sci-fi

A friend of mine got this game for me for my birthday. She figured it was going to be like SPLINTER CELL because of the screenshots on the back of the box. (Did I mention she doesn't know much about games?)

Well, this is more like DIE HARD ARCADE for the Sega Saturn than anything else. You enter a level with a certain objective and then pummel anyone and everyone that you come in contact with while trying to avoid "danger" like fire or hot steam. Occasionally, you'll have to jump and climb a bit, but mostly it's a beat 'em up.

The graphics certainly do not push the Xbox to any degree. In fact, this is one of those multisystem ports that don't really push any system's capabilities. The control is adequate at best, but there's not much to really control because you're basically mashing buttons the whole time.

It's infuriating to play through a long level only to die near the end and find out you have to play through the entire level again because there are no mid-level checkpoints or saving options. This is truly the worst part about the game as a whole. It's just too frustrating to be worth playing.

One other reviewer suggested using cheats to make it fun. I might have to try that to salvage any potential this game might have buried beneath the surface.

Admittably, this game is horribly bad. There is only single player and with the lack of real weaponry or even a decent storyline, you'll probably wind up throwing the game out before you get half-way through it. But after I rented the game and got utterly fed up that I had spent $6.00 for the piece of crap, I looked up cheat codes for it and all of a sudden, the game turned out to be more fun than ever. Just pick a level with a lot of regenerating enimies, get all weapons, ammo, and life, and invite some buddies over, and for hours my friends and I were entertained with using the non-lethal weapons to blast enimies through glass and destroying the surrounding enviroment in one of the many levels. I reccomend renting this one first, but it's at least a good rental...as long as you look up codes (Try cheatplanet.com or other sites to actually get some fun out of this craptacular title).

Based on the Sci-Fi movie, and based on a story by Philip K. Dick, Minority Report lets you play a cop in the future where psychics know about murders before they happen.

First, kudos to the game for providing decent training. The game walks you through all aspects of gameplay, so you are familiar with the basics before entering actual missions.

The game is based on the movie, and the story, so it helps to read and see both before you play the game. In essence, society has found 3 "pre-cogs" who are able to see murders before they happen. Your character, Chief Anderton (played by Tom Cruise in the movie) is the leader of the cops who go out to snag murderers before they do the deed. Of course, in a twist of fate, Chief Anderton himself is accused of potentially murdering someone, and he sets about to prove he's innocent.

First, the graphics. This game is out on all platforms so we got the XBox version which usually has the crispest graphics of the consoles. We were pretty disappointed. Anderton looks more like a maniacal killer than a cop, definitely not based on Tom Cruise. Lighting and textures are very flat. There aren't many details, and often those suffer clipping and jaggy problems.

Yes, a few effects are neat. The concussion rifle, the cut scenes. But it doesn't make up for the headaches you get from the general atmosphere you have to wander through.

Gameplay starts reasonably with good training missions. But once you get playing, it's just a button-mashing slugfest. You're trying to bludgeon your enemies into submission, gathering 'secrets' and money along the way. Money buys you new moves and other weapons.

Even so, some of the missions become quite long and tedious, with no in-level save. If you die, you have to replay from the beginning of the level, bashing your way through everyone from the start.

Being a huge fan of Philip K. Dick, I really wanted this game to succeed. I try to promote his books and movies as much as I can. But while the game has some 'background eye candy' based on the movie, it's mash-and-bash atmosphere is just tedious. Hopefully they'll do a better job on the next game conversion they do!