Robotech's concept is one that video game fans long have fancied: giant robots blowing stuff up. The multiplatform game Robotech: Battlecry has arguably brought gamers closer to this dream than ever before.

Robotech: Battlecry is a mission-oriented game divided into five chapters. Each mission requires the fulfillment of a different objective, and most of them require different skills from other missions to be successful. In all, there are 46 missions in the game, an astounding number for mission-based games.

Battlecry is based off of part of the Robotech anime series. I have never seen it, and have no idea what the series as a whole is like, so I couldn't tell you where precisely it happens; but personally, I'm curious to find out, after playing this game.

Battlecry manages the spectacular feat of combining flat-out explosive (literally) gameplay with an intriguing plot. It all begins with the eerie arrival of a large spaceship, the SDF-1, on Earth. The ship helps feed the world's technological hunger; for a while, at least. Eventually, the Zentraedi, an alien race who apparently created the SDF-1 (I think, can't remember precisely), arrive and demand its return. When Earth refuses, they go to war. This sets the stage for a long and immersive battle as you, Jack Archer, a pilot in the Robotech Defense Force, wage war against the belligerent Zentraedi. Throughout the course of the game, you'll fight swarms of Zentraedi ships and battle pods, as well as distinguished commanders and warriors. There are even a few plot twists along the way. Some people don't like the ending of the game, but personally, I think it was done extraordinarily well.

The most notable thing about Battlecry's gameplay is the transformation. Change or Die, as the game's manual says. Your Robotech fighter has three transformation modes. Battloid, essentially a giant humanoid robot, can fire an auto-aiming gun (which it can also use to eliminate incoming missiles) and snipe. It is fairly nimble, if a bit slow compared to other modes. The Fighter mode is a jet plane; it can fly extremely fast, can fire powerful seeking missiles, and has a gun (though you'll have to do your own aiming this time). The fighter can also leave decoys, which attract enemy missiles away from you or other nearby targets. The third mode, Guardian, is half-Fighter and half-Battloid; it can hover in place, fire light missiles (seeking), and use an auto-aiming gun. It can also pick items up, which will be necessary in a few missions. Throughout the game, you'll need to master these three modes to maximize your robot-blasting potential. The Zentraedi will throw tons of enemies at you, in a wide variety of forms, so you'll need to know how to destroy each one best. There are also a number of different level environments in Battlecry: skies above a city, out in open space, in a debris field outside the Earth's atmosphere, within a city (you can even make the buildings fall down by shooting at them); the level variety never fails to please. There's also a multiplayer mode, but personally, I don't think much of it. Initially, the controls are incredibly confusing, but once you've gotten used to them, you'll be an alien-blasting machine in no time.

Battlecry's graphics are cel-shaded, part of a growing trend in the game industry. Some people don't care for it, but I thought it helped the game look very good - especially noticeable in the fires and smoke is a different look than the norm. The music is highly enjoyable; there are a number of tracks in the game that I hum quite often, even without thinking about it. The sound effects are good, and suit the game well. There's even voice acting, which sounds great, but suffers from a small flaw in the game - sometimes the voices are significantly behind the subtitles on the screen, and often, the background music will be so loud and the voice-over so quiet that you can't hear what they're saying at all. A minor flaw, though it does get irritating at times.

Battlecry has Easy, Medium, and Hard difficult settings for every mission. There are dozens of medals you can earn (and re-earn) to unlock multiplayer arenas, new fighters, and new paint jobs for your robot. The challenges some of the medals pose are actually quite fun. And it'll probably take a while to complete the game in the first place, considering it's 46 missions long, and many of them can be quite difficult.

There are a few flaws in Battlecry - sometimes the auto-transform reaction to a collision harms more than it helps, and the aforementioned voice-over issue is sometimes annoying - but nothing so great as to subtract from the overall experience of the game. An interesting story, exciting challenges, and of course... giant exploding robots. While it may not have received as much attention as other recent games, Robotech: Battlecry definitely deserves a look.

