News

Activision’s upcoming lineup of Tenchu: Return from Darkness, Pitfall: The Lost Expedition, and MTX: Mototrax has something for fans of third-person action, platformers, and racers alike. 

 

Game publisher Activision recently held a junket for a few of their upcoming titles and GameZone was present to cover the event.  Set in the hip-happenin’ joint of The Dragon Bar in San Francisco, Activision invited the local press for an evening of soon to be released games, nifty prizes, yummy hors d’oeuvres, and my two favorite words, open bar.  Normally packed with Bay Area hipsters, the North Beach spot was instead packed with LCD screens, Microsoft Xboxes, and Sony Playstation 2’s for this early evening event. 

 

While Activision may now be synonymous with successful series such as Tony Hawk, Doom, and Quake, I will always remember them as the purveyors of classic Atari 2600 games such as River Raid, Kaboom!, and Pitfall.  These revolutionary games were built on the simpler points: playability, timing, and reflexes.  While the current titles are, in their own right, fantastic games, they’re also the cause of several bouts of nausea, motion sickness, and finger tendonitis for casual gamers across the globe as a result of lightning-quick action and difficult four button combos.  Activision is returning closer to their 8-bit roots of classic gaming with three titles scheduled for release in the next few months: Pitfall: Lost Expedition, MTX: Mototrax, and Tenchu: Return from Darkness. 

 

Of the three titles being shown, Pitfall: The Lost Expedition caught my attention the most.  As an avid player of the original on the Atari 2600, my curiosity about the transition to next-generation consoles got the best of me.  We’ve seen old titles get modern makeovers with disastrous results.  Case in point – Defender and Spy Hunter to name a few.  I’m happy to say that longtime Pitfall fans can put those picket signs on the shelf.  The spirit of the new title is faithful to the original and the new additions don’t detract from the adventurous heart of the game. 

 

As with any remake, the new product is going to look a million times better.  Take for example Nintendo’s Metroid Prime, Soderbergh’s flick Ocean’s Eleven, and half of Hollywood actresses’ chests and faces.  The new Pitfall is no exception, incorporating a fully 3-D environment spanning deep jungles, spacious caverns, and icy glaciers.  Gone are the scorpions, quicksand pits, and alligators that looked as though they were skillfully drawn on an Etch-a-Sketch.  Pitfall: TLE has successfully added a cartoonish look to the game that really gives it a lot of character.  Pitfall Harry no longer has a beige square for a head, but instead has been rendered to look eerily similar to Woody from Pixar’s Toy Story.  The camera is player-controlled, and most of the rooms seemed to be open enough to avoid camera jams common in other games.  All in all, there’s not much to complain about in the graphics department.

 

Pitfall: TLE is more than the simple running and jumping game its predecessor was.  New to this version is the advent of puzzle solving, a welcome addition in any game, but works particularly well in Pitfall because of the Indiana Jones aesthetic.  Harry also has a variety of tools at his disposal including pick axes, slings, and inner tubes to complete his goals.  The game includes more than forty levels to keep adventurers adventurin’ through the night.  Although hands-on time was limited, Pitfall: TLE looks like one of the top platformers of the year.   

 

Pitfall: TLE is rated E for everyone and will be available on February 17th on Playstation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. 

 

If Pitfall was the beginning of adventure platformers, then Excitebike on the ole’ Nintendo (O.G. Nintendo) was the birth of quality racers, particularly of the two-wheeled variety.  Left Field Productions, a second-party developer for Nintendo for much of its life gave the seminal game a rebirth for the Nintendo 64 in Excitebike 64.  Easily the best motocross racer I’ve ever played, Excitebike 64 flew under the radar but was lauded by critics for its near-perfect gameplay and action.  Left Field is back with MTX: Mototrax, their latest motocross game for next-generation consoles. 

 

A first look at MTX will have many believing they’re seeing Excitebike 64 with great graphics.  While that’s not entirely true, it definitely holds water, or oil, gasoline, or whatever clever metaphor one can think of.  Left Field knows what works and kept the successful elements of Excitebike 64 in MTX.  The best part of the game are the racing physics which are excellent, presenting the challenge of landing each jump optimally every time a rider is in the air.  Do you boost up and try and land the triple or play it more conservatively and settle for a double and single?  One mistake can kill you as I found out in the writer’s competition after an off jump cost me the qualifying position two-thirds through the race.  Should have spent more time practicing and less time at the bar. 

 

There are 24 levels in the game, and although I was only able to see one, which was a standard outdoor dirt track, it’s safe to assume that Left Field will spice up the different tracks in different locales as they did in Excitebike 64.  The career mode in MTX allows gamers to customize a rider and take him all the way to the top and customize his attributes, upgrade his ride, and earn cash along the way.  More social gamers will appreciate the online support for up to 8 players using the PS2 broadband adapter or Xbox Live.  In our competition, which was an 8-console system-link on Xboxes, there was no visible lag of any kind and the game zoomed along at 60 frames per second.  Although the game is primarily a racer, there is also a Freestyle mode to show off some high-flying antics and let off a little steam.  A track creator rounds out what should be the most complete motocross game available to date. 

 

MTX: Mototrax is rated E for everyone and will be available March 3rd on Playstation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.

 

The final game on display was the Xbox version of Tenchu: Return from Darkness.  Everyone who grew up in the 80’s or 90’s wanted to be a ninja for Halloween at one point or another.  Now that we’ve grown up (physically, at least), it’s time for Xbox owners to don that black hood and plastic shuriken again, because it’s ninja time for Xbox owners. 

 

Previously available only the Playstations, Tenchu is a third-person action game focusing on hand-to-hand combat and stealth.  Return from Darkness is in fact last year’s PS2 title Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven with some extra features.  PS2 owners will be envious of the awesome new features in the game, even though most of the game is what PS2 owners played last year.  The notable extras include a few extra single-player missions, new abilities such as camouflage and ninja mind control (ninja mind control!), and Xbox Live support allowing gamers to ninja up on each other or play cooperatively on 6 multiplayer levels. 

 

For those who haven’t played any of the Tenchu series, Tenchu is a combination third-person action stealth/fighter.  Using everything at a ninja’s disposal including technically superior combat, circus-like acrobatics, and a collection of weapons that would make the Ninja Turtles jealous, gamers can play as the manly Rikimaru or the feminine Ayame as well as the unlockable Tesshu.  One of the first things one will notice about the game is the ease of controls.  Scaling walls, hanging and moving hand-over-hand, bestowing a swift and silent death on enemies can all be performed almost automatically. 

 

While the single-player game looks like it’s shaping up very nicely as a virtual port to the Xbox, the real story is the addition of features for the Xbox.  Although the graphics are better thanks to the Xbox processor (realistic lighting, etc…) and new levels have been added, the best new feature of the game will undoubtedly be the Xbox Live portion of the game.  Even owners of the PS2 version will want to pick this one up to get an entirely fresh take on the game through experiencing Tenchu over Xbox Live. 

 

Tenchu is rated M for mature with themes of violence, blood, and gore.  Tenchu: Return from Darkness will be available for the Xbox on March 8th.