Back in April 2004 Hardware Fusion reviewed Plantronics CS60 headset unit. The CS60 was mainly marketed as an office based system that introduced secure wireless freedom to business landline calls. The beneficial factors of wireless telephone communication has since enabled businesses to provide a more efficient solution for dealing with client and customer calls. However, the CS60 wasn’t entirely perfect and lacked a few fundamental components, which prevented it from being a fully compatible product. Its main purpose was to answer calls remotely, but with the lack of an included handset lifter it failed to do even that. It also lacked the ability to dial calls remotely and was ultimately limited to one device and one function. In comparison to today’s standards the product also lacked style and practicality.

Plantronics release of the Voyager 510SL system introduces a more complete product with multi-functional support, greater compatibility, practicality and style! As a more complete product the 510SL system includes out of the box support for almost all landline phones, Bluetooth devices and VOIP communication. Its smaller, sleeker design makes it more practical for use within the home, office and on the move. At its present price tag it hardly makes it an idealistic product for use within a large workforce and idealistically would be seen used by specialist agencies and the professional businessperson, such as in PR, advertising or design. Plantronics seem keen to market the 510SL as a business product, rather than a product suitable for the home user. This could have something to do with its price or perhaps lack of consumer demand for such technology in the home. We now see that the growing age of wireless technology, mainly thanks to the reduced costs of wireless appliances, has recently seen greater consumer demand for similar products, particularly with wireless mobile phone headsets. As a cheaper alternative to the Voyager system Plantronics have also marketed the 510S headset as a separate product, for use with Bluetooth enabled mobile phones.

The headset itself incorporates 6 hours of talk time, 100 hours of standby time and has a range of up to 33 feet (10 meters). The Voyager 510 headset is significantly smaller than the design of the CS60 headset and features a more practical, lightweight design for mobile use, which is greatly made possible by the tiny re-chargeable lithium polymer battery. The flexible design enables you to fold the headset easily in your pocket and can be converted to either left or right ear. Additionally the unit features noise cancelling technology inbuilt into the microphone, which makes it suitable for use in noisy offices or on the move in busy public areas. This technology appears to work variably well. In some cases the user at the other end of the line reported cutting out of sound and in other cases the quality was overall good.

The available controls include volume up and down settings, mute, call answer, call holding, voice dialling and on/off switching. The on/off button was frequently quite difficult to press, which is largely due to its tiny size. I also found that the volume up and down controls were at first a little inaccessible to use, at least until I got used to where they were located. The receiving sound quality is excellent. I found the user’s voice to come through loud and clear through the headsets earpiece.

The included lifter significantly increases support for a greater percentage of landline phones. The motorized system is placed directly under the receiver and is connected to the base unit. When a call is activated from the remote headset a signal is sent to the base unit, which activates the motor and lifts the receiver off the hook, thus answering the call. Whilst the device works with a majority of handsets some users may come across phones with a design that may not facilitate the lifter.

The Voyager 510SL base unit features a smaller, sleeker design compared to the CS60 base unit. It also now comes with a blue LED indicator light based on the top that glows whenever you are engaged in a call. Similarly to the CS60 unit the 510SL base also comes with red and orange indicator lights located at the front, which provide constant information on the status of the system.

Conclusion

Plantronics Voyager 510SL system is a significant improvement over the CS60 product that we tested back in April 2004. It is clearly apparent that the company have come a long way in producing and utilizing technology that not only works but also is practical for wireless solutions. The 510SL system appears to be a more complete system for use within the business environment and boasts the features necessary to make on the move day-to-day tasks a more efficient practice. Whilst the price tag of the 510SL system may not make it an ideal appliance for the majority of home consumers it certainly has a place for the fanatical technology owner.

Fusion NET are going to award the Voyager 510SL system with an overall rating of 90%.

With today’s growing capacity for data storage, increased ISP downstream, and advances in multimedia PC technology, the demand for a single serving multimedia platform has increased significantly within the past few years. Many consumers are now aware that PC’s can do pretty much anything, whether that may be television, radio, music, film or communication. The expansion of content on the Internet and more affordable high-speed ISP solutions has significantly aided the growth and accessibility of entertainment within the home.

Consumers are unlikely to use their PC’s as part of their living room entertainment system, as most PC’s are unsightly and noisy. Therefore, buyers tend to opt for alternative products, such as Hard Drive Recorders, DVD Recorders and DVD Players. However, these products are often limited in functionality and built to perform specific tasks.

With the introduction of the Media PC, consumers are now able to enjoy the functionality of their PC, whilst introducing an aesthetically pleasing look and relatively quite solution to their living room. Media PC’s are essentially your standard PC but come with reduced specifications and are incorporated with IR remote hardware and a user-friendly software interface. Media PC’s can get away with lower specifications as their main purpose is to display multimedia content. This means that most Media PC’s can be incorporated with quieter cooling solutions, such as reduced airflow fans or even water cooling.

Most of the big named manufacturers have introduced their own pre-built versions of Media PC’s, which are available at a price tag of around £1000 (excluding display). This price will usually get you a P4 3.0Ghz machine with TV tuner, 250GB Hard Drive, CD Rom Drive and 512MB of RAM. In essence, this hardware configuration would be quite cheap to reproduce. However, manufactures tend to get away with charging high retail costs, which is partly due to the aesthetic looks of their product, as well as the software they use. In fact, most manufacturers tend to use Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Centre Edition, which is simply Windows XP Pro SP2 with a few additional add-ons.

In the next section of this article, we will be looking at how to build your own Media PC, whilst incorporating greater specifications, better looks and providing it all at a slightly cheaper price tag.

For the purpose of this article, we will be building a Media PC from scratch. The following price list and specifications include details for the base system only and are inclusive of display and input devices.

• SilverStone LC16M Case (£181.85 Including VAT).
  
• SilverStone NT02 CPU Heatsink and Fan (£34.65 Including VAT).
  
• AMD Athlon 64 3500 / Asus A8N-SLI SE nForce 4 SLi / 1GB GeIL PC3200 Dual Channel Kit Bundle (£291.22 Including VAT).
  
• XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT Extreme Gamers Edition 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI PCI-Express (£105.69 Including VAT).
  
• 2x Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 11 400GB ATA-133 16MB Cache (£314.78 Including VAT).
  
• Sony 16x16 DVDRW Dual Layer ReWriter (£39.89 Including VAT).
  
• Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-PCI-T – DVB (£79.49 Including VAT)

At a total sum of £1047.57, the benefits of building your own Media PC are perhaps not apparent. In fact, you are getting a lot more for your money, particularly where disk space and computing power come in to the picture. A rough equivalent of a pre-built machine would get you a 250GB drive, 512 RAM and a P4 3.0 GHz CPU. For those who are trying to lower their costs could effectively save a few hundred by downgrading the Hard Disk space, RAM and CPU power.

THE CASE

The LC16M comes from SilverStone’s range of Lascala Home Theatre PC (HTPC) cases. SilverStone’s experience in design of HTPC desktop cases is clear through looking at their extensive product range. Starting from their first LC01 case, SilverStone has appeared to make steady progress in introducing a sense of style, as well as functionality, which make its cases an appealing product for use within a home entertainment environment. The sort of styling that SilverStone have introduced into their Lascala range has perhaps put pressure on other case manufacturers to come up with rival designs.

