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ШЕ: aiidr iS iask e ТEЕLSSУ: ; s They're back. And they're itching for action. With tons of planets to conquer in a whole new gigantic galaxy, you better believe Ratchet & Clank are gonna sink their teeth into some destruction. Ummm, destruction. With weapon upgrades, mods, armor and the ability for Ratchet to get stronger and smarter as the game goes on, this could get uglier than the Grandmas Іп Bikinis Calendar after-party. Speaking of parties, there's also hoverbike racing, space combat and gladiator arenas. As far as weapons and gadgets go, Ratchet & Clank are stacked with over 50 new ones, along with unlockable upgrades, so by the end of the journey, you'll go through more weapons and gadgets than a hungry fat man will go through chicken wings at lunch. Lock and load, baby, lock and load. YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, AND HELL YEAH. www.us.playstation.com PlayStation.e Ratchet and Clank is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Insomniac V Games. ©2003 Sony Computer Entertainment America LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. Mild Violence Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are PLAY IN DURS: INS@MN registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment ‘InSco.n y "LCiovem pIunt Yeoru r EWnotrelrdt.a inPmlaeyn tI n AOmuerrsi.c" a is Ian c.t rademarks of Editorial x y The game releases are coming fast and furious leading up to the holiday season. In about mid October, many of the games that we saw at this year's E3 are hitting at a rate of up to five new releases per day. It's getting so | can hardly keep up. Every day, seemingly without fail, at least two or three packages arrive on my desk containing everything from forgettable cash crop games to some of the most hotly anticipated releases. Half of them sit, still in their cellophane wrapper, waiting for a lull to have their chance. Tough life, | know, but | have to wonder at the logic of deluging gamers with more software in a couple of months than they can ever hope to play. Gamers are generally pretty smart consumers. Whether born of necessity because games can cost up to $90 after taxes or because of the gamer's superior reasoning skills, brought about from years of problem solving in games — food for thought for the anti-videogame rank and file perhaps — we don't blithely run to our local videogame retailer whenever a new title is released. Magazine and Web site reviews abound and for a truly balanced set of opinions to draw from, many relatively unbiased gamers submit their opinions of a game to any number of online sources to let others know if it’s worth picking up, worth renting for a weekend or worthy of the digital scrap heap. The reasoning behind the release schedule is simple; consumers buy more leading up to the holiday season, videogames are a safe bet as presents and gamers have perhaps come to expect a couple of months with an accel- erated release schedule leading up to the holidays. However, for every game that is hyped up on TV, in magazines and on billboards, there are dozens that simply fall by the wayside; without the marketing, they are barely-even a Мір on the collective radar. While some of these titles are forgettable and the mass of holiday releases only expediates their slip into obscurity, some great titles end up taking a back seat to the hot releases and are lost in the shuffle. Getting a hold of the latest big budget game is nice, but advertisements don't take into account the individual tastes of gamers; keep an open mind to games whose advertisements aren't at the forefront or risk missing some of the more unique and interesting games out there. Enjoy the issue, Andrew Moore-Crispin Editor-in-Chief Table of Contents Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando Only one year after the original Ratchet & Clank was released, Insomniac has followed up with the sequel, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. Check out the feature review on page 6 to hear our take Scott Piccolo on whether the game is a worthy follow up or a aspi ЧҮ big budget bust. andrew@ Marc Saltzman Ted Kritsonis Also WRyaaynn eВ . CPhaatmribcekr lain Made in Canada..... Evan Winter Dave Kudirka Jason Maclsaac GameCube and GBA Scott Steinberg Steven Stoner PlayStation 2 ....... Jacques Choquette Scott Piccolo Xbox АЈ неа, Chris Cole Frank Houston The opinions expressed in the ar 5 and ads are those of the wri ly those of Total Gamer Printed in Canada ISSN 1702-2592 0 Star: Coaster/doorstop material. A * * * * 1 Star: Played it for awhile before setting our coffees on it. 2 Star: Playable, but lacking. 3 Star: Try before you buy. Rating system 4 Star: Excellent, but not worth an award. 5 Star: If you can afford one game, this is the one. www.totalgamer.ca December 2003 Total Gamer 3 ғ- The creators of The Simpsons: Hit & Run and The Hulk is looking to fill a host of new positions at its Vancouver-based studios. At the Radical Entertainment Web site (radical.ca), the company lists a string of job openings (and a thorough description for each). Positions include: Lead Game Designer, Game Designer, Concept Artist, Lead Game Animator, Senior Level Designer, Lead Designer, Programmer, PlayStation 2 Programmer,АЛ . Programmer, Game Programmer, Rendering Programmer, Physics Programmer, Senior Animators and more. Interested parties should also check out the Web site's "Benefits and Perks," "FAQ" and "Application Process" sections. 4 Total Gamer December 2003 iin — www.totalgamer.ca Т m This is where I left Kate, Lucy, and Michelle beoging for more. —— дАEIA —— Starring Lara еее АК Now available at your local: тетт EEGAMES AE Yen) electronics boutique” anyone NORGE anywhere Wireless multiplayer game play + Game card titles from top publishers » Supports 3D graphics NOKIA + Bluetooth Wireless Technology! * MP3 & FM Radio » Triband mobile phone 1 Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Tomb Raider Starring Lara Croft™ © Core Design Ltd. 2003. Developed by Ideaworks3d Ltd. Tomb Raider and Lara Croft are trademarks of Core Design Limited. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003 Nokia. All rights reserved. Nokia and N-Gage are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nokia Corporation. (01999-2003 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Activision and ProSkater are registered trademarks of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Tony Hawk is a trademark of Tony Hawk. АП other trademarks and trade names are property of their respective owners. EBGAMES.COM, EBWORLD.COM, EBGAMES, EB GAMES ONLINE, EB and ELECTRONICS BOUTIQUE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Elbo, Inc., a subsidiary of Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. All other Marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. All software used on this Site is the sole property of EB Games Online, Inc. or those supplying the software. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. Copyright © 2003 Nokia. All rights reserved. Nokia and N-Gage are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nokia corporation. à EFu rry franchisees are а ІШ taking over console gam- 1 ing and the PS2 seems to have a — disproportionate share of them. In amongst all the fluff (both figurative and literal) there аге a few shining stars; CENTRE Ratchet, a sort of lemur turned space elf, à+. along with his considerably less furry сот- n ж. panion Clank аге two. > А The biggest draw of the original Ratchet & Clank à 3 game was the gadgets. Without the many and varied Weapons, tools and | upgrades, R&C could easily have been passed up as just another platformer starring a fuzzy, cute if somewhat edgy namesake. у Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando carries оп and improves the clever gameplay that made the original game a hit.А number of the 51 weapons and gadgets іп СС are carried over from the duo's earlier adventure and many more can be fitted with modifications from illegal mod shops throughout the galaxy, giving the game something of an RPG feel. Adding to the pseudo RPG elements, :sз114aеa2wdш6oe5шjg:оa nзaщg EN A destroying enemies build ience which, after dis- patching a certain number nemies, adds to Ratchet's health bar. The story begins with Ratchet doing a television interview after the events of the first game. It would appear that no one has any particular need for a hero and while Clank is perfectly happy to sit at home on the duo’s matching reclin- ers, Ratchet is M a bit of wanderlustT.h e pair is contacted by Abercrombie Fi idet, founder of the box store gone intergalactic, Megacorp. lt would appear that the company's latest and greatest invention has been pilfered by a "dupliferous" criminal. The story itself is a little hackneyed, but gamers aren't beaten o жерге head with it. Rather, it takes a back seat to the gameplay and grapl which are both excellent. Control is very tight and, with the exception of the few hang-ups that we have come to expect from a third.person perspective action / platform game, the camera performs well. The only complaint where control is concerned is, given the numerous weapons and gadgets, navigating menus to pick one out is a bit of a chore. Ratchet and Clank venture through 20 different worlds — each at least as graphically impressive as the ones before it — in an c get back the stolen Megacorp invention. Trav to different worlds in Ratchet's space ship, the game is |“ broken up with deep space dog fights which make sense given the location but that feel separate from the actual game. | personally found them to be much more of an annoyance than they were worth. The deep. space fighting isn't technically flawed, but it holds up the interplanetary exploration, whichlistwhat Going Commando is all about. The fact that Going Commando came out just one year after the first game in the now cemented franchise is an impressive feat for developer Insomniac Games — it may also hint at the origin of the company's name - the fact that it is better than the original is a small miracle. — Andrew Moore-Crispin 6 Total Gamer Decemher 2003 www.totalgamer.ca Ried SELL. TRADE. IN YOUR GAMES/DVD AND GET US YOUR USED GAMES/DVD AND CHECK QUT OUR GREAT CLEAN UP THAT MESS IN THE CASH OR CREDIT TOWARDS THE Æ SELECTION OF NEW AND HOT NEW TITLE YOU'VE USED GAMES FOR SALE. авеволојоке, bir eal iess ubjel о cifange at particiMipcroapltayi sntogre s. to bet i st he in брой sellable working condition. Another awkwardly titled ге- release of a classic Super Mario Bros. game for the Game Boy Advance, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 continues Nintendo's practice of revisiting old Super Mario games on the GBA in non-chrono- logical order. ј 7 One of the most suc- / di cessful games ever released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, SMB3 % helped grow ideas that аге now fully evolved in many mod- Е =з Va -1 p | $ r ет - Га ға ern platform games, including | ARA CA ГЕ - а Е е J SW Á ш exploration of a main world to gain access to 4 n ] : sub-worlds and the inclusion of mini-games to СРЕ 2 М | е | add varietyt og ame play and provide players with Si rewards. It also introduced the concept of giving 1 Mario a much wider range of abilities than before, like flying, turning into an invincible stat- ue, and improved underwater mobility. All of these elements have been faithfully pre- served for the GBA port of SMB3. The only noticeable modifications to the game come in the form of common sense efficiencies, like the ability to save your progress. --Chad Sapieha fs EVERYONE Total Gamer December 2003 www.totalgamer.ca | WIZANVIE CODE. | ш PP mn Of Persia: The Sands of Time XO kk ж 10 Total Gamer - December 2003 www.totalgamer.ca