Splashdown (PS2, XBX) Retro Review

It's Monday again, and tonight I have a retro review this time to dive into, both figuratively and literally, with Splashdown. Sure, there's a pile of unplayed recently released games on my desk as I type this review, but that's not stopping me from playing some retro fare. After all, some water racing action is rather perfect for the summer months! Here's the SPC retro review of Splashdown.

 I'm feeling up to splashing down!

We're approaching the dog days of summer in Central City, so while I'm scared to death of oceans and deep water in general (not being able to swim will do that to a person), it's with gaming I can do things I wouldn't ordinarily be able to accomplish. In this case, hopping on a Sea-Doo, jumping along the waves, and racing across an abundant number of interesting locales across a plethora of unique environments. Thank goodness for gaming, am I right, folks? Enter Splashdown for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox. 

Splashdown decidedly takes aim at Wave Race 64 and less so its GameCube successor Blue Storm to become the watercraft racing champion and wear the wave racing crown. Whereas Wave Race 64 utilized Kawasaki watercrafts, Splashdown rides the waters with Sea-Doos. Either way, the goal is pretty much the same: race against your opponents in three-lap spectacles across a variety of wet and wild locations around the world, from the tropical ocean of the Caribbean, to the icy, frigid waters of the Bering Strait.

This Splashdown race is apparently brought to you by Certina Swiss Watches.

The main single-player mode within Splashdown is that of the career mode. Depending on the difficulty chosen (there are three total), the amount of events you play through grows. Easy contains the smallest amount of races to compete in (though still rather sizable) while Normal possesses around 20 events. There's always a requisite threshold of points to acquire from your position in races, and if you don't meet said threshold, your career is kaput. However, on Easy and Normal at the very least, it's not too challenging to reach the required number of points to progress, even if you don't always cross the finish line in contention. 

Each fictional rider in the game has their own personality and own career mode, and completing their career unlocks a special ending movie for them. Every handful of races in the career sees an opportunity to take on another character of your choosing. Win this race against them in a stadium race setting, and they'll join your team of racing riders. 

Cross the finish line before your opponent to have them join your team in these stadium-style races.

Controlling and handling your rider's Sea-Doo is rather easy. While each rider has their own stats, making handling feel different between characters, for the most part, riding one's Sea-Doo along the water feels and handles like one would imagine a watercraft to behave on the waves. Pulling back on the left analog stick is perfect for straightaways to decrease your Sea-Doo's resistance on the water, thus making your ride go faster. Of course, there's the risk of wrecking, especially in tight turns or if you brush up against other opponents or obstacles. 

Whether on a clear, sunny day or in a downpour, the race must go on.

For those who want to splish-splash and take a quick bath, your Sea-Doo can also enter underwater via the submarine technique. Not only is this great for ducking under hazards that hang out on the surface of the water, but you can also quickly dive under the water and come up for air, in more ways than one, to perform a jump. 

There are a multitude of jumping opportunities outside of smart submarine usage. Those come in the form of ramps that offer the chance to unleash some sick tricks in midair. There's a trick gauge that fills as you hold tricks in midair, though of course you'll want to let go of the trick before hitting the water, or else you'll discover yourself bailing and swimming with the fishes. Tricks build up your performance meter, and as this meter fills, your Sea-Doo's abilities noticeably increase. Chiefly, things like handling, acceleration, and max speed go on the rise.

This trick is seriously hurting my spine just looking at it.

Like the Wave Race series, being on the correct side of a buoy directs racers through the tracks and circuits of the game. Unlike Wave Race, however, missing buoys on the wrong side doesn't lead to eventual disqualification. Instead, your performance meter decreases for each buoy passed on the incorrect side. If you have less than an ideal amount of energy in the aforementioned meter, your Sea-Doo temporarily stalls. And like crashing and wiping out, it's not doubt that stalling isn't optimal if you want to win a race as it wastes precious seconds.

The tracks themselves feature plentiful places to go off the beaten path, multiple shortcuts, and routes that diverge and eventually converge from and to one another respectively. Though while Wave Race 64 utilized masterful wave tech for all of its tracks, Splashdown is mostly wild and wet racing along pristine waters. Only certain sections of track feature waves to negotiate instead of the entirety of tracks. That makes for a nicer go of things in navigating tracks, but it also doesn't necessarily make for an easy, breezy time in general. The CPU can be vicious at times, and races in later difficulties on harder tracks make for grueling match-ups on the water.

Ramps like this one provide plenty of trick-indulging potential.

When you're not contending with a given character's career--which unfortunately each play out the same save for their previously mentioned unlockable ending movies--you have some options otherwise for continuing the aquatic carnage. As the name suggests, Free Roam mode offers the ability to freely explore each of the stellar 20+ environments in the game. This has a twofold purpose: to become better acquainted with tracks before taking them on in the career mode, but also it allows you to stumble upon and collect special tokens hidden throughout each track. While some of these can be collected in the career mode, many of them are out of reach in a traditional race setting. These tokens unlock new color variants for your stable of riders in the game, adding some further longevity to Splashdown.

Don't crash too much, or your chances of victory might be in "ruins".

Multiplayer is also offered in Splashdown, though this does not hold much water or extend replay value in a meaningful way. Yes, you can customize races to your liking, setting up the amount of laps to your leisure on any track already unlocked, but it would have been nice to be able to play the career in multiplayer with a buddy. As is, multiplayer is a pretty limited mode, which won't carry you or a friend for that long.