The LC16M is an elegantly designed case with subtle features. It introduces a non-complicated look with the sort of functionality, which makes this case compelling in its own way. The exterior of the case has a polished, brushed metal design, which is available in either silver or black. The front panel is comprised mostly of aluminium, with simplistic looking controls for multimedia and system functionality. SilverStone have tried to keep with a consistent design throughout the case by incorporating solid metal flaps at the front of the case, which hide the DVD drive bay and front panel inputs. After being fully loaded, from just lifting the case you can tell that SilverStone has left no expense spared in the materials used, as quite simply put, the case weighs a ton! Probably one of the most impressive features of the case design is the front panel LED display with inbuilt IR remote receiver. This allows you to get full use out of your multimedia PC and will display information direct from the OS, as well as provide full remote control to supported applications. We will obviously come back to this in more detail a little later in the article.

Interior

The interior of the case is made up of the same strong metal material, which is consistent throughout the design. Obviously, the internal metals do not consist of the same brushed metal effects as seen on the exterior. The interior features a sturdy design with all the drive bays screwed and locked into position. The hard drive bays are positioned to the left and right of the DVD drive slot and VFD/IR panel. These hard drive bays are removable and interchangeable between either side of the DVD drive slot. They can also hold up to three hard drives each, providing a massive storage capacity of six Hard Drives within the system.

SilverStone have given you the option to mount 120mm case fans to each of the drive bays at the front of the case, providing constant airflow to the hard drives. These front fans also allow you to provide airflow to the back of the case by drawing in cool air from the forward intake vents. These vents are based at the bottom of the unit. Four rubber base foot stands allow the unit to be raised about a centimetre from the surface, allowing for good airflow around the entire exterior of the case. The two 80mm rear fans expel hot air carried through from the front. SilverStone has also intelligently positioned a mesh vent near the CPU, which allows for increased expulsion of hot air.

Each of the drive bay units is fixed and screwed into place. We found removing and manoeuvring these bays around a little tricky, especially once all the core components were installed. The PSU, which is unconventionally placed at the opposite end of the system, causes great difficulty when removing a drive bay that has installed hard drives. The positioning of the PSU also made it difficult to connect certain motherboard cables, particularly the P4 power cable, which had to be stretched to the opposite side of the system. The DVD drive bay was also difficult to manoeuvre and came very close to the graphics card. In fact, the LC16M case does not support GeForce 6800/7800 and ATI x1800/x1900 graphics cards.

Once all our components were installed we found working in the case quite difficult. The amount of cables from the Power Supply Unit alone created some restriction and airflow problems. However, we found that through careful sorting and positioning of components, we were able to store many of the cables in the front compartments of the case. This allowed for more room around the mainboard and better circulation. Because of these restriction problems, we would advise users to use a maximum of three or four drives, as supposed to the advertised six.

Cooling

SilverStone have managed to keep noise levels within the case to a minimum by incorporating more fans, rather than opting for a single higher-powered fan. The two 80mm case fans at the rear provide a combined power of 2050rpm, allowing for a relatively silent noise level of 21dBA. The thick metal exterior also allows for greater sound absorption.

The two SilverStone FN91 120mm fans at the front of the case, which are not a standard feature of the package, provide cool airflow to the hard drive bays at a quite operational speed of 2100rpm. These fans provide an airflow of 36.89 CFM and run at a noise level of 26dBA.

The decision to go for a lower performance graphics card, the PCX6600 GT Extreme Gamers Edition, was made as part of a conscious effort to keep noise levels to a minimum. Most higher-spec graphics cards favour a dual-slot fan design, which are often noisier and expel greater amounts of heat. The 6600GT comes equipped with 128MB’s of DDR3 memory, dual DVI and TV-Out, making it the ideal choice for our Media PC. The 6600GT can even cope with a number of top PC game titles, as well as perform favourably well in Half-Life 2, CS: Source and Far Cry.

As part of our CPU cooling solution, we opted to use SilverStone’s NT02 CPU cooler. This is a large hybrid heatsink cooler that utilizes both copper and aluminium materials. The base of the cooler is made up of a flat copper surface, which rests on the top of the CPU. The first layer is constructed of a thick aluminium plate, which has protruding vertically positioned aluminium fins. An additional set of copper fins has then been placed on top of the aluminium structure. Finally, a thick black aluminium heatsink has been wrapping around 50% of the structure, allowing for a 92mm fan to be attached on either side of the heatsink.

The cooler includes bracket support for P4 Socket 478, LGA775, AMD Socket 754, 939 and 940 CPU’s. The heatsink itself is one of the largest CPU coolers on the market and weighing in at 880g’s it is also one of the heaviest. However, whilst those dull little Intel chips may not be able to cope with the weight of this mighty cooler, our AMD chip managed just fine. The installation of the NT02 on a socket 939 motherboard is a simple one and involves positioning the cooler over the CPU and fastening in two screws.

With the addition of the NT02’s 92mm fan, which operates at a maximum noise level of 40.4dBA, the NT02 happens to be the loudest thing in our Media PC. Thankfully, SilverStone has included a 3.5” aluminium fan controller, which enables you to set the fan speed down from 3800RPM to just 1800RPM, providing a much quieter operation level of just 17.0dBA.

During our hard drive tests the LC16M case managed to keep our two 400GB IDE hard drives at a cool 26 degrees Celsius. These temperatures were only slightly raised to 28 degrees Celsius during high load. Our CPU temperatures were equally impressive, giving an idle temperature of just 30 degrees Celsius, which rose to 35 degrees during high load. It is clear that the cooling performance of the NT02 CPU cooler, as well as the efficient airflow design of the LC16M case, performs well in keeping the HTPC system cool at all times. Overall, the SilverStone LC16M case provides a relatively quite and efficient cooling solution, which makes it more of an appealing product for home entertainment use.

Front Controls

The front controls consist of seven multimedia buttons and one function knob. The multimedia controls include, skip back, skip forward, stop, pause/play, mute, volume up and volume down. The function knob incorporates a turn and click function, which allows you to control various multimedia features, as well as volume control. These controls connect internally via the USB ports on your mainboard. The Asus A8N-SLi SE has ten USB 2.0 ports in total making it a perfect choice for this type of case.

Whilst the front panel controls are an excellent addition to this case, they only work after the correct software and drivers have been installed.

The front flap at the base of the VFD display opens to reveal connections for four USB 2.0 devices, as well as headphone jack, microphone jack and FireWire. Unfortunately, the Asus A8N-SLi SE version does not include a FireWire port. However, their Deluxe and Premium versions of this board do. Users may also want to consider using a Creative audio card with FireWire port built in, or perhaps an add-in FireWire PCI Card.

VFD/IR

The in-built VFD with IR receiver is probably the most substantial aspect of this case. The VFD unit, coupled with the iMedian software, can be set to show various information, including system usage statistics, live weather reports, news and multimedia information. The VFD unit also has inbuilt memory, which allows you to set your own custom message and have it displayed whilst the system is off. Additionally, you can also program a time for your system to shut down and boot, as well as an alarm setting.

At first, we had some trouble getting the VFD unit to work, but after the correct software and driver updates, we were soon able to enjoy the full functionality of this case.

The included IR remote control includes all the features of your standard Media PC control, including multimedia functions, system functions, mouse control and keyboard control. We found the mouse control to be somewhat slow and difficult to manoeuvre. The graphic on the media button was also quite ugly and did not seem to fit in with the aesthetics of the rest of the remote.

The VFD/IR module and iMedian software is not an exclusive product to SilverStone and can be found in many other Media PC cases. The package is also available for purchase as a 5.2” drive bay, which will fit in any standard PC case. However, SilverStone have appeared to do a good job at making the VFD/IR module their own and this is apparent at how seamlessly integrated the system fits in with their design.

