THE EXPLOSIVE REVIEW

Story:
The story pretty much follows the plot of the movie. Someone has stolen the N.O.C. files which contains the names of every agent in your organization. It is up to you, Ethan Hunt, to find it before whoever has it sells it to a criminal organization who can get you and your teammates killed.

Graphics:
Although not exactly clear, these are some pretty cool Nintendo 64 graphics, it has nothing on “GoldenEye 007″ but it’s almost at that point. They may be a bit blocky at times, the characters may not resemble their film counterparts here and there, and you may come across a couple of glitches and bugs in some parts of the game.

Controls:
Sub-par but responsive, to say the least. You’ll be using the C button a bit too much and it may prove to be a pain in the butt when having to put on a face-mask if you’re in the middle of engaging in a gun fight with bad guys. The controls left much room for improvement here, but they’re not terribly bad.

Gameplay:
The game focuses on completing tasks undetected or disguised while assuming the identity of Ethan Hunt. There’s a wide variety of weapons and gadgets. You get to use pistols, automatics, explosive gum, C4, smoke generators, infra-red contacts, gas injectors, fingerprint scanners, computer disks, and even the Face-maker.

Aside from being a shooter, you must exercise great caution and care while completing mission objectives. Some missions look down upon the use of violence that is done outrightly. You can easily fail a mission when shooting someone whom you’re not supposed to shoot. There’s a lot of stealth in this game as well, requiring you to infiltrate and sneak around areas from the movie. The levels are quite fun to explore and play through although they could have added on a few extra missions.

Overall:
“Mission: Impossible” can get addictive, although not as much as say “GoldenEye 007″, but more than some would assume. The game is a challenge with difficult puzzles and a reliance on stealth and caution. Some levels are just simply fun to replay again as you get to use the face-maker and do all sorts of crazy things. I could probably live with the graphics, but if only they had improved the game’s controls, man, this would have done a hell of a lot better than it initially did. Overall, this is a neat spy/espionage third-person shooter, one of the more realistic ones out there.

Rating: ****

Story:
After a virus wipes out most of the female population on Earth in 2001, countries engage in battle over their own quarantine zones, leading to full scale nuclear war. The last females are held captive by gangs. You play as Griffin Spade whose fiance, Madison, has been abducted by the U.S. Government.

Separated from his wife, Spade claims a tank and travels across war-ridden America to find and rescue her, fighting off any gangs he comes across.

Graphics:
Well-detailed explosions. The tanks are well designed and each contain their own abilities and weaknesses. The developers really went to town with the levels with plenty of things to destroy within huge, wide open areas that are unbelievably long (hey, longer the levels, the better they are).

Controls:
Controlling the tanks is very easy and realistic. The controls feel very responsive with no difficult movements, making it very fun to play. There’s no need to feel around for a button while you’re focusing on the screen.

Gameplay:
You can select from three tanks - a Moto Tank, M1A1 Abrams MBT, or the Goliath. You will control your tank through seventeen levels in the single player campaign and battle enemy tanks all throughout. All of the levels are set across the United States including New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Chicago. Each environment is fully destructible and interactive. The game has multiplayer as well where you can team up with 2-4 players. There’s four multiplayer games to choose from: Battlelord (a variation of capture the flag), Deathmatch, Family Mode, and Annihilation.

Overall:
Blow up as much things as you would like in this game - Tanks, walls, streets, buildings, heck why not nuke the entire city!? Totally doable here. This game contains strategy, adventure, action, and free-roaming fun. Every level is complete with enemies, shortcuts, and fully destructible environments. “BattleTanx” contains high replay value, especially with its multiplayer options which has all sorts of weapons and goodies to mess around with.
Armor up, lock and load, and pop “BattleTanx” into your Nintendo 64. It’s going to be quite a while before you get bored with this game.

Rating: ****

Story:
Set in the backstory between “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”, mercenary Dash Rendar assists Luke Skywalker in his efforts to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Prince Xizor.

Graphics:
Not bad at all, considering this is one of the first ‘Star Wars’ games released on the Nintendo 64. The levels are very expansive, allowing you to see in great distances and detail. The frame rate matches with the images and there’s plenty of detail involved with the characters. Many of these levels are well designed and pretty cosy, not to mention, there’s plenty of references and sets from the movies; you’re bound to do a few levels here and there over again just for the fun of it.

Controls:
It may seem a bit awkward at first as far as moving around and weapon switch, especially a few jumps here and there - You might be falling through cracks or off of ledges a few times before you get the hang of it.

Gameplay:
There’s space battles, swoop biker chases, and you even get to have a jet-pack - that’s plenty of variety for a ‘Star Wars’ game right there. The Hoth battle is pretty cool the first time around but you don’t get to take out as many enemies as there were in the actual film’s invasion. The game also offers a variety of camera angles to choose from - third person, first person, overhead, and Hollywood. Each one is fun to play through with. The Hollywood angle is icing on the cake as it allows you to view Dash as you play him in a blockbuster film-like profile.

Overall:
While this game has no multiplayer option, it is quite a fun and definitive single player experience. There are also cheats which make the game even more fun and allow you to experience the game in a different light (you can play as the X-Wing or Tie Fighter in the space battle finale) and even reach areas in levels you wouldn’t normally be able to reach.

To this day, “Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire” on the Nintendo 64 still holds up as a unique ‘Star Wars’ experience with plenty of interesting atmosphere and quality to make you want to play it again. Overall, a ‘Star Wars’ game that was well-developed and well-crafted.

Rating: ****