Progress: Complete

Racing games have come into two different subdivisions over the years - straight-out racing simulations, and combat racers. Some of (if not the) first combat racers were on the SNES, including the first Mario Kart game, and Rock 'N' Roll Racing. (Interesting side-note - as it turns out, Rock 'N' Roll Racing was made by the company that would later become Blizzard Entertainment)

Rock 'N' Roll Racing puts you in a futuristic universe, where you must travel from planet to planet in a premise similar to F-Zero. However, unlike the aforementioned game, you'll have missiles, traps, and boosters to help you get ahead - whether it's by pushing yourself up, or pushing your opponents down.

The plot of Rock 'N' Roll Racing is, as I said, similar to F-Zero's; you're in a futuristic universe, and you jump from planet to planet winning races and collecting money in a racing circuit. A very basic story, if it's a story at all, but why do you need one anyway?

Rock 'N' Roll Racing is all about gameplay. First, you must choose a racer, each of whom has different advantages and disadvantages in Speed, Acceleration, Jumping, and Cornering. In single-player mode, you'll win money from winning races (and getting money powerups during the race). Use your money to buy new cars, or to outfit your existing one, with stronger armor (for more health, to sustain more shots); a better engine (for top speed and acceleration); shock absorbers (for jumping); better tires (for better handling); and increase your capacity for missile weapons, traps, and boosters (which are different for each car). There will be a series of races on a series of planets (you must earn a certain number of points from winning on a planet to get to the next planet), each more difficult than the one before it - because your opponents will upgrade too. There are also two ways to play two-player: cooperative in the story mode, or Versus, where points and money don't matter, because you can go to any planet and buy any car (fully upgraded) at any time.

RNRR has fine graphics - not the best, but they work. The (lyric-less) music tracks are very nice; songs like ''Born to be Wild'' and the Peter Gunn theme, with excellent sound quality. Sound effects (i.e. explosions, shooting) work very well, and the announcer, Larry, isn't too annoying either.

Rock 'N' Roll Racing will keep you busy for a little (not necessarily for a long time, though), for the thrill of getting a car-stomping power machine, and more importantly, blowing up your opponents. There's also a secret or two in the game, but not much really.

I don't like most racing games, but I like this. It's flat-out car-exploding fun, though the game experience is a little short-lived. I'd say it's at least worth a try to anyone who can find it.

Progress: Complete

Oh c'mon, you know what SimCity is, right? Build a city. A simulated city, that is. SimCity is the game that started the Sim series - SimTower, SimEarth, SimLife, SimCopter, SimAnt, The Sims, everything started with SimCity.

Someone had the idea, somewhere along the line, to make an SNES version of SimCity: and despite what you normally expect from such ports, I personally find it more fun than the PC version.

Storyline? What storyline? You're the mayor, you design a city. The only character here is Dr. Wright, who gives you advice on how to play the game - I wish he'd shut up about pollution already. The people need jobs, industry provides jobs... but anyway. Dr. Wright is annoying sometimes, but at times can also be helpful, as a guide to your mayoring ventures.

In the gameplay department, we have the simple concept of building a city. Place Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones; power plants (coal or nuclear); transportation (roads or railroads); set up a power grid; keep your simcitizens safe with fire and police departments; keep your simcitizens happy with things like football stadiums, and the best addition to the SNES version of this game: gifts. By meeting certain requirements, you'll be given the option to place Gift structures, from windmills to large parks, from amusement parks to casinos. These gifts will increase your population, and probably amuse you as well. Oh, and watch out for disasters - no one likes being swept up by a tornado, or stepped on by a giant monster (the monster in SimCity SNES is, in fact, Bowser of Mario fame).

The graphics are bright, crisp, and well-polished. Not too many sound effects, but those that are in here fit their bills fine, like chugging train noises and the sound of a plane taking off. The music is good, and a few tracks have the innate ability to get stuck in my head in no time at all.

I couldn't tell you how long I played this game; making and watching a city doesn't take too long really, but sometimes you gotta trash it and start over, which obviously takes longer. Building a Megalopolis of 500,000 people isn't about waiting for people to come to your city (well, you have to, but that's not the point) - it's about planning your city's placement well. Tip: don't worry too much about Commercial zones.

SimCity for the SNES is a just plain nice game to play. If you like Sim games, heck, even if you don't, you'll probably enjoy the SNES rendition.