SOFTWARE

SilverStones LC16M case comes included with the iMedian software package, which is a complete Media PC solution intended to provide an alternative to Microsoft’s Media Center Edition 2005. The software provides all the features you would expect to find in a Media PC software package, including support for TV viewing and recording, Internet browsing, network media access, picture viewer and video playback. The software does not require much setup and is relatively easy to navigate. Whilst iMedian does have all the functionality of Windows Media Center Edition, it lacks a certain panache. Its menu system has very basic animation and its folder structure closely resembles that of an operating system. Luckily, the iMedian software is supported under Windows Media Center Edition, enabling you to get the sort of styling that most users would come to expect from a home entertainment system. One positive aspect we did find about iMedian is it did not require installation of any third party codecs, such as XVID, DivX and AC3, whilst Windows Media Center Edition does!

CONCLUSION

SilverStone’s Lascala range of HTPC cases has introduced a new breed of styling to Media PC systems. The LC16M’s sense of styling manages to surpass that of most pre-built Media PC systems on the market, providing a true contender to the available brand named products in retail stores. Consumers are now aware that it is often cheaper to manufacturer their own Media PC and SilverStone have helped to provide an affordable and practical solution to do this. With the introduction of the LC16M, SilverStone have once again proven that PC systems deserve a place next to your home entertainment hi-fi system. Fusion NET is going to award the LC16M with a score of 4.5 out of 5.

PROS

• Stylish looks.
  
• Well-built sturdy design.
  
• Good Cooling.
  
• Quite Operation.
  
• VFD/IR display.
  
• Good functionality.
  
• Good front input ports.

CONS

• Lack of support for latest graphics cards.
  
• Cramped interior.
  
• Requires software update to get VFD/IR working.
  
• Difficulty installing and uninstalling drive bay once PSU is installed.

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Steven Carruthers

Publisher: Vivendi Universal | Developer: Valve | ETA: Out Now (Online) | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

Once upon a time there was a game mod called Counter-Strike, which took the world of online gaming by storm. Over the past few years it�s become even more popular than the game it was based on (namely Half-Life) and is arguably the most played online shooter in history. With the sequel to Half-Life in the making, Counter-Strike�s developers at Valve decided to remake the aging classic for the modern technological age, taking advantage of its big brother�s brand spanking new �Source� game engine.

Gameplay

After a good few years of being popular, most games just get old and are filed away in the good memories archive. Not Counter-Strike though. Despite its out-of-date graphics, physics and sound, good old Counter-Strike is still huge, with a massive fan-base all over the world. It�s fairly safe to say that this monstrous popularity is down to one thing, something which never gets outdated. Gameplay.

It seems that Valve have very wisely opted to change as little as possible concerning the way in which the game actually plays, avoiding causing upset amongst the ranks of the game�s die hard fans. A lot of people have been playing CS for years and if stripped of the ability to jump, or being allowed to pickup health packs scattered about the level could possibly lead to a surge of phone calls to the Samaritans. As the old saying goes �If it isn�t broke, don�t fix it�.

The game works just as the original did; players are split into two teams (terrorists and counter-terrorists) who then face off against each other. Objectives include saving/guarding hostages and planting/diffusing bombs, but in most cases it seems that killing each other is the main goal. There are no deathmatch, capture the flag or other standard game types which may be a daunting prospect for new players. CS has retained its fast paced, almost arcade style of play in this remake, and each match usually only lasts a matter of minutes. This could be reduced to only a few seconds if your team does not cooperate. Counter-Strike has always encouraged team-work and communication over singular acts of heroism, and CS: Source is no different. You need to use the voice commands (controlled via the keyboard) or a headset to ensure that your team follows orders and adheres to strategic plans.

One of the main differences between this game (along with the original) and other multiplayer shooters is that players earn money each round depending on how well their team performs. These funds can then be used to purchase items such as weapons, ammunition and even armour at the beginning of a round. This quite original style of play works well, but can sometimes lead to one team having a huge advantage in terms of equipment should they win a few rounds in succession. This system is difficult to get to grips with initially but long-time players swear by it.

Despite the fundamental gameplay of the first game being painstakingly recreated in this version, there are a few interesting new features bolted on, none of which have any significant impact on the way in which the game actually plays. Firstly, thanks to the new �Havok� physics engine, items such as barrels, filing cabinets and even drinks machines can be pushed over or rolled down slopes. They even react realistically to bullet impacts and explosions. The Havok engine is being used to great extent in Half-Life 2 but in CS: Source it plays a far more cosmetic role. It�s certainly interesting to roll barrels down a hill and pray that one of them will hit an unsuspecting member of the opposition, but it bears no real relevance to the game and can�t be used to any great advantage (believe me, I�ve tried). This area of the new physics system is simply a novelty (albeit it a welcome one) and I for one am pleased that Valve haven�t let it interfere with how this classic game is played.

Allan Hamilton

Developer: Elixir | Publisher: VU Games | Genre: Strategy | ESRB: Teen | ETA: Out Now!

Republic: The Revolution was in my opinion an underrated game, well I never actually played it, but I was told it was. Elixir Studios, the creators of that unplayed gem have been working hard on their next release, the aptly titled, Evil Genius!

Similar to Bullfrogs very successful game, Dungeon Keeper 2, you play as the title suggests an evil genius. From the beginning you're taught the idea "Its Good to Be Bad" and that never lets up. In short you ultimate goal is to create a huge underground lair, train henchmen and take on the world. Not forgetting those big baddie clich�s of a doomsday device and top 007 type agents trying to stop you. This time however you must make sure they don't succeed.

Gameplay

Before you fully begin you will need to create your very own evil Genius. This is done by using a preset choice of 3 preset geniuses�. There is no actually difference in the 3 apart from with henchmen you start with. Like most games of this type, you're given a nice tutorial level which smoothly guides you, and makes that all important learning curve less Steep. Once you've completed that easy bit, the game really starts and once the tutorial is out of the way, you're pretty much on your own. This isn�t a bad thing as the pace this game runs at means its best to Think for yourself rather than follow more tutorial orders.

Construction of your base is pretty similar to Dungeon Keeper 2 in Fact, as you need to dig out walls to create rooms (as it�s all underground). This is done with some grace as you don't have scores of Minions digging with shovels. A small animated scaffold framework appears around the land you want dug out and your minions do their stuff. The scaffold disappears to reveal a beautifully polish empty room to work on. Orders are issued in a different way than that of other games. Instead of simply clicking on rocks to dig or rooms to build, you issue little tagged orders. When you instruct a room to be dug out, a small "dog tag" floats above it. This is your command panel and can control what you want to happen to anything. You can apply these tags to people, objects or walls and each has its own effect. You can pause/resume work, destroy objects or issue kill orders (explained later).

The ordering and placement of items for your lair is also different. In previous games you would select what you would like, a chair perhaps and place it real time in your base. Here you place an order but a "ghost" of your desired object appears first with the tag. Your minions (your basic workers, like DK2's imps) will first fetch money in briefcases, take it to the store, buy the item, carry it back in a box then unpack. This realistic(ish) approach is quite a fresh look at an old system. You now have to think "if I buy that now I will have to wait for x amount of time and use x amount of minions" it all adds up. Each purchase takes minions away from other tasks, however more often than not, your minions are bored and once you've build or ordered something, they just stroll around like lost sheep. So you will need to take care of their needs. This is done via the rest room or mess hall. If you have bought yourself an armoury you can get minions to arm themselves with basic pistols, in case of agent attack! Early on you�re told that your minions will only attack an enemy if tagged, I found this somewhat annoying as I had to find the enemy tag them then hope some minion sees them, as you can�t control individual minions. You can place security cameras to spot these intruders but all seems too easy. You an evil genius with a big powerful lair and the enemy can just stroll in undetected. You are given 3 alerts states, Green, yellow and red. As you can imagine, green is calm/stand down, yellow is arm yourselves and red is PANICK, shoot anything that moves. You not only must you keep your base in tip top condition but you become your own bodyguard in the process. I found most of the time I left my base in red alert so all enemy intruders would be attacked. You can also as mentioned earlier select kill tags. These tags force your minions or bodyguards to attack the tagged person. Even if its one of your own men. You can issue a few sub orders. Kill, knock out or a mind control, used later in the game.