Splashdown graphically is rather impressive. The reflective surface of the water on each track is amazing to look at (and sometimes it resulted in me crashing from being too distracted), especially considering the time of the game's release early in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox's respective lives. Yes, while the water might have your eyes and mouth... well... watering, at how good it looks, other effects can leave something to be desired. It would have been cooler to have some more prominent splashing happening, especially for a game named Splashdown, ironically. Meanwhile, track environments such as in the geometry of the land, weather effects, and particularly the lighting on some tracks do definitely delight. 

Pull up a seat and start surfing! Wheeeeeee!

If you're looking for a sign of the times to tie Splashdown to a specific era, well, look no further than the soundtrack full of licensed tunes. Really, it's as if I stepped back into the early 2000s and entered a teen rom-com of the era with the music going on here in the game. If Smash Mouth's All-Star doesn't tickle your fancy AND if you somehow have an original Xbox with the game, you can enjoy your own roster of songs via the custom soundtrack option. Either way, you'll be hearing more of the soundtrack than the sound effects, as the Sea-Doos' sounds are more whimpers than roars, though you do get a lot of banter between riders as they race.

Splashdown delivers fast and frenetic aquatic racing action, yes, but it also doesn't do much else. The amount of tracks and environments is immensely impressive, and the difficulty is tough but fair. Career mode essentially being the same for each racer means you'll race the same series of tracks against progressively more challenging opponents, which is about as repetitive as it sounds. Still, for a game you pick up on the used market for cheap nowadays, if you possess a PS2 or OG Xbox, Splashdown's small number of issues are a drop in the bucket compared the oceans of fun you can end up having with it.

[SPC Says: B-] 

Disney Golf (PS2) Retro Review

No doubt if you're a regular of SPC, you know how much I enjoy my golf games, especially arcade, cartoon-y golf games. I recently (within the past year) stumbled upon this one: Disney Golf. After a brief history lesson to get myself accustomed to the game, I dove in, played through it obsessively, and have my verdict with this retro review.

Golf Disney-style may not be as magical as it could be, but it's still enjoyable all the same.

Before being fused into Spike Chunsoft, T&E Soft was a developer that crafted a fair amount of games of varying quality. Recently, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers with the required peripheral have been able to sample some of their previous works with the Virtual Boy's 3D Tetris, Red Alarm, and Golf. The latter of which is a sport and genre that pops up a good deal in T&E's software catalog. From the Nintendo DS's touch-only True Swing Golf to the PlayStation 2's launch title, Swing Away Golf, no shortage of tee-riffic to not as tee-erribly exciting golf games (excuse the shamelessly awful puns) came from the developer.

One that completely flew under the radar from me, as connoisseur of arcade and mascot-driven golf games came from T&E Soft itself as an early PlayStation 2 offering, launching two years after the dev's freshman golf outing. This one starred characters featured within the Happiest Place on Earth and saw them take to the tee with some of that Disney magic and charm. Appropriately enough, this PlayStation 2 golf game was named none other than simply Disney Golf. 

Disney Golf features a roster of nine of Mickey's friends and rivals, including Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Minnie Mouse, and even some rarer characters like Mortimer. Curiously enough, despite having a full roster of those aforementioned friends and rivals available to take the tee with, Mickey is totally absent from the playable golfing fun. Instead, he's relegated to a caddie role exclusively. Each character is grouped within a type. There's balanced types, power types, and even a duo of characters specifically meant for younger players--making it easier to hit the ball without worrying about setting the accuracy of their shot.

Pretty much a mainstay of the arcade golf genre is that of the three-click shot meter. It's been in many golf games prior to Disney Golf's release, it's been in many golf games after Disney Golf's release, and yes, it will be in many golf games after this review, as well. It's as simple as starting the gauge with one click or press of a button, setting the power as the gauge approaches the left-hand side with a second click, and then lastly, one final press to set the accuracy. With proper timing, you'll be driving, approaching, and putting like a pro. 

I don't know, Donald, that doesn't seem like proper posture and form.
But, what do I know--maybe you'll get results!

Taking to the tee and the links alike, you set up your shot like any other arcade golf game of Disney Golf's type. A rainbow, multicolored arc shows your current shot's trajectory and where your ball will go. That is, it shows you this information without factoring in key details like elevation, wind velocity, and where your ball currently sits, whether that be the tee, a fairway, rough, a bunker, etc. After all, if Disney Golf provided every bit of information to you to determine where your shot was going to end up, you might as well have shots automated, too, and have the game play itself. 

Chipping it from the dirt to hopefully hit pay-dirt and save par.

Putting is equally user-friendly and accessible, though it doesn't fully reveal everything to the player either. For instance, your initial view of your putt will have your character directly facing the hole. A tentative trajectory of the putt, showing what is essentially a putt preview, reveals itself. Seldom from a far enough distance away will the putt be completely straight, so you'll have to adjust based on the elevation and slope of the green. However, upon adjusting even a little bit, the putt preview will disappear, only reappearing when you face the hole again. Thus, you need to use the putt preview to course correct and best estimate the line of your putt. 

This isn't overly difficult--really, the only major issue is how finicky turning your character is. Just attempting to make minor corrections with your putt makes your line move considerably more than you'd expect. It's the same with taking shots from the tee or making approach shots. Trying to make small movements to factor in things like the wind and slope is next to impossible. The sensitivity of the stick and D-Pad are way too high with no options to lower them, making shots and calculations harder to accomplish than necessary. 

The longest type of golf hole of them all, the Par 5. Aim for an eagle, Goofy!

Disney Golf sports myriad modes, but the most interesting of which--the one that provides a little sampling of each general mode in the game in one overall enjoyable package--is that of the challenge mode. This mode takes your chosen character through two classes--beginner and expert--of golfing competitions, requiring you to win three of the four events in each class before moving on to the next series of challenges. These events are all competition-based against another CPU opponent or set of opponents, ranging from Match Play, Skins Play, Scramble events, and also long drive and approach events. 