Progress: Complete

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega's speedy blue mascot, was a viable force on the Sega Genesis with a number of high-speed platformers. Sonic Team has compiled a number of these games into one for the Gamecube, to relive (or experience for the first time) Sonic's classic adventures. All the games are direct ports, meaning there have been no modifications to the originals whatsoever.

2D sidescrolling Sonic games, which make up the majority of SMC, are sonic-speed pursuits through varied terrain and enemies to make headway against the evil Dr. Robotnik (aka ''Eggman''). It's a simplistic formula, and one that's been duplicated a number of times.

All of the games - all 12 of them - in SMC have lackluster attempts at stories. What can you expect? - platformers from this era rarely or never had a story at all. Sonic games were no exception. Basically, the evil guy (usually, if not always, Dr. Robotnik) has kidnapped/enslaved someone and/or a bunch of furry critters, and you need to save it/them and overthrow the evil scientist. Anything divergent from that is, well, easy to figure out and pretty much meaningless anyway.

There are twelve games in Sonic Mega Collection - some of them not precisely Sonic games, but Genesis games (from Sonic Team, to the best of my knowledge) nonetheless:

Sonic the Hedgehog (default) - Sonic's very first adventure. Classic Sonic action. Fairly low-frills compared to the later games. Not much going on here except the essence of Sonic - a slight emphasis on puzzles with a large emphasis on speed and impressive level design.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (default) - Here's Tails! StH2 marked the appearance of Sonic's flying-fox sidekick, Miles ''Tails'' Prower. Aside from that, it's little more than an improved rehash of the first Sonic, albeit with new and different levels and a few new features (most notably, the spindash).

Knuckles in Sonic 2 (unlockable) - This is the effect of using StH2 with the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cartridge: play through the game as Knuckles. More on this later.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (default) - Said by many to be the pinnacle of Sonic games. Sonic 3 brings a new (non-playable) character into view, Knuckles the Echidna; but, more importantly, the stuff in Sonic 3 is far and away an improvement over its predecessors. An important new element is the ability to save your game, unlike previous Sonics. Other new things, like shields, add more depth to the game. Personally, I find Sonic 3 more fun to play than all the other Sonic games. Except, that is...

Sonic 3 & Knuckles (unlockable) - The effect of using StH3 with the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cartridge: it adds the S&K levels to the Sonic 3 storyline, and lets you play as Knuckles. Booyah.

Blue Sphere (unlockable) - The blue sphere minigame from Sonic 3. Simple yet fun.

Sonic & Knuckles (default) - The follow-up to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, S&K is basically its predecessor with different levels and a new playable character (Knuckles). On the Genesis, the S&K cartridge had the ability to ''lock-on'' to StH2 and StH3, and modify the game slightly to accommodate Knuckles. This is taken care of in SMC with new games to unlock; besides that, not much has changed here.

Sonic 3D Blast (default) - An isometric 3/4 viewpoint in a 3D-esque environment. Control is a bit awkward, and a lot of Sonic elements were removed for the sake of the 3D. Gets more than a bit boring, in my opinion.

Sonic Spinball (default) - A lot of people don't like this game, and I know why. Essentially, Sonic's role has been reduced to that of a pinball; you must play pinball to succeed in this game. Not only is it more difficult than it should be, it can get repetitive and annoying.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (default) - Similar (but not identical to) Tetris, this puzzle game set in the realm of Sonic's villain Dr. Robotnik is quite a bit of fun for quite a while. The basic gameplay and the scenarios the game presents are fairly enjoyable.

Flicky (unlockable) - Apparently, one of Sonic Team's earlier works. It's a very simplistic game you'd expect to encounter in an arcade somewhere; you run and jump around and try to rescue the flicky birds from the evil cat things, then return them to the exit door. Surprisingly fun for such a primitive game.

Ristar (unlockable) - Not at all related to Sonic, Ristar is about an animate star creature (whom you control) who has the ability to stretch his limbs and make use of his massive fists. He defeats enemies, climbs stuff, and so forth in his platform game. Personally, I don't think a whole lot of it, but it's not bad.

From the depths of Flicky to the heights of Sonic 3 & Knuckles (which, I think, looks better than 3D Blast), the graphical elements of all the SMC games maintain, for the most part, crisp and polished graphics. Obviously, they get better chronologically, but there you are. Sound and Music follow very similarly.