Depending on which evil genius you choose, you can have access to various bodyguards or a henchman as the game calls it. These are like those characters you see in various 007 movies, odd job characters such as, Jaws etc� that hold special abilities. Although they can die they have a number of extra lives but they are pretty tough and have a few special powers to help them kill your enemies. You star with basic minions who just work but with training and the proper trainer they can become anything you like. Mercenaries, soldiers, scientists etc� But in order to train them you need a trainer with that particular skill and you acquire that person by doing missions. These allow you to send minions into the big wide world and steal money or plot. You can also kidnap these trainers and use them to train up your own men.

If you buy a firing range you can train up your basic minions to more powerful soldiers. These carry powerful rifles and are much tougher, but these too can't spot enemies even if they bump into them. Time to hit red alert again! Although people may say �its part of the game to issue tags� it still doesn�t stop it from being irritating.

Although this all sounds wonderfully interesting I did find myself getting bored pretty quick with the same types of missions and conclusions. In the end it felt like I was playing the same level over and over. Not saying it wasn't fun repeating, I just felt there should have been more to it. In fact I got bored quicker with this game than any other I have played in a while.

Graphics

Evil Genius's graphics are pretty nice and cartoon like. They won't test your graphics card pixel shader technology or real time lighting though but it's pretty clean and crisp. And so is the interface, which I find is uncluttered and easy to navigate. In fact I loved the interface, that chrome dashboard old hi-fi look really appealed to me and I enjoyed navigating. However it was simple enough for me. Dispatching your evil minions on the "World Domination Map" is simple enough, left click on the henchmen you want to place, right click to retrieve them. The only minor annoyance is that there's no "Select All" function for your minions, nor can you slide workers from one region of the world to another without routing them through your island first. Moving a large team from the Eastern United States to Europe, for example, can require 14 or 15 clicks to accomplish. Those minor problems, however, pale in comparison to Evil Genius' biggest issue -- the way that information is presented to the player. While everything you need to manage your evil empire is present in the game, the game desperately needs more feedback between the lair management and World Domination screens. Animations can get a little boring too and closer inspection of the characters reveals just how awful they look. However this game wasn't designed to blow us away graphically. It gets the job done and doesn't try to go overboard. Worth mentioning is the animations, which while sometimes being boring and bad can be funny and well done. Especially the Michael Jackson impression! Enough said.

Sound

Right from the off the game throws stereotypical spy movie music at you. However, that isn�t a problem as the music fits in well, there just isn�t much of it and it became boring for me after a while. But that doesn't matter. The sound overall is pretty good, with nice funny touches to add to the general humour of the game.

Conclusion

Overall if you like your games short, fun, funny and a break from the more popular genres then evil genius will tickle your proverbial fancy. However, it never quite did it for me. I was always left wanting more and then I gave up. And there are numerous other gameplay glitches, although not severe enough to hinder play, they will annoy never the less.

Pros:
Out of the box fun
Pretty looking
Can be funny

Cons:
Repetitive
Too much micromanagement

Final Score: 80%

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Developer: Nevrax | Publisher: VU Games | ETA: Out Now! | Price: �29.99 inc. VAT

Games Fusion reviews Nevrax�s MMORPG title, The Sega or Ryzom. Nevrax is a Paris based online game and software development company that specializes in the creation of massively multiplayer online games. To date The Saga of Ryzom is the only title under the Paris based company�s belt. During the games beta stage, which ended September 14th, the game received close to 170,000 sign ups and was deemed 2004�s �Best MMOG of E3� by WarCry Network.

The game is based on a SCI-Fi adventure storyline, which mixes the usual elements of a SCI-Fi adventure, that isn�t set in space, including sorcery, war and tradecraft. What else could there be!? Three generations ago a civilization called �Atys� perished when they were savaged by a flock of kitins. So let�s get this straight in the rock �n role 70�s a bunch of kittens (possibly!?) obliterated an entire civilization? Well not exactly! Kitins are in fact a type of beast, which look surprisingly similar to the bugs seen in the Starship Troopers movie and now roam the land of Saga. And it doesn�t actually say what period the game takes place in, but we know for sure that it isn�t set on Earth. It�s now your role to join forces with thousands of others, master the arts of sorcery, war and tradecraft and re-claim what was once yours.

As this game is a MMORPG you are, of course required to pay a monthly subscription fee, in addition to the retail price of �29.99 in order to play it. The Saga of Ryzom comes with an out-of-box one month free trial, but still requires you to enter your credit card details before you play. At the end of that month you will be charged a fee of �8.49 per month, which will rebill until you cancel. If you were to buy and play this game for a year it would cost you a total of �131.87, which for many is too much to pay for a game. There is no single player mode which means unless you sign up you can�t play the game and if you don�t like it you can�t return it either. This is the problem, which I am sure many gamers and publications have touched upon in the past. A couple of questions which often arises are �Why do we have to pay the full price for something which we have to pay to play?� And �Why can�t I return it if I don�t like it?� The answer to the first question is that the price of the game and the price of the subscription have got completely nothing to do with the other. The price you pay for the game goes towards the developers and the subscription fee goes towards maintaining the server, which includes bandwidth costs, support and hardware etc... However, the answer to the second question is a little more complicated since I feel gamers �should� be able to return a game of this particular genre.

One of the main reasons why retailers stopped buyers from returning games was due to illegal copying. Gamers would often buy a game, copy it, return it and then get their money back and in the end software retailers were loosing a great deal of money. The difference between predominantly off-line games and MMOG�s is that the honest gamer out there can�t play the game, should he or she decide to cancel his subscription. The way forward seems to be what Valve has done with their content distribution system, �Steam�. However, it will take some time before ISP�s catch up to allow a majority of consumers to buy and return their games online.

Gameplay

After you are done entering your credit card details and logging into the system you will be presented with the character selection screen. There are four civilizations to choose from, which include the Fyros, Matis, Tryker and the Zorat. For this review I chose the Tryker, who evidently look the most human. Building your character can actually be quite fun! And you can spend a good hour doing it. As well as being able to choose the sex of your character you can also edit its proportions, including its height, torso, arms, legs and bust. You also have the ability to edit the characters face, including its haircut, hair colour, eye colour and even add tattoos. Additionally you can modify the shape of the eye�s, nose, mouth, ears and chin. It�s all great fun! Probably the most important phase of the character selection screen is providing your character with its actions. You have the ability to select three action packs, which will provide you with the necessary skills to perform tasks within the game. These action packs include fighting, magic, forage and craft.

Once in the game those who are not so familiar with the whole RPG genre might have a bit of trouble navigating. There is a help box bellow but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of an interactive tutorial. The heads-up-display is set out with various windows, which include details on your character, your available weapons, tools and spells etc� There is also a multiple desktop feature, similar to that seen on a Linux OS, which enables you to cycle through windows quickly and easily.

The world is built up with various outposts spread across the map, which have already been captured and are under guard by different civilisations or �Primitive Tribes�. To get to these outposts you need to travel on foot from one area to another, on your way you will come across different beasts that will try to stop you on your travels. It�s actually harder than it sounds to get from A-B, especially when you are new to the game and don�t know how to attack yet! My first attempt was being chased for about 15 minutes by something which looked like a giant crab (that would be the kitins). Needless to say I never reached point B and surprisingly there wasn�t a Starbucks or Mc Donald�s in sight either! The good thing about Saga is if you are new to the game you can always team up with a player and they will hopefully fend off the beasts for you until you get to grips with the controls. You don�t even need to be at your PC to follow players, as the game has a neat little auto-pilot feature that enables you to select any mobile object and follow it.

