Author: Photics

EverQuest – A Full Time Job

What also may be responsible for the older crowd is EverQuest’s similarity to the classic role-playing game “Dungeons & Dragons”. Verant & 989 Studios pulled off what TSR should have done. I tend to classify Dungeons & Dragons as a board game. The problem with D&D is the same problem with Monopoly. In Monopoly, who wants to be the banker and In D&D who wants to be Dungeon Master?

EverQuest eliminates all the tedious actions associated with conventional RPGs. There’s no rolling dice, there’s no figuring out armor class, there’s no worn out pencil erasers, and there’s no arguing over the rules. With EverQuest I can team up with my friends online… or I can make new friends and go exploring with them.

EverQuest goes to extremes…

There’s some truly revolutionary features and some serious flaws. It furthers the gap between the casual and hardcore gamers.

Features…

  1. Online World – EverQuest is a fantastical escape from reality. It’s a place where your imagination can play, but it has serious ties to reality. The players are real, the interaction is real, and the time it consumes is real. If you’re not careful, it can destroy your life just as badly as any other addiction. (To hardcore gamers… this sounds like a plus.)
  2. D&D The Next Generation – While many hardcore RPG fans may argue this with me, I feel EverQuest surpasses traditional role-playing games. There’s no bickering over what armor class should be or how many dice should be rolled for a two-handed magical sword. All of the tedious math and the rules of conventional RPGs are figured out automatically. You don’t have to worry about absurd words like “Thaco”. You just click attack. Plus, I never had a game of D&D where I played with thousands of other people.
    1. Horrible Load Times – The load time and installation time is atrocious. It’s reminiscent of the Commodore 64 days. Just on downtime alone, EverQuest will consume more time than most other video games. I’ve been known to play Crazy Taxi while waiting for EverQuest to start up. Keep in mind, my computer is no slouch either!
    2. Average Graphics – The graphics are ok… but they’re not cutting edge. Multiplayer games like Quake and Unreal have more impressive eye-candy than EverQuest. Although, it’s a different type of game. Traditionally, the in-game graphics for RPG games have never been cutting edge. Rarely, you’ll get an impressive game like Phantasy Star II or Final Fantasy VII… but generally RPGs lag behind the visuals of action or racer type games.
    3. Monthly Fee – Personally, I think it’s bad news to release a game that requires monthly payments to be played. You cannot play EverQuest anywhere else but online. $10 a month will add up over time. Casual gamers will probably not invest in something like that. Games like Myth, Quake, and Unreal can all be played online, at no additional charge.

      4. The Bottom Line: Realize that purchasing EverQuest is not something that should be decided upon lightly. There are monthly charges, serious load times, and it’s a long way to level 60. Unless you have more free time then you know what to do with, EverQuest may not be a journey you’ll want to take… but if you’re a hardcore player and an RPG fan… welcome to your nirvana. Casual gamers should avoid this like the plague. EverQuest could be considered a game without an end.

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Crazy Taxi: The Reason Why I Own A Dreamcast

The record keeping is the best I’ve ever seen on a home console system. Switching between players is a snap. Your friends can keep their own records separate from yours. This is very important since Crazy Taxi is a one player game. The intuitive record keeping promotes an alternating style of game play. You can watch and learn your friends moves, then implement them during your next chance at the controls. I recommend taking turns with your friends in the challenge mode – it is especially entertaining.

Also not to be missed is Crazy Taxi’s attention to detail. Not only are the in-game physics realistic, but so are your destinations. You drive to real-world places like Pizza hut, Tower Records, KFC and Levi Strauss. It’s the one time I felt subliminal advertisement added to game play.

What’s even realistic is the music. It’s made by real bands – Offspring and Bad Religion. I was hoping for more tracks in the home version, but that didn’t happen. This can be a disappointment, because some of my friends have complained about the music’s repetitiveness. As for me, Offspring is one of my favorite bands – I don’t think I’ll tire of those songs any time soon. A few games use commercial bands in their music selection, but Crazy Taxi shows you that it works well. Using commercial bands in video games is something that should happen more often!

Ahhh – Crazy Taxi is my own personal nirvana. There’s a lot going on. There’s excellent driving action, combined with rock music and lots of graphical eye candy. The home version is very true to the original. Aside from the controls, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two versions. Even the loadtime is well managed. Pauses are virtually nonexistent – in any mode of play.

There is some slight polygon pop-up going on in the horizon, and this happens in the arcade too. To me, this is the greatest sin of all driving games. Overall, Crazy taxi manages the pop-up pretty well. The level design is interesting, but never overly complex. You tend to only notice draw-in when you’re on steep angles or if you quickly approach large buildings. This is one of my pet peeves, most gamers wouldn’t even notice the minor draw-in problems with Crazy Taxi.

It’s really odd to me. I used to loathe racing games, but now two excellent racing games have hit the Dreamcast – One is obviously Crazy Taxi and the other is Tokyo Xtreme Racing. I don’t see either of these driving games being matched, at least not any time in the near future. But hey… I’d love to be proven wrong.

Pros: Crazy Taxi is going to sell a lot of Dreamcast systems.
Cons: More tracks should have been added and the control should have been improved

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Less Is More – Nintendo Game Boy Color Review

The Gameboy must have game companies scratching their heads. How could the portable with one of the worst system specs dominate the video game industry? Ten years ago, I called Nintendo in disappointment. The Sega Genesis was released, but there was no counter console from Nintendo. Where was Nintendo’s killer system? The response Nintendo gave was that only the Gameboy would be released that year.

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Dreamcast Game Review – Hydro Thunder (Just Add Water)

Ahh the typical racing game… how boring!!! But what Midway shows you, if you just add water, you can get something exciting. True… HydroThunder was not a big hit with me in the arcades, mainly because it was a dollar a pop. It’s nice to see that a pretty much identical version can be had for significantly less money. I’d say it’s 100 times less than the price of a deluxe coin-op.

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Dreamcast Game Review – Ready 2 Rumble ("This Outta Be A Crime")

The easiest way to describe Ready 2 Rumble is by calling it the Mike Tyson’s Punch Out of the 90’s. It’s a cartoon-like boxer meant to be more than a little silly. If that’s what you’re looking for, then this game deliverers. It’s nothing but non-stop, mindless punch-fest. Ready 2 Rumble is one of those games where you can vent some stress after a hard day.

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