SMC's replay isn't strictly limited to the twelve different games you can play, though some might argue that it realistically is. There are some extras on the SMC disc, including art galleries, comic covers, and movie clips; however, they're really not all that exciting. With all the games to play, though, you could be kept busy for a while.

If you owned/played the original Sonics on Genesis, getting SMC isn't recommended unless you want it for a collection or something. But, if you're a relative newcomer to the series, the classic Sonic action is worth it. Especially since you're getting twelve games for the price of less than one.

Progress: Complete

The original StarCraft is still way fun, but why bother playing it when you can play Brood War instead?

Progress: Gave Up

There is only one fundamental difference between Master Quest and the original Ocarina of Time - the dungeons. Master Quest was made and released in Japan not too long after Ocarina, and was simply what it claimed to be: a quest for masters of the game. The sole difference is that the dungeons are 'remixed' in MQ. Otherwise, it is absolutely identical to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Some of Master Quest's changes aren't particularly noticeable, some may actually make the dungeons easier; but for the most part, they make things significantly more difficult. There are a number of instances where more acute observation and ingenuity is required than ever before in Ocarina, and it's impossible to get through Master Quest successfully without remembering old Ocarina tricks and exploiting them to your advantage. Admittedly, it can get frustrating, but it's also a fun challenge.

Master Quest is a classic and highly-appraised game with a few additional dashes of difficulty. Plus, if you got it in the bonus disc from preordering The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, it's free. Hard to argue with that.

Progress: Complete

Following the Nintendo 64's Ocarina of Time, the next installment in the main storyline of the Zelda franchise had a lot to live up to. Through the doubt of hype; through the cynicism towards the game's graphical style; through the criticism of the game's target audience, Link shone through and proved once more why the Zelda series is great.

When screenshots of Wind Waker were first publicly released, it caused quite a stir - the game's graphical style was cel-shaded, or made to look like a cartoon. This received much negativity, as people were concerned and convinced that the game had been designed for a younger audience, and that it wouldn't be enjoyable to play. After its release, however, the majority of these critics have been convinced of the error of their ways, as not only does the game have a fantastic design and an enormous fun-factor, but the graphics in motion are some of the smoothest and most beautiful of any game to date.

The game opens with the telling of a legend about an ancient kingdom, once plagued by a great evil, and saved by a young boy in green - the Hero of Time. The legend goes on to say that the evil returned, though the Hero was gone; and darkness fell over the land. The people prayed for the Hero's return. "What happened to that kingdom? ...None remain who know." It goes on to tell of a particular tradition, on a particular island, to clothe their young boys in green once they reach the age of the legendary hero, in hopes that they too would achieve valorous deeds, despite the fact that the world is now at peace. Here is where the legend ends, and the game begins.

Wind Waker is set on a vast ocean world. You begin on Outset island, one of a total of 49 islands in the game. It is Link's birthday - the day he receives the traditional green Hero's clothes. From an unfortunate accident, Link must coincidentally go rescue a girl stranded in a forest high atop the island; and through another unfortunate coincidence, Link's sister, Aryll, is kidnapped by the gigantic bird that brought the other girl there in the first place. Through attempting to save his sister, aided a band of pirates led by a young girl named Tetra (the girl Link saved from the forest), Link comes upon a series of events leading to a woeful failed rescue and becomes enlisted by the King of Red Lions - a sentient boat - in the quest to kill Ganon, the king of evil, who has returned to the world to wreak certain havoc upon the land. Further exposure of the story would be quite a bit spoiling (for instance, it explains the great ocean), but suffice it to say... on it's own, it's magnificent; to a Zelda fan, it's breathtaking. The storytelling is done well, escalating continually throughout the game, from start to finish.