Win three of the four events in Beginner Class to move on to the second class in Challenge Mode.

Match Play are you standard duels against another competitor, where the player with the fewest strokes on a given hole wins that hole. Skins Play is a variation of Match Play where competitors drawing on a hole by having the same amount of strokes means that the point or skin for that hole is carried over to the next. Therefore, if two players tie on the first hole, the second hole is worth two skins instead of just one.

Meanwhile, Scramble Play is insufferable in Challenge Mode, due to the fact that you have to rely on your dummy CPU teammate to win. This mode is 2v2 style play where you and your teammate alternate between shots. You can have as great an approach shot as possible, and usually your goofy (not to be confused with Mickey Mouse's tall pal) CPU teammate will foul up the putt, costing you a chance for an otherwise easy and quick victory.

Max is one of the "Kids"-type characters. Both literally a kid and "accessible for kids", as well.

Challenge Mode offers plenty of obstacles to get in your path to winning and moving on to the Mickey Invitational tournament, which caps off Challenge Mode. The main obstacle is that of power-ups and items. These can be utilized in matches to either help yourself or hinder your opponent, and let me tell you--the computer is not shy about using these on you to impair your playing and game of golf. These range from helpful assists like adding more power to your next shot, changing the weather to something more desirable, and granting the ability to hit your shot through trees and bushes without worrying about pesky things like solid matter, to name a few. 

Meanwhile--and you'll grow accustomed to these because your computer opponents will occasionally shower you with them like gifts--the less than helpful items can be used on a competitor. These can range from affecting the shot gauge to make it move more quickly or even more randomly, removing your view of how much distance you have between your ball and the hole, and even shuffling your clubs on you, forcing you to perhaps use a powerful driving 1-Wood when simply a Sand Wedge would suffice instead.

Five down with seven holes to go. Can Minnie overcome the deficit? (Spoiler: No, she could not.)

Of course, you and your opponents can't just use power-ups and items on yourselves and each other freely. The stronger the effect of a given power-up, the more energy it uses, and each character has a set amount of energy they are allowed. Through Challenge Mode, characters level up through standard play, earning more energy as well as greater driving and hitting capabilities to smash the ball harder, too. 

In total, there are over 50 unique power-ups and items available, most of which offered in the in-game shop using currency won through Challenge Mode victories, performing nice drive, great approaches, and long putts. Some of these, however, are hidden on specific courses in specific holes and specific locations, known as secret spots. Hitting the ball here will reveal the power-up and unlock it. With lots of secret spots potentially available to discover, you can have an impetus to play on and delve deeper into the world of Disney Golf.

Six courses are available within Disney Golf. This one I wouldn't recommend visiting IRL nowadays.

That said, the question is begged to be asked, then: Is this game of golf worthwhile enough to even bother? If you enjoy what's on offer, theoretically, you could play through and finish the Challenge Mode as all eight characters (Mortimer is not available in this mode for story reasons) and feverishly find all secret spots to earn every power-up in the game. The replay value is there, so longevity is not a problem. However, for me, there are far better golf games available than what Disney Golf offers. It's not a question of Disney Golf being a bad game--it's inoffensive and lacking innovation at worst. Unless you really, really have a hankering for golf with various friends of Mickey Mouse without, y'know, actually playing as Mickey, then there are good times to be found.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the graphics and animations of Disney Golf, there was room for improvement to be found. While the courses and characters are colorful, detailed for early PlayStation 2 era graphics, you'll get really tired of the repetitive nature of hole-out animations being the same. Yes, Mr. Goofy, examine that golf ball after holing out. It's the same exact golf ball you looked at the past 16 holes. Anyone want to make a wager if Goofy opts to examine it on the last? 

The European Course ends with a picturesque castle approach.

On the audio end, every then-official Disney-cast actor of the time was present to voice and reprise their respective character in this game, which is a really cool thing to see--or, rather hear. The little vignettes and scenes that play out prior to matches in Challenge Mode are cute, though the lip-syncing is mediocre at best. Musically, you'll find a lot of memorable tunes, and I don't just mean the renditions of the Mickey Mouse Club theme or Zippity-Doo-Dah, which are present as course themes. Though, these, of course, are catchy instrumental versions all the same.

With nine playable characters, six courses, standard modes, and basic gameplay that doesn't reinvent the wheel--or deviate from the norms of arcade-style golf for that matter--Disney Golf is a nice enough game that is accessible enough for casual players and veterans alike. The latter may find the game a bit too easy mechanically, but Challenge Mode's abundance of impairing power-ups used by the computer can frustrate even the most levelheaded player out there. ...Perhaps that's projection since I'm nowhere close to levelheaded as a player. Ahem. Anyway, tracking down this game physically nowadays isn't too arduous a task, and a complete PlayStation 2 copy isn't overly expensive, either. I'm glad I spent time with Mickey and friends on the links, and if you're a fan of the genre like I am, you probably will be glad to spend some quality golfing time with the Mickey Mouse crew, too.

[SPC Says: C+] 

Sonic Heroes (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

This marks the 35th anniversary of the Blue Blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog. At SuperPhillip Central we're going to look back at all facets of the fastest hedgehog alive, both good and bad. We partook in the good with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds earlier this month. Unexpectedly, and against memories from my youth, now we're going to be looking at the bad with Sonic Heroes. 

What goes up, must come down. And wow, does it come down hard!

Sonic Heroes originally released on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox back in 2003. I remember being incredibly hyped after coming off of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, greatly enjoying that GameCube release, and then feverishly pouring play after play of the first level of Sonic Heroes as part of a bonus demo disc released alongside some copies of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Then, the game came out, and I actually ended up enjoying it.

