This adventure from rdquo;Metal Gear Solid rdquo; creator Hideo Kojima packs plenty of variety into a small package. Most of the time you rsquo;ll be scouring dungeons for monsters until you suddenly find yourself shooting down enemy rockets in space. You need to keep an eye on the constantly moving clock, since Lucian is stronger at night while Aaron thrives in the daylight.
The heroes eventually find a way to control the paraSOL, allowing them to manipulate the weather. And they rescue some rdquo;Terrennials, rdquo; elemental beings that add assorted spells to the boys rsquo; arsenal. There rsquo;s a lot - maybe too much - going on in rdquo;Lunar Knights, rdquo; but it all makes for an unusually satisfying trip.
(Three stars out of four.)
Enter Alicia Claus, sorceress, gunslinger and former Playboy model. (Seriously, she rsquo;s was one of Hef rsquo;s rdquo;Women of Gaming rdquo; last year.) The leggy goth goddess can take out most of the monsters with her blandly named rdquo;gun-rod, rdquo; a broom-shaped firearm that can also be used to cast spells.
Fortunately for humanity, the demons are really slow and stupid; their artificial intelligence is so weak that Alicia can walk right up to them and start firing before they notice her. Spellcasting isn rsquo;t much more fun, using a clunky multi-step interface to unleash magic that, for the most part, isn rsquo;t worth the effort. Perhaps the most shocking element of this M-rated adventure is that it looks awful, with graphics that wouldn rsquo;t have been acceptable on the original Xbox.
Alicia may be sizzling, but rdquo;Bullet Witch rdquo; is a dud. (One-half star.)
99): Nicolas Cage rsquo;s rdquo;Ghost Rider rdquo; stunned all the experts last month when it roared through theaters, grossing more than 100 million in its first four weeks. The rdquo;Ghost Rider rdquo; game won rsquo;t surprise anyone: It stinks. As in the movie, the Rider rsquo;s mission is to stop Mephistopheles rsquo; son from unleashing an apocalypse on Earth.
The hero rsquo;s weapons are a shotgun, which is almost useless, and a chain that looks an awful lot like Kratos rsquo; rdquo;blades of chaos rdquo; in rdquo;God of War. rdquo; The combat, alas, isn rsquo;t that creative, requiring you to fight the same stupid demons over and over again. The motorcycle-riding sequences are no better; you simply drive from point A to point B, shooting at demons while jumping over or sliding under obstacles.
None of the controls in rdquo;Ghost Rider rdquo; feel tight, and they rsquo;re even more slippery in the biking sequences. rdquo;Ghost Rider rdquo; does serve up a lot of bonus material for fans of the comic book, but most gamers will find nothing of value. (One star.
) Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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