The game is based on a task and reward system where you can choose to undertake tasks for different characters within the game and in return receive money or �points�. This is important to be able to build up skills in the training area, which requires points for each training session you do. You may also trade items at trading centres for weapons, magic, clothing and other items.

Ryzom's RAID Engine introduces a completely dynamic and non-linier experience to gameplay. If territories are left unguarded or unchecked for long periods of time monsters will try to reclaim different outposts, territories and entire regions. Intense battles between vast gatherings of monsters and civilisations can also take place. Monsters will often send for reinforcements should they feel areas are threatened by opposing forces. The RAID Engine is an excellent feature of the game, which helps to build up tension and maintain the excitement of the game.

Graphics

Graphics in the Saga of Ryzom are pretty much on par with other games within the MMOG genre. However, I wasn�t terribly impressed with the graphics compared to most games, which are either out or soon to arrive. There really isn�t anything new or terribly unique in terms of what the game provides, visually at least! Having said that we have to remember that the developers need to concentrate on a good combination between graphics and performance and because these worlds are so vast the graphics of say a First Person Shooter would otherwise be impossible to incorporate into the game, whilst still maintaining an acceptable level of performance on a current day system.

When you enter the game you will first notice the reflections on the water and the moving clouds in the sky. The game also has a day and night system where the game starts to get dark after a while and you start to see the stars come out in the sky. You also have the usual effects, which are commonly being incorporated into modern games, such as swaying trees in the wind and ripple effects on the water. One unique feature of the game is its impressive living ecosystem, which allows flora and fauna to dynamically interact with each other to produce an ever-changing environment, similar to real-world vegetation.

Sound

I was slightly disappointed by the lack of a soundtrack within the game as music can often be a vital asset to the immersive atmosphere of a game. Similarly to most modern games the Saga of Ryzom comes with full support for EAX, Creative�s environmental audio technology for games. However, EAX usually works best for games, which have environments that are in close proximity to one another, enhancing upon the reverberation effects that EAX is renowned for, having said that The Saga of Ryzom does a pretty good job at providing some realistic sound effects, including rain drops, water effects and lightning effects.

Conclusion

The Saga of Ryzom is a hard-core MMORPG title for the otherwise hard core RPG gamer. It has a steep learning curve for those who are not into the whole RPG genre but are interested in getting into it. For a MMORPG title The Saga of Ryzom has some pretty intriguing graphics and an otherwise unique gameplay experience. The technology that Nevrax has incorporated into this game, including a diverse living ecosystem and a storyline which will be different in every server, no doubt adds an intriguing and exciting experience for fans of the RPG genre. If you are one of those fans then The Saga of Ryzom is definitely a game worth checking out!

Overall Score: 84%

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Adam Hall

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios | Developer: DICE | ETA: Out Now | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

Cars. Aren�t they a wonderfully useful invention? Don�t they just brighten up our world with their toxic fumes and pollute the systems of pregnant women and consequently populating the world with excessive numbers of retarded people? The person who invented them must�ve been one lazy bastard to create something that gets you from one place to another with minimal effort. Of course like every invention in the world, someone, somewhere will find another use for it, be it a weapon, a cooking implement or a baseball bat, in this case, it�s modding them to the bollocks with reinforcements, tuning their engines to the limits then tearing �em round dirty, mud infested excuses for tracks equipped with pant-filling jumps and corners so tight, you�d think they�re still virgins!

Game Play

From the onset, hell, from looking at the back of the game box it�s pretty obvious what this game�s going to consist of; racing to be frank. But as you start playing you�ll soon realize it sports much more potential than a bog-standard racing game. Oh yes, with some nifty additions and awe-inspiring visuals, Rallisport 2 is undoubtedly one of the best rally driving games I�ve played in my entire life.

Sporting a massive 90+ tracks for you to rag your selection of over 40 cars on, RS2 is pretty bulked out. With Amateur, Pro, Champion and Super Rally, you�ve got a wide selection of difficulty levels but a word of advice, I wouldn�t trying Super Rally on your first try because� Let�s just say it�s ralli, ralli hard!
Working my way up the leagues I realised that this game is most definitely not for those with short attention spans. You need the dedication of a chicken to a chalk line to get anywhere in this game, any less and you�ll be kicked to the curb with the force of, well, a car hitting you! Some of the cars you�ll obtain in later parts of game are so fast they�re barely controllable. It�s tremendously exciting.

So the game begins, you�re primed, fingers twitching with anticipation and stomach doing back flips with nerves. You navigate the simple Graphical User Interface and within a matter of seconds you�ve chosen your car, set up what track you�re going to play and you�re sitting at the starting line waiting for the longest 2 seconds of your life to conclude. You pull back the right trigger and the speedometer hand propels itself to the opposite side of the dial and your engine noise sears through your ears like a blade of solid audio. Enough pretentious tales, let�s get on to what you want to hear.

Initially, Rallisport 2 seems like a kind game with a very progressive learning curve so those unfamiliar with driving games can make their way to the top. Then, before you know it, after 2 races in it smacks you in the face, calls you names and throws you into a selection of tracks each with more vindictive qualities. This game is not easy, far from it, but once you�ve learnt how to deal with the cars, it�s one of the most rewarding games you�ll play. Plus, during your learning period, if you do crash, the absolutely phenomenal damaging scaling system within RS2 will realistically display doors bending, wheels flying off and hitting crowd members in the face, and windows smashing as you hit a side barrier too hard. You can totally massacre your car in this game, and it�s so much fun you wouldn�t believe!

RS2 holds many wondrous little additions that, although aren�t that revolutionary, make the whole experience that much more enjoyable. For those of you who�ve played some sort of racing game, I�d be willing to bet that you�re familiar with the annoying sense of disarray once you�ve un-paused the game during play. Being thrown back into high-speed navigation is just too confusing; you need progression to regain your bearings. RS2 combats this issue with a simple, yet astonishingly affective 1.5/2 second still-screen after you un-pause the game so you can rebuild your composure. Not that amazing, I know, but you�d seriously appreciate it if you were the one playing the game.

RS2 comes with very little problems as far as racing games go. It�s all totally comprehensive and all totally awesome to play. My only real complaint is the loading times; they�re not on par with Deus Ex, but they�re not exactly quick enough for you to take a sip of your tea and look back to find it complete. You may find yourself staring at the screen for quite some time before you actually get to play, and in my opinion, if you�re actually aware of how long it�s taking, it�s taking too long!

Graphics

I�m sure you�ve figured out how positively amazing the graphics are in RS2 from the screenshots included in this review, but nevertheless, I�ll reiterate the point a few times! Initially, I�ve got two words for you; �no� and �pop-up�! For the first time in many years, RS2 is the first game I�ve seen that has no discernable pop-up. Tracks run smoothly throughout and you barely realize you�re playing a game as you can see the track far into the distance. Continuity is a predominant factor in this game, and it�s incredible how much of a difference it makes to the experience.

This, however, is the piece de r�sistance! How many times have you been playing a racing game and made note of how the audience on the sides of the tracks are nothing more than 2D sprites? None? Well they are, but not in RS2. Individual people supporting you are a proper 3D model that jumps around and throws their arms about just like a real person! On top of that, the trees are actually 3D as well! Revolutionary to say the least!

Sound

What can I really say about the sound of racing games? You start the game with your ears filled by the noise of revving engines, and for the rest of the track you�re bombarded with gear change sounds! It�s all pretty mundane to be honest, but this is strangely never a disincentive. I suppose such noises � despite how annoying � are as vital to racing games as �Fire in the hole� is to Counter-Strike. It�s not just a sound; it�s part of the game!