That said, my gaming habits and preferences have decidedly changed since 2003. For one, I was in high school then, and had so much more free time and patience in general. As an adult, I definitely have much less of both to dedicate to games that try said patience. Sonic Heroes is one of those games nowadays, and it's an unfortunate reminder that nostalgia can blind. What one might have considered a fantastic game back in the day, or one worth challenging themselves to overcome, nowadays is an effort of utter frustration. 

Sonic Heroes is a unique game in the 3D line of Sonic the Hedgehog games, as it features teams of characters running, jumping, and otherwise moving through the game's 14 stages. There are four trios in all: Team Sonic (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles), Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and Omega), Team Rose (Amy, Cream, and Big), and Team Chaotix (Vector, Espio, and Charmy), the latter of whom returned after last being seen all the way back in Knuckles Chaotix on the SEGA 32X. 

While Team Sonic and Team Rose are like Seaside Hill Zone, great for beginners and getting their feet wet...

Each team has their own story set of stages to play through, though the stages have similar designs with some changes here and there across all campaigns. Whereas Team Rose features shortened stages and even a tutorial level at the beginning of their story, Team Dark is more focused for veterans of the game, containing longer, more difficult stages with more tricks and traps to watch for and persevere against. Meanwhile, Team Sonic is your "standard" difficulty, while Team Chaotix is a mishmash between Team Sonic and Team Dark. Team Chaotix's story stages all tend to have a specific mission to complete: whether that's finding 10 hermit crabs in the opening Seaside Hill Zone, or defeating three specific gold-shelled turtles in the Power Plant Zone.

...Team Dark and Team Chaotix's stories are better left for later playthroughs, as the levels can be long and unforgiving.

It's recommended to start with Team Rose or Team Sonic to get your speed sneakers wet and obtain a taste of what you're in for with Sonic Heroes. Playing each team's story means 14 zones with seven boss battles interspersed after every two zones for a total of 21 per team. Multiply that by four, and you get a general idea of what awaits. Unfortunately, each level strikes a resemblance to other teams' levels, so it can feel like a lot of retreading and repetition. You can't play the final story featuring all four teams without playing through and completing each teams' story mode. This took me about 12 hours to do all in total.

If the idea of three characters bantering back and forth for most of each level 
doesn't sound like hell to you, then Sonic Heroes might be worth checking out.

As for the overall story, each team has their own reasons and motivations for setting out for adventure. Whereas Team Sonic gets a letter from Eggman revealing a three-day plot to rule the world, Team Rose has each member wanting to track someone down: whether it's an amphibious friend suitably named Froggy for Big the Cat, a missing Chao for Cream the Rabbit, or simply Amy's fixation, Sonic and his love. Across each story campaign, the characters occasionally cross over, but seeing as boss battles are the same, just with different dialogue, it can be confusing to try to keep up with any kind of a cohesive, canon plot since some of the stories have conflicting, contradictory elements with others. Eh, it's a Sonic game, so I won't rack my brain over it.

"Froggy?" No, this one's unfortunately a little too large, Big...

When getting to the game itself, Sonic Heroes takes the formula and foundation of Sonic Adventure and its sequel and attempts to expand upon it. Innovative is the team-based mechanic, having players press one of the top face buttons to switch between the two other characters on the fly. Speaking of which, each of the characters in each trio conveniently enough has their own ability type. For instance, Sonic is speed-based, Tails is flying-based, and Knuckles is power-based. Thankfully, most of the guesswork is eliminated in needing knowledge for what character to use at a specific moment in a level, as helpful floating monitors with words like "Speed", "Fly" and "Power" readily indicate the best character type to utilize. 

Speed characters like Sonic, Shadow, Amy Rose, and Espio have the fastest running capabilities, can generally homing attack from enemy to enemy, and also sport the ability to create a tornado, used to remove shields and other defenses from foes, as well as spin up special poles. Meanwhile, Flight characters like Tails, Rouge, Cream, and Charmy understandably can fly, though for limited amounts of time before running out of stamina, dropping to the ground without any momentum left over whatsoever (which screwed me over plenty of times), and can also throw their teammates at other enemies from afar. Lastly, Power characters in the vein of Knuckles, Omega, Big, and Vector are great for busting through walls, blocks, and swarms of shielded enemies with relative ease. You can also hold the jump button to have the characters tag up with a Power character to ride up wind shafts and hover across gaps.

The bigger they are, the more throws it takes from Vector to beat 'em.

Throughout stages are colorful orbs, either in blue, yellow, or red quantities (for Speed, Fly, and Power characters respectively) that not only add to the player's score at the end of levels, but also boost that given character type's abilities. Throwing your teammates as Tails against foes generally just stuns the enemy, but getting two yellow orbs will level up Tails' throw to deal damage. Each enemy has a health gauge, showing a number beside it (its HP). Some foes, like more powerful baddies and also the godawful bosses, possess high HP, requiring you to whittle away at them. Usually best saved for a Power character. 

Finally, as rings--the livelihood of all teams, as if they get hit with at least one ring stored, they won't die--are collected and enemies are vanquished, a gauge for screen-clearing attack using all three teammates known as a Team Blast fills up and can eventually be used. For each team, this Team Blast shows a unique animation as well as a bonus. For Team Rose, an activated Team Blast will give the team invincibility for several seconds, while Team Dark's Team Blast will freeze everything on screen, including the timer, while Shadow, Rouge, and Omega can run around freely during all this. 

After seeing Team Blast animations like this one ad nauseum, I decidedly won't be checking out your record, Team Chaotix.

