Metal Gear Solid 2
PlayStation 2 £44.99 Konami *****
The demarcation lines between film and game are blurring once more as Metal Gear Solid 2 finally launches in Europe. Despite the four-month delay since the US release - essentially a Sony marketing block against next week's Xbox launch - this has been well worth the wait.
A sequel to the 1998 PlayStation hit, MGS2 takes the innovative stealth play style of the original - avoidance rather than confrontation -and adds a host of gaming and visual improvements. While not quite as striking as when first shown in 2000, the graphics are still some of the most realistic yet seen on the PS2. Most impressive of all is the eerily realistic artificial intelligence (AI), with soldiers, who gang up and hunt mercilessly, even reacting to your shadow. But while the action is addictive, the story is equally important.
In a game as plot-driven as this, it would be cruel to reveal too much, although expect a similar amount of psychobabble and conspiracy theory to the original, as well as some unexpected treats. Unfortunately, the emphasis on non-interactive narrative detracts from the action, with long periods spent watching rather than doing. While some games designers are retreating to a more purist vision - see Rez and Frequency - the team behind MGS2 seems to place as much importance on the story as the game. Luckily, there are so many nice touches - such as hiding under a box to escape detection - that the occasionally clumsy dialogue matters less. When MGS2 attempts to be a movie it becomes strictly B-list. But, when it concentrates on being a game, Metal Gear Solid 2 is up there with the best.
Command & Conquer Renegade
PC £29.99 Westwood Studios/ EA ***
There is a fine line between bravery and foolhardiness and, in the build-up to its launch, there was an enormous amount of speculation about which side of that line Command & Conquer: Renegade would fall. With the Command & Conquer series, Westwood Studios ripped the real-time strategy (RTS) genre out of the hands of a small band of enthusiasts and brought it into the mainstream. But with the latest instalment, the RTS format has been replaced by a first-person shoot-'em-up set in the Command & Conquer universe. Would the baby remain after the bathwater had gone?
The answer is equivocal. Command & Conquer devotees will love the ability to get inside buildings previously viewed from a hovering camera. The air of familiarity that greets you in Renegade is instant and pleasurable. But when viewed as a first-person shoot-'em-up, Renegade can only be described as basic.
You play Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker, yet another masochistically gung-ho computer game character. As a rogue global defence initiative operative, you get pitched into a number of missions against the sinister Nod and their Black Hand elite unit, encountering your old unit, your psychotic ex-girlfriend and countless secondary objectives along the way. Renegade's plot would love to hit Metal Gear Solid heights, but it is hopelessly two-dimensional in comparison.
A hint of cooperative multiplay is provided by the constant presence of supporting GDI forces, although their antiquated artificial intelligence - in common with that of the enemy - renders them of little practical help. You also get to drive various ground-based vehicles, all equipped with a simple control system. But the multiplayer element of the game is what will excite Command & Conquer fans most, as it cleverly includes an element of resource management.
Command & Conquer: Renegade is basic, action-packed, cliched, reassuringly familiar, graphically average, innovative only in multiplayer mode - and great fun to play in an atavistic way. A curate's egg. (SB)