Nevertheless, RS2 does have some nice little tunes to drive along to. Although a lot of the songs have similar riffs to those found in Slipknot songs, they�re very Quake 2 and some seriously funky-ass shit!

Controls

Not being the biggest fan of racing games � it�s the repetition � I find it quite taxing to pick up and play the latest car romp. It�s not just understanding how to over spin cars or take corners properly, it�s the actual controls themselves and how utterly daunting they are when you�re trying to do ten things at once. Once again, RS2 comes to the rescue with a control system so simple and exceptionally laid out; all you have to worry about is learning specific maneuvers.

For the first time in a long while, the bulky Xbox controller actually works excellently with a game! If you�re throwing your car around muddy tracks, crashing in to trees and spinning out as you try and take a corner, you want something big and chunky to grab hold of. There�s so psychological explanation or scientific theories as to why it fits. It�s just right, and that�s good enough for me!

CONCLUSION

This game is absolutely, one hundred percent golden. I�m not a big fan of racing games, I don�t play them that often, but as soon as sunk my teeth in to this little bad-boy I was hooked. The stunning graphics, the roaring engine noises, the vast variety of cars and the excitement of pulling off slides perfectly. It all adds up to one fantastic racing sim. Don�t question it. Buy it.

SCORE: 4.5/5

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Jesse Lardies

Publisher: Electronic Arts | ETA: Out Now | Price: �29.99 Inc VAT.

Battlefield: 1942 was, and is a staple in the PC online gaming community. With its large roster of vehicles, varied weapons and team based tactics, it's always a favourite for those seeking multiplayer Nirvana. Now the question is; does EA stick to the game-play that worked so well for the series? Or, do they try and improve on an all ready successful formula? EA is known for letting some of its other known game franchise�s fall into a somewhat bland state, as far as expansion packs and sequels are concerned. Medal of Honour: Rising Sun comes to mind immediately! The graphics in Battlefield: Vietnam is improved over Battlefield: 1942 and sport a more polished look. It is apparent that they have spent some money in the development of this game. EA, and developer Digital Illusions CE. have sought to bring you away from the beaches of Normandy with this latest instalment, and has, for the most part, delivered in spades. As before, up to 64 players can battle it out, this time choosing either the Allied or US forces, or Vietcong and Vietnamese allies.

The visuals on this game are also improved over Battlefield: 1942. Lots of dense foliage and cover give players a distinct opportunity to use the surroundings to their advantage, as it's nearly impossible to spot out Charlie if he's lying prone in the dirt. As improved as the game is, the frame rate takes a hit when the resolutions and settings are cranked up. Even with a powerful machine and plenty of resources, there's a good chance you'll notice a touch of lag. I've also read on EA's own website numerous people have been receiving difficulties getting Battlefield: Vietnam to run well. Coming out around the same time as games such as Far Cry, the graphics could've definitely been improved upon, but for the most part, it serves its purpose well. The models in game are all the more detailed this time around, due to normal mapping. Bump mapping and dynamic lighting have also been implemented to bring the jungles of Vietnam to life. Even minor details, such as moving parts on weapons, whilst in motion has been implemented to increase realism and help immerse you further into the game.

Control wise, the game does a pretty good job at letting you have fun while piloting various vehicles. The jeeps and other non-tank land vehicles are great to drive, in first-person perspective it really makes you feel like they nailed down what it would have been like to drive those vehicles over that kind of hilly terrain. The aircraft take a bit of time getting used to. If you're not familiar with using the keyboard for flying, the controls can easily be switched to your liking. It's a great thing to be able to team up with your friends and pilot a chopper filled with friendly�s to the battlefront for a drop off. Furthermore, flying an F-4 Phantom into battle and parachuting out with a team mate after levelling the playing field with some Napalm, is what this game is all about. Battlefield really opens up with the possibilities of open ended fights.

You'll start noticing the differences from this game and Battlefield: 1942 after you've played it a while. If you haven't spent much time with Battlefield: 1942, then you will just find a fun, and otherwise familiar FPS, (all though with vehicles). Multiplayer will yield many hours of frag fests for the hard-core player, and that's really what Battlefield games are all about. Not having a Campaign per say, doesn't really hurt this game, as Battlefield veterans aren't expecting a single player experience. I'd advise you, if you aren't planning on playing this game online to look forward to a rather limited single player experience. But for everyone else (and most of you who are buying this game will play online), look forward to steering PT boats several clicks down muddy rivers to drop off your team mates, flying in great fashion into the front lines of battle, and, driving huge creaking tanks into enemy territory to waste Charlie with some major ordinance. War� What is it good for? In this case, a very respectable 8/10.

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Adam Hall

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios | ETA: Out Now | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

I�ve always considered being grabbed by the ghoulies a very personal thing so you can imagine my dismay when a video game arrived on my doorstep that uses that very obscenity as its title and main focal point! Disgusting! Of course it then turned out to be about GHOULS as in Zombies! Not your GHOULIES as in� Yeah!

Rare�s latest zombie romp, Grabbed By The Ghoulies, sees you running around a haunted house being tormented by, what appears to be, a disturbed ghost/zombie pilot in an attempt to rescue your female companion who�s been kidnapped by the baddies!

GBTG is, from the onset, predominantly a child�s game. It doesn�t sport complex story lines or have a control system that takes weeks to grasp, it�s just a simple, cool-looking little adventure, and despite its target audience, you just might get more enjoyment out of this than you�d expect!

Gameplay
Although many critics may frown upon GTBG for being overly simplistic and juvenile, I personally think it�s a breath of fresh air. Not because I�m a simple man, despite popular belief, but because the amount of pretentious video games that get released these days is reaching a phenomenally offensive level and although games like GBTG by all means don�t re-invent the video game, they at least rekindle the long-lost simplicity that games once proudly paraded.

GBTG is told in a very Max Payne esque storyboard like manner that although isn�t as excellently executed as our gun-toting friend�s adventure, combined with the �voice acting�, it makes for a very transfixing form of entertainment.

As soon as you drop into the main gameplay you�ll find yourself kicking and punching little ghoulies with a combat system that, initially, feels quite satisfying, but descends into a monotonous repetition of events that has as much diversity as a broken record quicker than you can say �Ow me ghoulies!� On top of that, I couldn�t help but find the whole experience somewhat stressful; at some points there are many enemies at one time, some of them a lot smaller than you. If you don�t run to them, they�ll eventually crowd around you and trying to boot all of them before one attacks is just very traumatic! Now you know why I could never complete System Shock 2!

Despite the stress, though, GBTG makes up for it not only in loading times that are just astounding, but also in the fact that in between rearranging the faces of Zombies and increasing the surface area of spiders, you can smash up pretty much everything you see. On TOP of that, you can pick up a lot of objects to use them against enemies. I found it somewhat ironic beating the crap out of a skeleton with a book titled �Spooky Tales�.

Graphics
I�d like to say that GBTG was implementing a cool graphic style to compliment the whole notion and principle of the game, but I feel I�d be lying if I did. So many games these days use Cel Shading not because it aids the game in some way, but because they know it sells well and people like it! And arguably, some may say there�s nothing wrong with that, but to me, if one part of a game is made purely for money, why not the rest?! Things like this make me question the integrity and will behind the games industry.

Anyway, that�s (almost) irrelevant, however, GBTG is a very handsome game indeed. Like pretty much every other game on the Xbox, it doesn�t quite push the console to its limits but nevertheless; it�s cartoony enough to appeal to children but not quite cartoony enough to rule out teens and young adults as potential players!