Levels in Sonic Heroes essentially follow the classic 2D Sonic games approach in design. And I don't just mean in the "two acts per themed locale then a boss battle" approach, either. No, these levels tend to feature plenty of alternate paths, with the higher paths being the most challenging to stay on, but also the fastest way to skip parts of stages entirely. Not every level is full of these, with Rail Canyon, for instance, having a more linear design with less in the way of detours--but something like the opening Seaside Hill and Ocean Palace possess a plethora of paths to take and uncover. 

...And here we go!

I feel the level design in Sonic Heroes is pretty commendable, honestly. There's lots of secrets, lots of hidden-away elements and pathways, and well thought-out concepts. Unfortunately, it's the actual gameplay that sort of betrays the competent level design. So many set pieces that are meant to be cool in both spectacle and fun, in theory, occasionally just don't play well in execution. Seemingly automated sections of stages more often than I'd care to have happen, resulted in my team jerking out of the path, falling into the abyss. Oh, and how each team seemingly LOVES to fall off levels. It's the number one way I died without question in Sonic Heroes. Between homing attacks that wouldn't register properly on enemies, the slippery feel of characters sliding off stages, and camera issues, deaths by pit was the number one way hedgehogs perished in 2003. ...I believe I remember seeing that statistic in National Geographic back in the day...

At any rate, the camera is a constant problem throughout the adventure, oftentimes resulting in less than ideal viewpoints. I felt like maybe one of the Eggrobos might have been controlling the camera as a means to mess my teams over, like a corrupted version of Lakitu in Super Mario 64. More of a hindrance than a help! 

This extends to the absolutely awful boss battles that infest the game. Here, the boss is public enemy number two, right behind the camera and other gameplay quirks of Sonic Heroes. The hit detection is off the charts in being bad, homing attacks, and just any attack that hones in on a foe usually goes after the wrong target, oftentimes ending in a premature and anger-inducing death. Plenty of times I got stun-locked where my characters were flat on their backs, given just enough invincibility frames to stand up, and then get attacked again. This occurs especially in the "Team Battles" where two teams from the story take on each other. These basically end up being battles of mashing the attack buttons to win. It's random, sure, but so is actually attempting to play them seriously and how they're how ever "meant" to be played. 

I'm having flashbacks of an unsettling variety just by glancing at this screenshot!

While it can be tempting at first to play Sonic Heroes as a score attack game, earning coveted "A" ranks from scoring high, beating levels with a fast timer completion, all without dying--it's simply not worth the aggravation. You're playing a Russian Roulette of "which glitch or gameplay quirk will potentially screw over your run" each time you play a level or boss battle in Sonic Heroes. Seeing as stages, especially with Team Dark, can take upwards of ten minutes just to beat, it's just not something I want to do nowadays. In 2003, I do remember getting all emblems from beating every level, clearing every post-game challenge (like clearing levels in a limited amount of time as Team Sonic, or collecting a set amount of rings as Team Rose), and obtaining every score-based "A" rank, and all I got for it to my incredibly diminished excitement was a super hard mode and some lame competitive multiplayer options. 

Each character type has a different formation the other team members get into.

Outside of glitches both technical and in gameplay, Sonic Heroes remains a relatively good looking game to this day. The zones definitely have that Sonic feel and look to them--colorful, vibrant, and it's something I definitely appreciate--something much more than Sonic Frontiers' drab and dreary approach to its art style (not to say Frontiers is objectively bad there or as a game). Meanwhile, the soundtrack is full of awesome rock tunes, and honestly, even with the cheese factor dialed up to 11 with some of the lyrical tracks, Sonic Heroes remains one of my favorite Sonic soundtracks even in 2026. The voice acting and cutscene direction are all over the place, offering lots of characters enjoying talking over each other or not giving each other enough pauses, and the audio balance is up and down as well. It was standard fare for Sonic games of that era, for sure. 

My fondness for Sonic the Hedgehog as a character and series remains to this day, despite replaying games like Sonic Heroes. Ideally, I would have started this celebration of Sonic's 35th anniversary on a higher note. Well, technically, I did with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds earlier in the month! That said, the positives about Sonic Heroes--the level design, the colorful visuals, and superb soundtrack--greatly are betrayed by the game's poor controls, obnoxious mission design with Team Chaotix, abhorrent boss battles, awful camera, and glitches aplenty. Even despite all of these negatives, I did enjoy rolling around at the speed of sound, flying high, and throwing my weight around with this cast of 12 playable characters. Does that make Sonic Heroes an enjoyable game overall? Absolutely not. 

[SPC Says: D+] 

SSX 3 (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

We move from Sonic last Sunday to snowboarding tonight with the SSX series, namely the third entry in the series: SSX 3. Does this snowboarding game stick the landing, or does it wipeout and eat some snow in the process? Here's the SPC review for that answer, for those uninitiated. 

A literal peak snowboarding game, but is it figuratively peak as well?

Back when extreme sports were all the rage in the roll over to the new millennium, game publishers and developers followed suit to cash in on the craze. Fortunately, unlike something modern like many publishers going all-in on controversial at best and stupidly harmful endeavors like the pursuit of AI, the cash-in on this particular craze was one that greatly benefited gaming with a robust and quite frankly, embarrassment of riches of great games. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater no doubt led the way in general, but for what THPS did for skateboarding video games, SSX arguably did for snowboarding. 