Wind Waker's gameplay mechanics are based on the foundations set by Ocarina of Time - but improved by leaps and bounds. The X, Y, and Z buttons are used for items, just as the C buttons were in Ocarina; L is used for targeting enemies; B for sword, and A for miscellaneous actions. Additions to the control setup include actions in different situations for the R button (defending with a shield, pushing a block, or setting an object down), a map controlled by the D-pad, and perhaps most importantly... a manual camera control with the C-stick. The items are done well - many classics return improved (the Boomerang can target up to five things at once), and many new items appear (including a Grappling Hook for swinging and climbing). The Wind Waker, the item for which the game is named, is similar to Ocarina's namesake - it controls the forces which will allow Link to progress through the game. The Waker is a conductor's baton, and using it, Link can summon the forces of the winds (more on this later) and also conduct a few other things he'll need in his quest. The dungeons aren't exceptionally numerous - there are only six or seven in the entire game - but they are all done well, a few of them to the point of rivaling any game dungeons that have ever been seen before. Puzzles are well thought-out, and the difficulty scales excellently as the game progresses. The bosses are also a blend of challenge and triumphant fun.

Speaking of bosses, one particular area of vast improvement in Wind Waker is the combat system. Targeting enemies remains from the game's N64 predecessors, and the basics of the sword are the same - but a few twists are added. One of these is the Paree; at certain points in a battle, when an enemy is about to strike, the A-button icon in the upper-left of the screen will flash. At this moment, pressing the A-button will cause Link to Paree the foe's strike, evading damage and dealing a blow to the enemy in one movement. Some heavily-armored enemies must be pareed in order to remove their protective outer casings before they can be struck down. Another very interesting battle twist is the fact that not only can you knock an enemy's weapon away - you can pick it up. Link can swing an enemy's weapon, or throw it, causing a fair bit of damage (some weapons are also used in the game for puzzle purposes). Additionally, battles are slightly more 'realistic' in Wind Waker - if an enemy swings wide at Link and misses, and his weapon hits a fellow enemy nearby, his comrade will take damage.

The final bit of gameplay magic in Wind Waker is literally the biggest - sailing. Wind Waker's world is vast, the great sea divided into a seven-by-seven map grid, with an island on each map square. To get from place to place, Link will use his boat (the King of Red Lions), a wind-catching sail, and the Wind Waker. Adjusting the direction of the wind to go in a needed direction isn't just a good idea; in many cases, it's necessary. The boat can also cruise on its own, independent of a sail, but this is comparatively sluggish. Some say that the sailing is tiresome, but if a player, on his way through a long journey, makes some stops along the way at some of Wind Waker's numerous islands, it doesn't seem like a long journey at all - every island has something different to offer. Sometimes a dungeon, sometimes a small cavern, sometimes a mini-game; regardless, almost every island has something to do, and every island has its rewards. Additionally, a certain Wind Waker spell earned about halfway through the game makes traveling much easier.

As previously mentioned, Wind Waker's graphics have suffered a lot of fire - but for all this, after seeing the game in motion, there doesn't seem to be a thing to worry about. The graphics are so smooth, so detailed, and so well-polished that one would likely have trouble forcing oneself to not become absolutely gleeful at several points due to the game's beauty. Everything, from the interactive elements to the background environments, moves so fluidly and cleanly that it's hard to believe anything could look better. The cartoony look doesn't hurt the game at all - at some points, be they humorous or deeply emotional, the look fits the game better than anything else could. The sound is also top-notch; sound effects, from the very loud to the very subtle, are done quite well. And the soundtrack is magnificent - old tunes remixed, and entirely new ones as well, give every moment in the game a perfect audio environment.

Playing Wind Waker through easily takes up to or upwards of 20 hours. Aside from the standard Zelda fare of replayability - heart containers, magic upgrades, and optional items - there are other things to be found for replay in Wind Waker. Firstly, there are treasure charts which you can find, which show the locations of sunken treasure boxes - one in each square of the map. There are optional enemies to fight (gigantic squid monsters) which can net you prizes; and as previously mentioned, every island has something to do. There's also the Nintendo Club Gallery, where pictures you take with your Picto Box can be turned into figurine statues and stored in the gallery - in all, there are 134 of them to collect (none of which are required to complete the game). And as if that weren't enough, after beating the game, the player has the option of making a new game file dubbed by some as the "second quest" - the game is the same, except Link and his sister wear different clothing, you begin with the Deluxe Picto Box in your inventory, and you can understand the ancient language of Hylian (spoken by some particularly important characters in the game).

Overall, Wind Waker is simply fantastic. It starts out good, and keeps getting better up to the very end. Not only does it have quite a bit of character to stand up on its own, but it also evokes pangs of nostalgia in any Zelda fan for its plot elements. It's a good story, and it's fun to play - it's hard to imagine a better Zelda game.

