Delusions of Grandia
Grandia Sony PlayStation £34.99 Game Arts/UbiSoft ***
"If you're a fan of the Final Fantasy games, get ready to be enthralled by Grandia!"
With the proviso that "enthralled" may not be the quite the right word, this PR boast is for once not far off the mark. In fact, Ubi Soft's new role-playing game plays for all the world like Final Fantasy VII's slightly anaemic younger brother: not quite so big, not quite so clever, and not quite so annoyingly self-important.
All the familiar elements are here: world screens, town screens and dungeon screens; repetitive random encounters; a sophisticated combat system involving spells, items and special attacks; 150 different kinds of baddie; endless pages of dialogue; and cartoonish backgrounds that give you no idea where the exits are. All of which promises around 80 hours of monster-mashing, level- building, pixel-hunting fun.
And, despite the decision to make the protagonists 14 years old - surely they're too busy fighting their own hormones to take on green slimes and squid kings? - the end product is indeed quite entertaining.
The plot, needless to say, is ludicrous, but in a radical break with tradition, the dialogue is not. Ubi Soft has actually put some effort into the translation, resulting in some refreshingly comprehensible humour. The other new departure is the rotatable isometric view, although what this adds in dimension is generally lost in ease of navigation.
Anyone committed enough to complete Final Fantasies VII and VIII probably wouldn't find enough of a challenge here. But for those that were put off by the archness and complexity of Square's epic RPG, Grandia could be just what the doctor ordered. (AB)
This bike game is no triumph
Superbike 2000 Sony PlayStation £29.99 EA Sports **
The good news is that Superbike 2000 is not just a scrappy bike game: it's a simulation of the 1999 SBK Superbike World Championship with "real" riders, "real" bikes and 13 "real" tracks.
The bad news is that it's not very good. The graphics are pixellated and you get very little impression of speed: doing 150 doesn't feel any faster than doing 50.
In fact, it often feels as though the bike is stationary, and only the road is moving.
The roar of 150 horsepower and a pounding soundtrack ought to increase the level of excitement, but the engine noises lack depth and the musical accompaniment is more likely to send you to sleep.
It's not even hard. Just staying on the track is almost enough to ensure a win.
On paper, Superbike 2000 has got everything right. You can set up the bikes, practise before races, sustain damage, and suffer from random weather effects. There's even a race commentary by Sky Sports' Keith Huewen.
If you really want a bike racing simulation, the PC version of the game, released in January, probably fills the bill.
But if you want a thrilling arcade-style dice with death (from the comfort of your armchair), the PlayStation version doesn't deliver. (JS)
Cartoony but fearfully effective
Fear Effect Sony PlayStation £39.99 Eidos ****
Featuring a twisting Manga-style plot and a curvaceous anti-hero, Fear Effect is a new PlayStation action/adventure from Eidos.
Initial impressions are mixed. While you admire the lovingly-created character animations and soak up the Blade Runner atmosphere, the camera angles and annoying controls are just far too reminiscent of the Resident Evil series.
But look a little closer and you'll notice moving backgrounds rather than pre-rendered stasis.
Play some more and, after solving some derivative puzzles, you'll soon be switching between three characters and getting wrapped up in the Oriental futurisms of the plot.
Playing as Hana and her two co-mercenaries, your aim is to rescue a Triad leader's daughter. Cue graphic violence, betrayal and some infuriating puzzles.
Actually, it's quite disconcerting that a game that places so much value on celluloid characteristics - widescreen, heavy script - allows illogical, code-breaking conundrums to interrupt the flow.
With age doing PlayStation visuals few favours, it's nice to see a developer try something different.
The aforementioned moving backdrops may be constantly looping but the illusion of life is maintained.
Similarly the cartoony visual elements allow seamless transition between cut-scene and game, thus keeping the movie vibe intact.
But it's a shame that loading times couldn't be speeded up as the high difficulty level leads to too much time spent staring at the loading screen.
Thankfully the controls eventually become second nature and soon you'll be blasting zombies - sorry, "cursed villagers" - with the best of them.
Despite borrowing the cinematics of Resident Evil and the tiptoe aesthetics of Metal Gear Solid, Fear Effect manages to transcend these influences and create something plot-driven and enjoyably different. (GH)