With multiple entries spanning three console generations and multiple platforms, SSX has since taken a slumber, but the clamor for a new entry is intense for many to this day. With the winter season upon us (at least where I am), I figured it'd be a good idea to finally dive into the series. Of course, a smart person might have started with the first entry, the PlayStation 2 launch title and original SSX. "No," said I! I went for what most consider to be the greatest entry of them all--SSX 3--because like Frank Sinatra once sang, "Nothing but the best is good enough for me." Ah, yes... A Frank Sinatra reference in an extreme snowboarding game review. How appropriate and timely as always, Phil. 

Whoever said "look before you leap" didn't play the SSX series.

At any rate, SSX 3 sees players challenge three different and unique peaks within the main mode of the game: Conquer the Mountain. Here, the main goal is to obtain enough money earnings through various methods and means in order to qualify to upgrade your rider's pass and move on to the next peak, where understandably, the courses, the competition, and the mountain itself all become much more unwelcoming and challenging. 

Each peak has a selection of races and freestyle events to participate in, each of which are three rounds basically. Races are point A to point B downhill competitions against five other competitors where knowing the course and its multitude of shortcuts--and I do mean that, as each course contains A LOT of alternate paths--is partially a way to ensure victory. Even still, it takes more than course knowledge to overcome the odds, as execution and nailing tricks, not bailing, and wise boosting are what it takes to outrace your rivals down the mountain. 

Chill, bruh--the race only just started. Plenty of time to take the lead.

Part of knowing the course is realizing what paths and overall routes are best to take of the dozens upon dozens available on any particular course. Just because it's optional doesn't mean it's always the fastest way down, but usually if a shortcut takes a good amount of work to discover or reach, it's typical worth the effort to nail it. Sure, "SSX Out of Bounds" glass panel signs are meant to be ignored and smashed through to reveal alternate shortcuts and ways down courses, and these generally shave plenty of seconds off your time in practice. Some shortcuts aren't marked so clearly, and these demand being in the zone mentally to nail without completely screwing up--the latter I did more than I'd care to admit.

Freestyle events forgo the need for speed, and instead require you to trick as much as possible down the course, whether long-form courses or short super jump or halfpipe challenges. Either way, discovering the subjectively correct line to take, all the while nabbing midair trick multipliers, keeping your combo going, and making sure not to bail in the process, is the key to placing at the top of the podium. 

With about a dozen riders, loads of customization opportunities, and lots to unlock, 
you won't get bored of SSX 3 quickly by any stretch of the imagination.

Really, the jump from racing to freestyle is humbling at best and downright frustrating at worst. SSX 3 essentially feels like the type of game that expects you to have working knowledge and expertise of past entries to fully grasps all the intricacies of the multiple systems the game possesses. There's learning not to fall flat on your face or butt every time you attempt to do a flashy trick, for one; there's experimenting with the combo system, trying to control your rider's snowboard especially on inertia-inducing, slippery surfaces like ice, attempting to make death-defying leaps over steep drops and falls, and this is all the while chaining tricks together to get enough points to even feel like you're competition-worthy. 

Dude, now's not the time for a high five.

At first--and if you're at least like me starting out--you won't be. Your rider will suck snow--sometimes literally. Between learning when to leap off jumps, holding the shoulder buttons to do grabs, pressing the D-Pad left and right to spin, or up and down to flip--these moves can be quite the challenge to pull off initially. This is especially so when your rider starts out with limited stats. Fortunately, the money you earn in competitions, from performing tricks in the free ride mode, finding collectible snowflakes scattered all around the courses and peaks, and otherwise snowboarding like an even more pumped-up Shaun White (he's still a reference folks will get, right?) can be spent on boosting your given rider's attributes. From speed and acceleration to how a rider's toughness and stability when riding, all of these stats go into beefing up your character to make him, her, or them this mountain's worst enemy.

Of course, it's not just spins, flips, and grabs that are available to you to trick out with your snowboard out. Instead, as you perform well and successfully land tricks, a special meter called the Uber Gauge rises and increases in amount. As it fills, you can opt to exert some of it with some boosting, or you can let it fill all the way to be able to perform special tricks known as Ubers. Continually pull off Uber tricks to spell out SUPER UBER to get the ability to perform... well... Super Ubers, coincidentally enough. These massively cool, customizable (in the sense that you can choose which ones to equip to your rider), and challenging to pull off tricks are the keys to scoring massive amounts of points, keeping your speed high in races, and otherwise pulling moves off that even Jagger would be like, "Slow down." (We're really running the gamut of musical references here in this review, aren't we?)

The halfpipe is perfect for gnarly trick potential. ...Gnarly is good in snowboarding, right?

That said, there are frustrations to SSX 3. Again, so much of the game and its systems--whether movement or trick-based--seem to imply understanding and expertise of past entries. This is especially so in the free ride-exclusive BIG challenges. These are generally easily failed, incredibly difficult snowboarding tasks that range from jumping through rings, gathering collectibles in a tricky snowboarding line, or worse yet, having trick types called out at you to nail. The latter is a bit taxing due to not knowing an Indy from a Stale Air, or hell, even an Illinois, if the game is trying to talk Midwestern States to me instead. What do I know--not what button combo does any trick--that's for sure!

Speaking of BS Rail, sometimes approaching and connecting to rails TO grind can be some serious BS!

Upon smashing through the races and freestyle events (sometimes with your rider's probable broken bones) of a given peak and winning enough earnings, you get the opportunity to take on your rival in a solo, one-on-one race as well as a trick-off competition. Both race and freestyle disciplines and mastery types against your rival stand in your way before you can board a plane to the next peak. 

