Cops keep the PS1 alive and kicking
World's Scariest Police Chases
PlayStation £29.99 Activision *****
Could this be one of the biggest surprises of the year? As a PlayStation game based on the US television show World's Scariest Police Chases, anticipation levels for this release were low. But Activision has pulled out a winner from the unlikeliest of sources, with a pursuit and shoot game that achieves much more than the sum of its parts.
Taking your pick from a number of vehicles, your aim is to apprehend criminals by indulging in numerous high-speed car chases. Each mission involves a different approach: on some a brief siren wail will suffice, while others require you to ram or fire at the escaping vehicle.
Obviously the latter two offer the greatest scope for thrills with the use of weaponry differentiating this from lesser driving titles. Chasing a baddie through crowded streets while trying to shoot on target, makes for PlayStation excitement unmatched this year. It is even better in the two-player mode, which allows one person to drive and the other to pull the trigger. Graphically it is a blatant copy of Driver, with the cars even coming apart in the same manner.
In this case, though, the plagiarism matters little, with the atmospheric voice-overs and TV-style presentation leaving little doubt that this is high-adrenaline entertainment rather than a moody gangster effort. Of course, the graphics are archaic, with wobbly scenery and ugly pixellation. Also, the assailants display similar evasion techniques that make them easier to catch when their pattern is learnt.
Yet somehow these flaws do not overly detract from a game that is unashamedly enjoyable. The PlayStation is six years old but a success like this shows it is not ready for retirement quite yet.
Greg Howson
Gran Turismo is better in the driving seat
Gran Turismo 3: A-spec PlayStation 2 £40 Sony *****
Gran Turismo 3 is one of those very rare things: a game that surpasses its hype. What makes it special is its amazingly realism. That much is obvious from the photorealistic graphics, of course, and the attention to details such as wind and road noise. But what really matters is the new physics engine: it really does makes you feel as though you are driving a particular car, even if you have no idea what it should feel like.
The graphics are roughly in the same class as a high-end PC or Xbox, but GT3 is a reminder that measuring the paint and canvas doesn't say anything about the skill of the artist.
In GT3, the cars and tracks just seem more naturalistic than, say, Colin McRae Rally 2 on a PC, and they fit together better. The Firing Squad movies at firingsquad.gamers.com/games/gt3/gallery.asp give a good idea of the sensation.
The basic game is much the same. You qualify (optional but recommended), you race, you win money, you improve your car, you race again. There are three levels, with leagues for beginners, amateurs and professionals, so all skill levels are catered for. In GT3, you start with not much money and a car that drives like a brick, but at least you can feel the difference when you soup it up. There is also an arcade mode that lets two people play on a split screen. Buy three copies of the game, link three PS2s together and up to six can play.
Fortunately, there are limits to GT3's realism. You can still bump past cars that will not get out of the way, and continue to race after bouncing off tyre walls, though such excursions usually cost you two or three places and the race. But this is, after all, a game, and it is great fun to play.
Jack Schofield
Have we been in this Half-Life before?
Half-Life: Blueshift
PC CD-Rom £29.99 Sierra Studios/Gearbox Software *****
I will not bore you with another lyrical paean to Half-Life. Quite simply, it was a great first-person shooter, and its reputation has generally been enhanced, rather than undermined, by the various add-ons that have appeared since: Counterstrike, Team Fortress, Opposing Force.
With Blueshift, however, Sierra is beginning to push its luck. Sure, there is new stuff: you play a new character, security guard Barney Calhoun; the visuals are much crisper, and, in a neat touch, there's a patch that will also upgrade the graphics on the original Half-Life. There are new puzzles to solve; and the bad guys seem a little less tactically naive this time, occasionally trying strategies other than charging into the muzzle of your gun.
What is disappointing is the amount that has not changed. The action is once again set in the Black Mesa Research Facility, meaning that the backgrounds and characters are, a few polygons notwithstanding, the same as before. There are no new weapons, no new monsters, no new controls, and no new gadgets to manipulate.
Worst of all, the game is way too short. The box loudly proclaims itself as "the new standalone episode in the Half-Life universe"; "trailer for a new episode" would be a more accurate description. The fact that it's bundled with the multiplayer code for Opposing Force will be scant consolation to the hardcore solo player.
Fun - if you don't mind forking out 30 quid for a brief spell of déjà vu.
Andy Bodle
