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Reviews Archive
         
         
 
60
Suikoden II   Suikoden II
  Fantastic sequel to one of the earliest JRPGs on the system, Suikoden II goes for a pure 2D experience, and emphasis on finding secrets and searching for characters to join your party (there's a huge number of playable characters). Suikoden has a well written storyline, with good dialogue, and characterisation, and all in all the game is just packed full with content.
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59
Tomba 2/Tombi 2   Tomba 2
  The Tomba games on Playstation are excellent 2.5D platform games created by Tokuro Fujiwara, who worked on a whole bunch of classic games for Capcom (Commando and Mega Man for example). Tomba II's gameplay essentially has you exploring the levels looking for tasks to complete, some of which are required to progress whilst others just increase your adventure point score, there's items and upgrades to collect, and the gameplay is fun, varied, and full of a lot of charm.
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58
Dead or Alive   Dead of Alive on PS1
  Fast and fun arcade 3D fighting game with an emphasis on speed and countering. This PS1 version isn't quite as good as it could've been (the backgrounds especially can be a little drab at times) but overall its a very respectable, playable port.
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57
Tenchu 2   Tenchu 2
  Along with Metal Gear Solid the original Tenchu did a lot for popularising the stealth genre. It gave you the opportunity to sneak around as a ninja creeping up on people and assassinating them before they knew what hit them, which, unsurprisingly made for a tense, compulsive play experience. The original game gave you all the kinds of equipment and moves that you'd want, with swords, shuriken's, and an excellent grappling hook, and this sequel kept all this, whilst being longer than the original, and with a much more interesting plot.
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56
Exhumed   Exhumed on PS1
  This is a very good port of the classic Saturn first person shooter. The original game added a lot of interesting adventure aspects, and upgrades to the simple Doom style shooting and corridor formula which was still very popular at the time. The additions help to create a more cerebral experience, as you'll often gain new abilities which now give you access to different routes throughout earlier levels, gameplay elements which reward those with a keen eye and talent for exploration.
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55
TOCA Touring Cars   TOCA Touring Cars
  Codemasters' TOCA series or racing games made a name for themselves by producing no nonsense, realistic driving experiences which required a certain level of mastery. By this, their third title they'd refined the concept and managed to make the game a little more accessible too.
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54
Spider-Man   Spider-Man on PS1
  I think that at the time of release this has to have been the best videogame adaptation of Spider-man (I liked the Mega Drive game but it had its faults), all his signature moves are available, web swinging, web shooting, climbing walls, and they all work here in a very effective, and intuitive way. The 3D engine itself is very good, and the levels have a lot of variety. All in all they nailed the feel of the Spider-Man comics down very well, and that element of fun which you should naturally expect from a Spider-Man game is there in spades.
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53
Soul Blade   Soul Blade
  Namco's second biggest fighting series after Tekken is a weapons focused game that has you controlling a bunch of interesting characters throughout colourful, vibrant environments. As you'd expect from Namco, Soul Blade is easy to pick up, accessible, and fun but still has enough depth in the long term to keep the fighting game aficionados happy too.
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52
Colony Wars Vengeance   Colony Wars Vengeance
  The Colony Wars games are a series of mission based space combat games made by the ever excellent Playstation stalwarts Psygnosis. The games have you charged with missions such as protecting space stations, shooting down enemy aircraft, or towing dangerous objects, the controls are excellent, and responsive, there's branching paths taking place throughout the game adding to longevity, the plotlines are always in-depth, and memorable, and the graphics are rarely anything short of impressive. Word of warning though, these games are difficult as hell, and can have sparse checkpoints so expect to experience frustration from time to time.
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51
X-Com: Terror From the Deep   X-Com Terror from the Deep
  Fantastic turn based strategy game made by Julian Gollop (creator of many popular computer games such as Laser Squad and Rebelstar) which has you going up against an alien empire. X-Com's gameplay has you moving around a squad of soldiers around the grid based levels, movement and weapon usage uses up action points which are given to you at the start of each turn. Terror from the Deep is a very in-depth, and complex game, it contains many elements, such as resource management, squad tactics, and research and development, and is aimed more at the serious strategy game player, so its not really for those with short attention spans.
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