Perhaps one of the coolest aspects of SSX 3 is how the three peaks are interconnected. The final challenge of each peak is a race down multiple locales from that given peak in order to beat a specific time or in a freestyle event, a specific score. Snowboarding, racing, tricking, and so forth down one continuous, interconnected, lengthy series of courses without a loading screen in sight is one hell of a trick--caverns and such being obvious loading screen masks aside. It all leads to the Peak 3's ultimate challenge--a ride down all three past peaks, featuring a number of different courses from all three peaks. It's an absolutely awesome ride, and generally you'll have your snowboarding sh*t together to perform admirably enough that time isn't a factor. Nothing like the idea of failing a thirty minute ride down the entire mountain, right?

Wait a minute. Why is the city upside-down to my rider? ...Oh, dear...

SSX 3 sports a career mode, the aforementioned Conquer the Mountain mode, for every playable rider in the game. Each starts from scratch in their respective careers, so that means that the concept of completing the game could theoretically have a particular player want to beat each and every character's career 100%--winning gold in every event, finding and collecting all Snowflakes, and clearing every BIG challenge, too. ...I'm decidedly just happy clearing Conquer the Mountain somehow only the one time... and that could have shaved some years off my life with how stressful it was at times, too. 

I got me some big air, baby!

I was amazed by just how much went into the production and presentation of this game, as an aside. DJ Atomika delivers cool radio riffing and brilliant banter between songs, of which the song selections offers myriad genres--from R&B, to rap, to alt rock. If you want something to boost your adrenaline, you'll get it with the SSX 3 soundtrack. Graphically, the game is a stunner still, especially the particle effects like most obviously that of snowfall. Seeing your snowboard realistically carve a path through the snow is something pretty much required for this type of game, and SSX 3 doesn't disappoint here either. Lighting effects like the sun shimmering in the distance, lens flare, and moonlight glistening on the snow make for delightful visuals, as does awesome plane flybys or fireworks lighting up the sky while pulling off tricks off a huge steep drop or while simply soaring down the mountain. It all makes for a spectacle of a snowboarding game that is most welcome.

I'm like that Wii U Miiverse "water guy", but for me, it's a good sunset that gets me going.

This being my first SSX game aside from the Wii's SSX Blur, I can't make an informed enough judgment to say whether this third entry in the series sits at the top of the mountain or not. I can, however, say that I definitely see the reasoning and arguments from franchise veterans as to why SSX 3 is so highly regarded and loved. That said, it can be a damn frustrating experience for beginners with a high challenge level, steep skill barrier of entry, and loads of wipeouts and bails to be found as you attempt to "get good".  

Whether the initial bouts of immediate frustration are worth the reward of slowly (and I do mean slowly) but steadily learning the ins and outs of the game is another subjective thing that will depend on your resolve and level of patience. For me, and not just because I wanted to review this game, I'm glad I gave it a proper chance and stuck with it. I LOVED the course design so much, and how there are a plethora of pathways, secrets, shortcuts, and ways to go about traveling down each track. I enjoyed eventually gaining some skill in becoming able to be competitive in freestyle events and even go as far as to win gold on them all. Sure, for every event I won, I had dozens of attempts of frustrating falls, fails, bails, crashes, and wipeouts, but it was rewarding to me in the end. So much so, that I have a copy of the original SSX heading my way as I write this review.

If it's nothing but downhill from here for the rest of the series' games that I sample, then I'm at least glad to have experienced the creme de le creme here with SSX 3. Either way, this third entry is one hell of a snowboarding package, both overwhelming in positive and negative ways, but well worth playing for any extreme sports enthusiast or just gaming fan who wants a proper challenge and enjoyable snowboarding title to play.

[SPC Says: B+] 

James Bond 007: Nightfire (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

With a new James Bond game from the developer behind the Hitman games--007: First Light, releasing March of next year, I got the 007 bug, as it were. Grab your Walther PPK and get ready for our next assignment--James Bond 007: Nightfire, as part of this retro review!

A gameplay cocktail worth taking a sip from

 

It's hard for any James Bond game to stay, much less get out of the large, imposing shadow that is Rare's GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64. After all, that game paved the way for most first-person shooters on consoles, and offers to this day some truly stellar objective-based mission gameplay. Enter James Bond 007: Nightfire from Eurocom. Past 007 games post-Rare certainly had big shoes to fill--or perhaps in this case, a big well-fitted tuxedo to fill--and to be perfectly honest, past attempts by Eurocom and publisher Electronic Arts really were solid efforts. They merely fell by comparison in one aspect or another. That notwithstanding, James Bond 007: Nightfire delivers action both shaken and stirred for one of the better 007 games, especially of the PlayStation 2 era.

After a New Year's Eve terrorist attack gone astray by none other than James Bond himself, M tasks our secret agent with investigating the seemingly related operations of an industrial tycoon named Raphael Drake. What follows is your classic Bond tale of high-octane action mixed with various betrayals and lots of innuendo for good measure. The script is essentially discount James Bond ("We have James Bond at home" material, really), but it does its duty well enough to have kept me engaged for the majority of the story.  

How do you do? I'm totally not a spy investigating an industrialist hosting this party.

007: Nightfire consists of about ten or so missions spread across traditional on-foot action and to break things up, vehicular carnage. The latter sports incredibly well done controls, particularly the handling of the rides 007 gets control of, whether that's an Aston Martin Vanquish or combat jeep. Cruising through alleyways, cutting through storefronts and cabins, and drifting around snowy turns feel great, which is lovely to report, as driving controls in a non-racing game-focused game could have been a recipe for mission failure. Fortunately, the driving missions work wonderfully and are fabulous additions to the James Bond formula.

First screenshot of this review, and already you're showing off, James.

 The on-foot missions sport more variety and are less linear than your "speed from point A to point B" vehicle levels. Not to say the latter doesn't have variety to it either. Missions generally involve a mix of stealth and action, offering multiple ways to go about completing objectives--a feature I loved from--you guessed it--Rare's works GoldenEye 007 and even Perfect Dark that of course predate Nightfire.