I feel the character design is questionable; they don�t seem to fit into the game as well as they should do. Maybe it�s the wooly jumper, or maybe the cel-shaded graphics allow me to see it only on a shallow level, but throughout the game I felt I might as well be controlling Mickey Mouse or some other similarly weedy character.

Controls
One of the first things you�ll notice when you first start playing GBTG is that the control system is like no other. When I initially had a little whirl I thought the system was heavily erroneous and may cause problems in later stages of the game, but to my surprise it�s quite amazing!

The main A, B, Y and X keys do nothing but pick up and drop objects. It�s all down to the left and right thumbsticks. Left being movement, and right being direction of attack.

One thing I especially love about the control system in GBTG is the ability to rotate the camera in either direction using the left or right trigger buttons. 3rd person games are susceptible to dodgy camera angles and GBTG is no exception so the implementation of camera rotation is much appreciated.

Sound
The audio side of GBTG is probably the most under whelming and moronic side of the game. Starting with the voice-over, if you can it that. As opposed to �normal� games, GBTG has no proper voice over; it�s more incoherent mumbling that appears to be paying homage to The Telly Tubbies! Some may find this offensive, some may find this pleasantly charming, I however hated every friggin� minute of the inane babble that, as far as I�m concerned, is by no means an adequate substitute for a REAL voice-over. What were you thinking Rare?!

Other than that, the sound in GBTG is all bog-standard sound effects. Punch noise, kick noise, even zombie groaning noises. It all complements the theme of the game, but it most definitely won�t blow you away!

CONCLUSION
A surprisingly entertaining Zombie romp complete with stylish graphics and the ability to smash things up. Puts a smile on my face for sure. Like I said earlier GBTG doesn�t reinvent the video game, hell, it doesn�t even add anything slightly diverse to the formula, but the fact of the matter is, it�s more of what we like and as the old saying goes; no-one likes change!

Score: 3/5

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Adam Hall

Publisher: EA | Developer: EA | ETA: Out Now | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

I hate sports. The most physical activity I do every week is pushing the keys consecutively on my keyboard for short bursts, and even that leaves me gasping for air as I a lower myself to the ground with the intent of ensuing a painless black-out!
So naturally, a rage against sports games is intertwined with my very essence since anything that reminds me of all the pain and anguish you have to endure to get anywhere near an �adequate� performance is undoubtedly a bad thing!

With such a tainted opinion, I went into playing NHL2004 expecting to be horribly disappointed, slam my Xbox controller into the floor and walk away thinking about how right I am that sport games suck! But did that happen? Well it did actually! No I�m joking, it actually didn�t!

After that insightful demonstration of my vast comic intellect, I should probably get around to reviewing this bastard of a game, and by �bastard� I mean awesome, enthralling, tantalising lovely sex!

GAMEPLAY
Firstly, I�d just like to make a note directed at the other sport game haters out there (and believe me, there�s a few); don�t overlook this game just because it�s a sport. It�s packing more appeal than the NSPCC and I�d be willing to bet it�s got something for even the most close-minded gamers.
The main premise of NHL is, strangely enough, to play as much damned ice hockey as you can possibly handle and although this may sound like it would get repetitive, no two games are the same. You can always improve your shooting technique, or your passing ability. There�s forever something to advance and the best thing is, you�ve got an immense league of over 70 games to hone your skills.
Of course if the management elements of NHL appeal to you about as much as jumping off the Eiffel tower and landing on a seat-less bicycle, the game comes with an �Instant Rivalry� function that throws you straight into the action alongside some randomly chosen players pitted against a randomly chosen team! This serves a �pick-up-and-play� purpose for the game, but if the reason you get games is to play and COMPLETE them, you�re going to have to endure the league tables because Instant Rivalry will get you nowhere.

The only predominant cause of erroneous circumstances within NHL is the camera and how it can sometimes become extremely annoying. When I play such an attention demanding video game I can�t help but find it infinitely useful to actually be able to SEE the character I�m controlling and I don�t know if EA have some revolutionary alternative, but us old-school people like to stick to tradition but the camera in NHL2004 doesn�t seem to understand this logic and instead plants itself behind barriers and similarly awkward locations and can quite drastically hinder your ability to control your player. This is a rarity, however, so it shouldn�t be a deterrent!

I was quite surprised when I first played NHL to learn that it sports quite a steep learning curve. It�s somewhat strange to be honest; you can read the manual 17 times and feel like you�ve memorised the buttons, but when you actually start playing you�ll forget everything and resort to panic mashing where upon you�ll realise you probably should�ve started by playing the �Open Ice� option that gives you a little stress-free practice and on-the-fly gameplay hints. In saying that, however, playing the real game is still a quattuordecillion times more intense and even if you play the practice mode religiously for a few days, you�ll undoubtedly still require a certain amount of warming.

GRAPHICS
Now NHL2004 could be, in my opinion, susceptible to underestimation. The camera angle that you play through 90% of the time is located at a fair distance from the players, of course, to allow you maximum vision whilst retaining an adequate level of detail, but the problem with this is that you can�t really see the finer details that those wonderfully talented people at EA have established like nice reflections on the barrier glass as the hockey players hop over the sides to enter the rink and the comical, yet wide range of range of facial expressions.
Now by no means does NHL2004 push the Xbox to its limits, it probably wouldn�t get even get entered for one of the best looking games on the console, but the point is they are aesthetically pleasing and forget what people say, good graphics DO make a game just that much better!

CONTROLS
Like I said earlier on in the review, no matter how much you think you�ve grasped the controls in this game when you first start playing it, you�ll always be proven wrong when you enter a proper game. Although this makes for a taxing learning curve only scaleable by the most talented of �climbers�, it does mean the game won�t work for those button bashes out there that have a tendency to dominate even the most experienced of players every now and then. If you are the king of this game, you ARE the king of this game and no one but someone of equal or superior skill will serve you your ass on a silver platter.
One of the most interesting things in NHL2004 in regards to the control system is that it has two different control formats for when you�re with and without the puck. For example, the �B� button without the puck is a �Body Check/Role move� (you�ll come accustom to all this Ice Hockey lingo in no time then you can impress all your friends with how you were performing a �pinpoint pass�) whereas with the puck it becomes a �Deke/Flip Puck�. Although it seems rather prudential to do such a thing, you�d be surprised how stress free the whole thing is. Instead of having all buttons assigned at once and some coming deactivate when you have the puck (or not), they�re all spread out and simple to digest! It�s a beautifully elegant system and works extremely, extremely well.

SOUND
If NHL2004 was a silent game, it�d be bloody amazing, but the implementation of such comical and enthralling voice-overs and old-school competitive anthems make this game no less than motherf***ing tremendous! I listen to music a lot when I�m playing video games that require a limited amount of concentration � obviously not something like Splinter Cell � but the sound in NHL2004 was so good, I�d turn my music off (yes OFF) just so I could hear the voice over, or commentary.
The prevailing pleaser in regards to the sound in NHL is when you pause the game mid-match, you get the commentator saying things like: �We�ll get right back the action in just a moment!� or �We�ll be right back after this!� and even though that doesn�t sound too impressive when you�re reading it on your PC monitor, I genuinely believe it would put a smile on your face if you heard it whilst playing. On top of that you�ve got support for in-game Dolby Digital AND the option to play custom sound tracks unfortunately only over the menus as the main game has the commentary.

CONCLUSION
Well, you skate around a huge rink poking sweaty men with your stick before you slam them into the wall and start thrusting your pelvis towards them. NHL2004 is indisputably one of the most homo-erotic games you can buy for Xbox today, but once you�ve played it a few times and realised how utterly addictive and remarkable it is, you�ll learn to not give a puck!
NHL2004: One of the best gay experiences I�ve had in a while. I don�t know how EA keep doing it, but whatever it consists of, it�s relentlessly giving. Buy.