Progress: Complete

As a follow-up to last year's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers game, Return of the King is largely similar, but, well, larger. With it, EA has done a laudable job of sequel-making - learning from the original by removing the bad, building upon the good, and adding just enough new things to make it interesting. This review functions best with prior knowledge of what the TTT game entails.

In a surprising and somewhat hazardous move, the RotK game was released before the movie by a fair time margin. It was constructed in such a way as to spoil only a small amount of the story for those who haven't heard it before, but as compared with the film, it flubs a few lines and scenes, and even lets out a few secrets (there are things in the game that aren't in the theatrical release, and thus can be concluded will show up in the Extended version). So while it may not be as good a movie companion as its predecessor, the RotK game still does a smashing job.

When JRR Tolkein created the world of Arda and Middle-Earth, and more specifically the tale of the Lord of the Rings, he crafted a rich tapestry of simultaneous detail and wonder, able to entice and consume the imagination. Peter Jackson has more recently become noteworthy in his own right, for being able to cinematize the Lord of the Rings into three splendid works - each a triumph over the last - while still remaining respectably faithful to the word of Tolkein. While it is narrated by Gandalf and filled to the brim with cutscenes from the movie, the RotK game, like TTT before it, has little story to speak of. It can at times be disappointing to neglect the epic storytelling potential, but at the same time, doing so doesn't detract from the actual game.

The gameplay of RotK is immediately identical to that of TTT, but with the maxim "more is better." Where Two Towers had three playable characters and one secret, Return has six playable characters and three secret ones (more or less, rounding out the entire fellowship). While the characters are at first restricted to pathways (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to the Path of the King missions; Gandalf to the Path of the Wizard missions; Sam and Frodo to the Path of the Hobbits missions), this restriction is broken upon the completion of the game's last story mission, which shouldn't take long at all - though where TTT had 12 missions and one bonus, RotK has 13 and two bonuses (and even the shortest RotK mission is longer than the longest TTT mission). There's also a lot more environmental interaction, with catapults, gate winches, and all sorts of flaming weapon goodness. The upgrade system is mostly the same, with the addition that certain upgrades (like increased life) can be bought in bulk, netting it for all the characters in the Fellowship for less than what it would cost to buy it individually for each of them.

Graphically and soundwise, again, RotK and TTT are virtually identical. The movie cutscenes look great, and usually run smoothly, while the in-game graphics are enough to get by. Sound effects are pleasing, the music fitting, characters' sound bytes taken directly from the actors (most of the time).

Again in respect to replay value, RotK and TTT are similar in content, while RotK has more overall to offer. With fifteen total missions and nine total characters to play through them all, and a generally higher level of difficulty, RotK can keep you busy as long as you could possibly want it to. And, while there's no word from John Rhys-Davies, there are a few new interviews to unlock - including one with Elijah Wood (Frodo), Billy Boyd (Pippin), and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) filled with gamer trash-talk.

The Two Towers was recognized as, while not being perfect, a more than respectable movie-to-game production; and Return of the King trumps it in every way. There are new (and bigger) levels to play through, and more characters to use (hobbits! and Gandalf!). There's even a co-op play mode, though it's not much to speak of. Return of the King just has more to do, and more fun to offer. It should be interesting to see what EA does with the next game to come in the series, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Progress: Complete

JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels have long been favorites of sci-fi/fantasy geeks the world over. They have been hailed as some of the greatest literary pieces ever written. The movie franchise based on these books, directed by Peter Jackson, has also received more than a little praise. Electronic Arts took it upon itself to make a video game based on the first two movies - The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers - for Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox; and despite humongous expectations, it has succeeded spectacularly.

The Two Towers is an episodic action-RPG that puts the player in the shoes of Aragorn the Ranger, Gimli the Dwarf, or Legolas the Elf in a series of missions - each of which is based on a scene in one of the movies, and each of which involves battling hordes of orcs, goblins, trolls, and uruk-hai to the death; those epic battle scenes written by Tolkien and directed by Jackson are now in the hands of Joe Gamer.