007 gets a massive amount of kit to take along his missions, whether they are high-powered weaponry in the form of guns or gadgets from Q-Branch. One of my favorites is the grapple that Bond can utilize as a shortcut to reach new vertical areas or other locations much faster. Then there's the laser, perfect for cutting through both metal hinges of say, safes, or destroying exposed wires to shut down security systems.

He tripped and fell out of the watchtower. Honest. When has 007 ever lied?

While Bond does get some cool kit to utilize in missions, Nightfire itself can be a bit challenging sometimes. That's particularly when trying to figure out what a given objective requires the player to do. The game itself isn't overly difficult--save for some decidedly utterly obnoxious final missions--and that's because of mid-level checkpoints and a relative abundance of armor to add some defense to Bond's body, available even in the hardest of difficulties. That latter point makes what could be an effort in aggravation to something less frustrating, fortunately.

One of the coolest aspects about 007: Nightfire is how its levels simply beg to be replayed over and over again. Each level gives you a score depending on how well you play through it, doling out medals for doing a bang-up job. It's not just about completing the given mission, but instead, it's about doing it with style. That's to say you'll need to play less like a typical Double-0 agent and more like 007 himself. After acquiring a gold medal in a level, you can replay it to aim for a platinum medal. This is performed by keeping your accuracy high, taking minimal damage, subduing and defeating enemies, but also and more interestingly, performing Bond Moves in levels. 

The mission and locale variety is quite large in 007: Nightfire.

Bond Moves are a holdover from Agent Under Fire which really puts you in the mind of "what would James Bond do?" Take the first on-foot mission in the game where you infiltrate a castle. Sure, you can go guns blazing and have your enemies roll out the red carpet with their blood, but for a more tasteful, less tacky approach, you can sneak in undetected by climbing and inching around the perimeter to successfully earn a Bond Move. These moves don't just pertain to stealth, either. You can earn them from saving some bullets by blowing up a gas tank to destroy a nearby watchtower, or take a zip-line to get a literal drop on your foes. 

Scaramanga might be looking for that weapon--just saying, 007.

Bond Moves and the various hidden 007 tokens sprinkled throughout levels really show how the level design is far from linear. In fact, that aforementioned first on-foot mission sports no shortage of three ways to go about entering its main hub. Experimenting and trying out different approach to missions brought me a lot of joy, especially when thinking to myself, "There's no way this game is going to let me do this," and then lo and behold, 007: Nightfire does just that.

You might ask yourself what is the point of gold and platinum medals in missions other than potential bragging rights. Nightfire's medals award you with content for both solo and multiplayer modes with a heavier focus on the latter. What it amounts to is unlocks in the form of new characters, particularly those from past 007 films, new modes, and new weapons for multiplayer.

The multiplayer itself is quite entertaining, too, which would be a bummer if it weren't, considering it'd kill a lot of motivation in getting medals to begin with! Multiplayer consists of split-screen for up to four players, as well as up to six other bots. There's a massive amount of customization, whether that's setting up bot personalities a la Perfect Dark, choosing weapon load-outs, or setting health handicaps for individual players. 

Perhaps the only downside I found with Nightfire's multiplayer mode is that there is but a sparse eight maps to choose from, and one of them does not allow AI opponents to play on it (the Ravine map). That notwithstanding, the maps are well designed, packed with perfect spots to engage in gunfights and even some explosive action, and are mostly spread out, too, to avoid feeling overly claustrophobic. The maps lend themselves well to exciting and exhilarating showdowns, are enjoyable to explore, and work well for the game's multiple modes. 

Use those special teeth to eat this missile, Jaws!

From standard solo Deathmatch, to Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and also Demolition, where players must work as teams to traverse a map to destroy the other side's satellite via explosives (notably Satchel Charges), among other unlockable modes, which can be customized to play as long or as quickly of a match as you want, there is plenty of multiplayer mayhem to engage with in 007: Nightfire. 

James Bond 007: Nightfire looks great in its standard 4:3 aspect ratio, but it also allows players to play with the aspect ratio stretched out for even more stellar measure. The main graphical complaint I have is within the pre-rendered cutscenes that are remarkably blurry compared to the main game graphics. Still, it's a minor gripe. The action and frame-rate are fluid even at their most heated and high-octane moments, which makes for a smooth playing experience. 

The in-game cutscenes like this one look great. The pre-rendered ones? Not so much.

Meanwhile, if you're a fan of the James Bond theme, you'll be in love with the soundtrack of Nightfire, as it offers myriad takes and arrangements on the classic theme of the franchise, whether that's in the solo campaign or in multiplayer matches. The voice-work is phenomenal in Nightfire, too, offering well performed dialogue and material that doesn't sound phoned in. While Pierce Brosnan's likeness is indeed within the game, it's Maxwell Caulfield (perhaps most notably known for his breakout role as the main character Michael from Grease 2) who provides Bond's debonair, suave, and sophisticated voice.

While lacking in some modern touches and maps in multiplayer, while also containing some super-frustrating late-game missions (but thankfully no escort missions, so that's a point that doesn't go to GoldenEye this time), James Bond 007: Nightfire delivers excitement, positive intensity in and out of the game's well-controlling and exhilarating vehicular missions, and superb multiplayer gameplay. The way missions permit multiple ways to proceed through clearing objectives is most welcome in the campaign, while the multiplayer offers robust amounts of customization and engaging offline gameplay. Eurocom not only had the 007 license to make Nightfire--they also had a license to thrill players with one overall well-done game starring James Bond.

[SPC Says: B]