SCORE: 4.5/5

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Adam Hall

Publisher: SEGA | Developer: SEGA | ETA: Out Now | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

I�ve always been aware of the first Shenmue title, but due to a lack of time/money/effort, I never felt obliged to play it despite its apparent depth and amazement being shot into my face at least four times a day! I always thought I had better things to do, but now I�ve got the sequel in my Xbox, I�ve realised what a horrible, horrible person I�ve been!
The quest for the deepest, most involving game has been an adventure often proposed by gamers worldwide and although we have things like GTA, it still doesn�t conform to our idea of a totally free roaming game because the basic notion of it is to kill and destroy. Although Shenmue 2 doesn�t quite fill out this expectation either, it�s the closest thing yet and believe me, it�s nothing short of stunning.

Gameplay
Shenmue 2 is a lot like CS in absolutely no aspects whatsoever except the fact that you have to prepare yourself good and proper before you get onto playing the main game. By this I mean, S2 is probably the most progressive game I�ve ever played and although it makes for a nice long adventure, it isn�t for the restless by all means. This game relies purely on dedication if you have any intention of getting even half way through, but once you�re there, you�ll realise what a fantastic game this is.

Shenmue (and 2) is a story of revenge. One day, a long time ago, you return home to find your Dad battling a stranger in a red robe. He brutalises him to death and leaves with a precious artefact know as The Dragon Mirror. After you recover from the shock of seeing your Dad have a mysterious mans foot installed in his arse, you swear to avenge his death and go on a magical, mystical and spiritual journey complete with clenched fists branded with rage!
The fact that I managed to get the fundamentals of the storyline into 4 lines of text would imply that this game has little to no substance, but Sega have taken the �scraping at the bottom of the barrel� phrase to previously inconceivable levels and made a phenomenally large game out of, what would appear to be, very little essence indeed! Also, if you feel a bit left out in terms of story, S2 comes packaged with a DVD filled with a movie that tells you all you need to know. How�s that for convenience?!

Fortunately, the length and depth of the game doesn�t get too monotonous. Shenmue2 is bulging to the brim with features; you can touch, hold, and use practically anything you see. Ranging from getting a can of drink to arm wrestling the locals, this game strives to achieve unparalleled levels of freedom.
It�s not all a walk in the park though, Shenmue2 comes bundled with its fair share of problems and although they�re not that destructive or compromising, they do result in the failure of some tasks and the odd swearword emanating from your mouth every hour or so.
One of the most annoying, yet infinitesimal, problems that S2 flaunts is the lack of running direction whenever you move the camera round. I�ve always found such a feature excessively useful because you don�t have too little sensitivity resulting in you using a wall to shimmy your way around a right-angled corner, but not too much in that you run into everyone and everything at the slight touch of the control stick. It�s a nice balance, complete control. Definitely a missed opportunity if I�ve ever seen one!

Talking of missing things, or not in this case, the NPCs of S2 are somewhat of a disappointment. They�re the only things that really bring you back to reality and remind you that you�re only playing a game. Some tasks within the game see you following people around and along their journey of guidance, they collide with just about every object possible (slight exaggeration). I admit, the game�s not the newest of titles, but such a problem threatens continuity with realism with the rest of the game.

Another minor flaw in S2 is I couldn�t help but feel elements of repetition coming through. �Repetition?� you say, �In a game that practically re-invents diversity?� Well, yeah, I never seemed to climb out of the idea that all I was doing was �fight, get some money, walk around a bit, follow someone�. In addition to that, everything seemed annoyingly disjointed but maybe that�s a problem that clears itself up towards the latter parts of the game, it�s pretty big ya�know!

Adam Hall

Publisher: Microsoft | Developer: Valve Software | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

Counter-Strike, Camper-Strike, Hacker-Strike, AWPer-Strike, whatever you want to call it, CS is undeniably, and rather inexplicably, the best online team-based shooter Half-life modification you can play. Combining a tantalising array of maps with a breathtaking assortment of weapons that would have Rambo throwing his teddy in the corner of the room, the game of Terrorist verses Counter-Terrorist is an unprecedented and intensely spiritual experience that�s been dominating the online games sections of magazines, websites and forums for god knows how long!
The only problem with it though, is that you have to have a PC and (preferably) a broadband Internet connection to play it. Well, at least you used to!
The boundaries have finally been broken and Counter-Strike has made the once unthinkable leap to another platform, but the true element of mystery here is does the game play as well as the PC version? Unfortunately, such an element is of minimal predictability. So it looks like those who are interested will have to conform to the old method and read the review. Preferably this one!

Gameplay
If you�ve played the PC version of CS you�ll be aware of how it works, but for those less fortunate individuals, here�s a quick run-down. There�s a map. A terrain. A habitat. A level that you have to play within. There are two teams, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, each of who have to induce the demise of the opposite team to win outright, but there�s other ways of reigning supreme. For CTs your main objective is to either defuse the bomb or rescue the hostages from a specific location in the map and in opposite
When you initially start the game you�ll have nothing but a knife, a handgun and 800 dollars to buy whatever you want with that you think will keep your arse void of holes or critical wounds. As the game progresses, depending on which team wins; your money will increase massively (or slightly) opening a world of wonderful and deadly weapons at your disposal. Repeat until bored.

The PC version is hectic at times to say the least. Grenades fly, people die followed by the obligatory �WTF?� (What the f***?) and bullets whistle past your ears as you unload your clip into some punk who was trying to bust you from behind with a sniper rifle. The excitement flows plentifully from every orifice in your body as you control your little digital representation, and although this element is still present in the Xbox conversion, it�s substantially toned down. The concept is easily grasped, but the game itself is by no means easy to play on higher difficulty levels.

Before I start on the denouncements, though, let�s have a little praise.
Keeping it simple, the single player bots in CSX are very impressive. Focusing on a lone bot running around trying to complete the required task, some very simple, but �taken for granted� moves are executed and integrated seamlessly. Things like checking camp spots is something that, if seen on the internet, would be ignored as the player goes and makes tea, but for artificial intelligence to implement such spatial awareness is friggin� exciting and makes the single player game that much more enjoyable. It makes the player a lot more comfortable to know that if there�s bullets drilling their way into their chest, a team mate will do something about it if they�re around rather than running around aimlessly into walls and shooting everything but the opposing force.

Adam Hall

Publisher: Microsoft | Developer: Just Add Monsters | ETA: Out Now | Price: �39.99 Inc VAT.

Being a Ninja must rule. Not only do you get to wear the coolest clothes ever, but also, working in collaboration with the mystifying darkness, you get to kill people with swords leaving no trace but your victim�s body slumping to the floor as fresh blood arches brutally from their wound. Kung Fu Chaos has somewhat encroached on my magical view of these warriors of the night. No longer are Ninjas cool, they�re nothing but worryingly disproportioned weirdoes with eyebrows so vast, Busted are chewing on their manufactured punk-pop hearts as we speak. United with a lack of moves and the subtlety of a floodlight, these guys would have trouble taking on a scarecrow with a flame-thrower!

Based around a film set, Kung Fu Chaos places you as the protagonist of a whole new kung fu action movie directed by the world renowned Shao Ting, who, strangely enough, ends most of his FMV sequences Shao-Ting his head off! (I�m really sorry for that one)!

Gameplay
KFC is a party game for all who can grip the cosmically sized Xbox controller, and although it lacks depth and a real amount of intelligence, it is pretty fun in short bursts. Nevertheless, for us less socially dependant individuals, the game does come packaged with a single player campaign that sees you fi