The Lord of the Rings itself has a splendid story, one that cannot be accurately described in short (except to praise it). The movies also do a wonderful job of retaining the story, despite a handful of changes for the sake of cinematics. The game, however, possesses little story; it essentially assumes that the player knows the plot, then thrusts him into select situations from it. If you're playing the game in order to see the story of the first two Lord of the Rings installments, then you've come to the wrong place; however, if you're playing it with prior knowledge of the storyline, the game will serve to enhance many beloved moments.

The Two Towers is an action RPG, but not in quite the same manner as Diablo and its kin. TTT could more accurately be compared to Gauntlet Legends, but this still does not quite serve to portray it. There are twelve missions in the game, and three characters to play as. In the first two missions, play is restricted to a single character for each, for the integrity of the storyline; but in the following missions, the player chooses one of three characters (Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli) and plays it out. The missions are either taken directly from the movies, as in Balin's Tomb and Amon Hen, or adapted from them using some literary freedom, as in the villages of Rohan. Each mission pits the player against large enemy forces, sometimes with the help of other characters (who are computer-controlled, but have abilities based on how the player has built those characters up - more on this later).

Each character has both a melee weapon and a projectile weapon. Aragorn has his longsword and a bow; Legolas, elven blades and his bow; and Gimli, an axe and smaller throwing axes. Melee battles are controlled by different buttons (one for a quick attack, one for a slower but more powerful attack, one for kicking an enemy away, one for parrying enemy blows, one for finishing off an enemy on the ground, and one for a quick jump back). Long range weapons are brought out by holding a button, aimed with the control stick, and fired with another button. Combo moves can also be executed by pressing a certain sequence of buttons, resulting in a powerful attack. These different attacks will come in handy when the game throws out more powerful - and more varied - enemies as things move on. These combos, as well as other upgrades (like more life and more powerful weapons), can be purchased with skill points attained at the end of a mission - a player earns skill points for every kill made in a mission, with more points given based on how well he does.

Each character has his own specialties. Gimli is slow, and his projectile weapons are not very impressive; but his axe has great might, and his upgrades will net him a very large amount of life. Legolas can have troubles holding his own in melee combat, but he is fast, and his arrows are powerful (becoming even more powerful with upgrades). Aragorn is somewhat of a blend of the two, possessing medium strength, medium speed, and balanced melee and projectile abilities.

The graphics of The Two Towers are a mixed bag. They can be separated into three categories: gameplay graphics, computer-generated cinematics, and actual film footage. The film footage, obviously, looks very nice; the CG cinemas are respectable; and while the gameplay graphics look quite good at a distance, when they are used for cinematics, they appear somewhat flawed. In short, though at times cinematic graphics will appear bland, graphics while playing the game are impressive. The game's soundtrack is taken directly from the movies, and sounds magnificent, scaling well depending upon the battle situations; and sound effects, from exploding barrels to clanking weapons, are all excellent. One particular audial point is that all of the characters' sound bytes - from spoken speech to battle grunts - were recorded directly from the movies' actors.

Missions can be played and completed with multiple characters, characters can be upgraded, there are three difficulty levels, there is a bonus mission, and there is a bonus character. Ordinarily, this might seem like more than enough replay value; except that the missions go by quickly, and by the time you're done, your characters are already almost fully upgraded. However, there is a saving grace: unlockables. Several things are unlocked from progress in the game, including conceptual art, movie screenshots, and interviews with people who developed and voiced for the game. There are interviews with Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), and they range from informative to humorous. Ian McKellan regrets to admit that he doesn't have the necessary skills to play a game that most people "under the age of six" seem to possess. Elijah Wood talks about his love for video games, professing his own game-geekdom. John Rhys-Davies calls the game his "new addiction," though he claims that he could never get to the required level to unlock his own interview. The interviews are themselves perhaps replay enough, a very apt reward for playing the game, and a joy to watch and re-watch over again.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, despite the hurdles of delivering well upon an established and beloved franchise, has managed to do so. It boasts great gameplay features and executes them well. Perhaps its only failing is that it isn't exceptionally long as a game. Its sequel, though, hopes to correct that.

Progress: Complete

Universal Studios Theme Park places you in, you guessed it, the Universal Studios Theme Park. There are rides (mini-games) you can ride (play), and a few other inane things to do.

You'll start out (after you enter your name and select a politically correct child-character model) next to Woody Woodpecker, ready to listen to his headache-inducing voice. He tells you about the park, but if you're anything like me, you'll hold down A and scroll through the text, swiftly reading (or possibly ignoring) it just to get away. After this speech, you're set free, with little direction.

The perspective of this game is akin to that of Resident Evil (PC, PS1). You're in a screen, in which you can walk around, with a fixed camera perspective; then when you move to another screen, by walking to the appropriate spot on the edge of your current screen, it loads the new screen in a short blur-effect, and you're in another screen with another (different angle) fixed camera perspective. However, like the aforementioned game, this suffers from some inherent flaws: if you get stuck behind something, or if you're really far away, it's nearly impossible to see where your character is. Also, the spots where you can get from one screen to another aren't entirely obvious.

Something which the game does not emphasize as much as it should is that you need points to buy things from Woody; and you need to buy things to get anywhere or do anything. You can get points by completing mini-games, and by shaking hands with Universal Studios figures (like the Creature from the Black Lagoon), but the best way by far of getting points is by picking up trash. That's right. By picking up pieces of trash on the streets, then depositing them in trash cans, you'll get a lot of points.

Oh, there's one more thing you'll ''need'': a map. A few screens away from the starting point, you'll encounter a few people (two, to be precise) who will tell you that you should get a map, and that you can get one from a guy near the entrance. So, hopefully remembering where you came from, backtrack a few screens, and get the map (side-note: if you play this game again for some reason, you'll notice that you HAVE to talk to the people a few areas away first, or the person near the entrance will not offer you a map). Not that it's particularly useful; because of the game's camera, and since the map only notes where you are and not where you're facing, there is no way to tell where you are going.

And then there's the people in the park, who number somewhere in the thousands (though there are only a dozen or so different character models), and have the collective intelligence of a pumpkin patch. They also have several inane and repetitive phrases. By the time you're done with this game, you'll be very sick of hearing ''This is exciting!'' not only because they keep saying it, but also because they're wrong.

You can get into a ride or two at the beginning without lifting a finger; but after a while, the lines fill up, and you'll need to do one of three things: get an E-pass (which will let you in one ride regardless of line, but only works once), get a Hat for a particular ride (apparently, Woody doesn't care about lines if you've got a cool hat), or go turn the game off and do something more fun, like hitting yourself in the face with a blender.

Here's an overview of each ride, mini-game, and feature of Universal Studios Theme Park:

Backdraft. A building is burning, and there are people trapped inside. The point of the game is to go through the burning building and rescue all the people. The trick is that you're not invincible, and getting hit by fire hurts you. There are hearts along the way to replenish your life, which you'll need, because sometimes getting hit is pretty hard to avoid, with the awkward camera angles. And if you miss even one of the trapped people, you lose.

Back to the Future. Imagine a racing game with one opponent who never falls behind you, and whenever he gets too far ahead, stops and waits for you. Imagine that the opponent has lines like ''What's up!'' and ''Hey, what's up!'' Imagine that the goal of the game is to crash into your opponent. This is the Back to the Future game. Biff has stolen the time-traveling DeLorean; so your goal is to race up to Biff in the other DeLorean, and knock his car out. This game has fairly impressive graphics, the levels are well done, and the whole flying car experience is nice, but a bit repetitive. It's not too bad.

E.T. Adventure. This game was challenging, but only because the controls were the most awkward thing since Janet Reno in rollerskates. This mini-game is a semi-top-down-perspective side-scroller, racing your bicycle through the streets and forests to get E.T. to the waiting spaceship in time. The intuitive controls you would think of do not work; this takes a lot of getting used to. And even if you get used to it, the level design is very unimpressive.

Jaws. Fighting giant sharks was never quite like this. You're placed on a boat, with sonar (to track Jaws), and crates. Pick up a crate. When Jaws attacks with his big gaping mouth, you need to throw the crate at him. It takes a while to perfect your timing, but after that, you'll find this game unrewardingly simple and dull.

Jurassic Park. This game puts you in the back of the Jurassic Park humvee, and you get to shoot at dinosaurs with a laser gun while the humvee is driven along (not by you). