Feel the force
Star Wars Battlefront
Xbox, PlayStation2, £39.99 Pandemic Studios/Lucas Arts ****
Released in the same week as the DVD of the original films, Star Wars Battlefront is a hugely entertaining affair with one large caveat: if you don't have online capabilities for your Xbox or PS2 then subtract a couple of stars from the total.
Running around blasting computer controlled opponents, or "bots", is fun, but only for a while. Replace these bots with humans - 24 on Xbox Live, 16 on PS2 - and Battlefront comes into its own.
Taking famous set pieces and planets from the movies, this is a blast for Star Wars fans. Both sides, Empire and Rebel, have different soldiers and vehicles, all with specific strengths and weaknesses. There's nothing like shouting at a mate and dodging laser fire before jumping into a snowspeeder.
One player then pilots the vehicle while the other attempts to fire the tow cable round the legs of an AT-AT walker, just as in The Empire Strikes Back. Likewise, it's hard not to smile while commanding an Imperial Walker and blasting Ewoks and Rebels.
There is some strategy involved; each side aims to control various parts of the map which then allows reinforcements to be brought in. But it is the heat of combat that makes this such fun. It may lack some polish - the single player plot is wafer-thin nonsense - but Star Wars Battlefront is highly recommended for console owners who can go online.
Greg Howson
Shown the door
Silent Hill 4: The Room
PlayStation2 (also available for PC, XBox), £39.99 Konami/Konami ***
Once the zenith of controversy, survival horror has seemed tired recently. The latest in the disturbing Silent Hill series tries to broaden the appeal by adding arcade action sequences to the point-and-click adventure.
The idea at the heart of this game - being trapped in your bloodstained apartment with no one able to hear your screams - is a minimalist conceit worthy of a Japanese horror movie. Using alternative realities that allow you to move around in a series of third-person flashbacks feels like just another compromise to the demands of making games over making movies. Similarly, you're constrained by an inventory system that allows you to carry no more than two ammo clips, and tedious onscreen hotspots that have to be clicked one by one. While the visual effects are impressive, the photo-realistic camera induces nausea if watched for long periods.
But the biggest problem is not being able to turn precisely to tackle enemies who otherwise lack the speed or intelligence to threaten. Games such as Second Sight have shown us that survival horror can be done without unfairly stacking the odds against the player. Silent Hill 4 is like an exhibit in the London Dungeon - occasionally scary, but strictly for tourists.
Mike Anderiesz
Zombied out
Resident Evil Outbreak
PlayStation 2, £39.99 Capcom/Capcom
** The Resident Evil series of zombie-shooting and puzzle-solving third-person adventure games is one of gaming's best-loved franchises. But Outbreak, the latest instalment, possesses precious little merit of its own.
Sadly, it represents a classic example of a franchise that has persisted beyond its sell-by-date, and which has been subjected to tinkering that has all but removed its finer attributes.
Outbreak started life as an online-only game in Japan - necessitating a shift in the focus of its gameplay - but in the UK, where Sony's PS2 online gaming system failed to take root, it has been converted into a single-player game. As a result, the gripping storylines revolving around zombie infestations have been neutered. Instead, Outbreak has five missions which, although they refer to Resident Evil games of yore, have no narrative thrust.
There are a few legacies from the online version: you order artificial intelligence allies around and the game carries on when you enter the inventory screen. But the screen is clunky and unintuitive, so you find yourself beset by zombies while trying to reload your gun. In gameplay terms, Outbreak is familiar: you deal with zombies and find objects with which to solve puzzles. In terms of atmosphere and graphics, the game is faultless. But all the changes merely serve to underline how antediluvian the control system now feels.
Steve Boxer
Top 5 games: GameCube
1 WWE: Day of Reckoning
2 Second Sight
3 Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
4 Spider-Man 2
5 Pokemon Colosseum
Source: Elspa, compiled by ChartTrack
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