one of the best games for the Playstation 2. Designed along the lines of classic platform games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, Jak and Daxter represented a family-friendly platformer with colorful characters and a great sense of humor. Its sequel, Jak II, embraces many of its platform mechanics, but presents players with a much darker storyline and a sandbox-style game engine which looks less like Jak and Daxter and more like Grand Theft Auto III.

Jak II takes place in the dystopia Haven City where ruthless dictator Baron Praxis rules with an iron fist. Jak, Daxter, and the rest of the gang end up in Haven City after being flung through a Precursor portal. Once there Jak is arrested by Praxis' Krimzon Guard and subjected to torturous experiments for two years where a volatile energy called Dark Eco is infused into his body. After a long two years, Jak's best friend Daxter (transformed into a furry Ottsel in the first game) infiltrates the lab holding Jak and rescues him. From then on Jak and Daxter team up with the resistance movement and fight back against Praxis, his shocktroopers, and a techno-organic race of creatures called Metal Heads which are threatening the city from the outside.


After two years of torture, Jak is understandably a changed man. In the first game, he was friendly, noble, and silent (wiseguy Daxter did most of the talking), but in Jak II he's angry, talkative, and motivated primarily by revenge. Jak's personality transplant is a microcosm of the larger changes in Jak II: tropical settings from the first game become urban slums and underground sewers; the death toll (including supporting characters) reaches new heights; and Jak uses a gun as his primary offensive attack instead of simple punch-kick combinations.

Perhaps the biggest change in Jak II is not one of tone but of gameplay. In Jak and Daxter the two heroes travelled back and forth to diverse environments collecting power cells, but in Jak II the dynamic duo move around Haven City completing tasks for the resistance and for unsavory criminals. To move around the city, Jak can hijack any number of hover vehicles. In this way Jak II resembles a kid-friendly Grand Theft Auto.


While not nearly as good as the first Jak and Daxter, Jak II is a fun action game which combines traditional platform mechanics with third-person shooting and sandbox-style gameplay. The changes in Jak II might not have improved the original formula, but it's refreshing to see a game developer reinvent its product.

Score: 83/100

Dino Crisis

Game: Turok
System: Xbox 360
Release date: February 5, 2008
Developed by: Propaganda Games
Published by: Touchstone Interactive

The Turok franchise has fallen on hard times. It was once upon a time one of the premier console first-person shooter series, but the last three installments, including Turok, have ranged from mediocre to terrible. The games have become uninspired, linear, derivative, and boring; as a result Turok, as a franchise, has disappeared among much better shooter series: Call of Duty, Halo, Half-Life, etc.

Turok seems to be a reboot of the franchise; it references none of the events from the previous installments. In fact, Turok references almost nothing outside the main plotline; it's almost entirely without context. Cpl. Joseph Turok and an elite squad of marines crash land on a planet ruled by ruthless madman (and Turok's former mentor) General Roland Kane and do everything they can to survive his henchmen and the fearsome creatures which live and hunt on the terraformed world.


Like in previous Turok installments, players must explore an unknown and dangerous world filled with human enemies and dinosaurs. While the human artificial intelligence leaves something to be desired, the dinosaurs in Turok are quite terrifying. Attacking from behind and in the dark, scurrying out of nests and caves, the dinosaurs are the stuff of nightmares. Strangely, players can carry only two weapons at one time (in addition to a bow and knife); moreover, the weapons are mostly conventional military arms one could find in almost any first-person shooter. This is a far cry from the vast arsenal of creative, futuristic weapons which players could use in the N64 Turok games.


Turok includes a few noteworthy additions to its mostly lackluster gameplay. These include stealth kills, quick-dodge maneuvers, and "dino luring." Players can use the voracious appetites of nearby dinosaurs to their advantage by luring them into a crowd of human enemies with secondary fire flares from the shotgun.

The Turok franchise is overdue for a renaissance. Developers of the next Turok game should forget about emulating newer, popular first-person shooters and return to the series' roots: large, open-ended environments; a huge assortment of weapons; bizarre, alien enemies; immersive graphics and sound; and sinister sci-fi storylines. What players have in the new Turok are linear levels, uninteresting heroes and villains, and forgettable weapons. Where's a real dinosaur hunter when you need one?

Score: 75/100

The Final Frontier

Game: Mass Effect
System: Xbox 360
Release date: November 20, 2007
Developed by: BioWare
Published by: Microsoft Game Studios

**Top 100 game**

Mass Effect, the first episode of BioWare's planned three-part space saga, is one of the best RPGs on the Xbox 360 and another gem from BioWare which has produced some of the finest role-playing games on the computer and for console systems in the last two decades. With its engaging plot line, deep mythology and focus on interactive storytelling, Mass Effect follows in the tradition of earlier BioWare projects Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire.

Mass Effect is set far in the future when technological advances and life-changing scientific discoveries have allowed humans to travel beyond Pluto. As Commander John Shepard, players must uncover a conspiracy which threatens Earth, its colonies, and the tripartite alliance of alien species which governs most of the known galaxy. Along the way, Shepard will welcome new friends and allies who will help him in his quest to track down a traitor and uncover an ancient evil.

Although Cmdr. Shepard is the default hero in Mass Effect, players can chose to play as a male or female customized avatar; they can alter his or her alter facial features and class. Once created, however, the custom-built avatar will progress through the game along the same trajectory as the default character. Like previous BioWare games, players throughout Mass Effect must make minor and major decisions which affect gameplay and which alter two morality scales: "paragon" and "renegade." Past choices will affect how new characters interact with Shepard.


Mass Effect is played across a number of alien worlds. Shepard's prototype stealth ship can travel light years in mere seconds by using ancient deep-space matter transporters called mass relays abandoned long ago by an extinct alien race. Players can choose to merely travel to planets which once traversed will propel the plot forward or can survey unknown worlds, collecting rare minerals, completing side-quests, and finding new weapons and items.

Combat in Mass Effect takes place in real time. Armed with weapons which include pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and (in the case of Shepard) grenades, members of the three-person party engage in firefights with aliens, hostile robots, and other unfriendly creatures. Combat is a major factor in Mass Effect; stripped of its RPG structure and trappings, it would make an excellent shooter.

Score: 95/100

Guns and Ammo

Game: Black
System: Playstation 2
Release date: February 28, 2006
Developed by: Criterion Games
Published by: Electronic Arts

For the developers behind Black, a no-nonsense FPS released for the PS2 and Xbox in 2006, the game was no doubt an ambitious undertaking. Black was intended to shift the focus in shooters to what Criterion Games considered its true stars: the guns. Each weapon in Black, some of which are modeled after guns used in Hollywood films, looks, sounds and fires exactly like its real-world counterpart. But realistic firearms are not enough to justify greatness; Black is too short and ultimately too forgettable to be a new classic.

Black takes place four days after a series of controversial black ops missions conducted by the game's protagonist Jack Kellar. As Kellar is interrogated by an unidentified man, the game jumps backwards in time allowing players to fight through each mission. The villain of Black is Seventh Wave, an arms smuggling and terrorist organization.

Players can choose from several difficulty levels; since Black is mission-based higher difficulty levels require each player to complete additional objectives, including recovering top-secret files, collecting blueprints and destroying parts of the environment.


The destructible items and architecture in Black, along with its real-world firearms, certainly separate it from the first-person shooter pack. With enough bullets and grenades, Kellar can set fire to cars, blow holes in walls, even bring down entire buildings. It's reminiscent of Red Faction's geo-mod (geometry modification) technology which allowed players to destroy bridges, walls, etc. The most original feature of Black, however, is the real-time blur that fills the screen each time a weapon in reloaded.

Black is by no means a poor shooter; it simply doesn't boast enough substance to compete with its contemporaries, on the PS2 and elsewhere. Its brevity and lack of multiplayer modes especially hurts its standing. With so many FPSs on the market today, each has to prove its excellence even more convincingly.

Score: 82/100

A Face in the Crowd

Game: Assassin's Creed
System: Xbox 360
Release date: November 14, 2007
Developed by: Ubisoft Montreal
Published by: Ubisoft

Stealth action games have been around for a long time, but usually players are tasked with avoiding detection from enemy soldiers and electronic monitoring equipment. In Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft has introduced into the sub-genre an innovative social element, requiring players to behave according to accepted social norms; strange and disruptive actions will draw unwanted attention and more often than not lead to violence.

Assassin's Creed is set in the Levant in 1191 during the Third Crusade. Players take control of Altair, a member of the Assassins, a brotherhood of highly skilled covert warriors devoted to destroying the architects of war in the Holy Land, including war profiteers. Altair travels from Acre to Damascus to Jerusalem, all the time trying to blend in with the local population. In each city, he must eavesdrop on conversations, pickpocket unsuspecting citizens and beat confessions out of collaborators. Information gathered from these activities will help Altair plan and carry out each high-profile assassination.


Unexpectedly, Assassin's Creed takes place not only in 1191; it also is set in modern times. Players actually control a modern-day assassin named Desmond who has been abducted by a mysterious corporation and forced to relive the genetically preserved memories of his distant relative Altair. Each assassination carried out by Altair is thus only a memory centuries old. Jumping between the Third Crusade and the present day is a bit jarring (and arguably unnecessary) but adds another dimension to the plot.

Although in each city the ultimate goal is to assassinate a high-profile individual, there are plenty of side-missions which Altair can complete. In the many districts of each city players can climb buildings (minarets, churches, mosques, guard towers) and survey the cityscape, rescue men and women from violent guards and collect flags hidden among bazaars, plazas and houses. These side-missions help break up some of the monotony that invariably accompanies the intelligence-gathering missions which precede each assassination.

Assassin's Creed is a promising start for a new franchise. The story can be somewhat predictable and the action redundant, but the stealth-action formula and the level design, which convincingly transplants players backwards in time 800 years, is definitely a success.

Score: 91/100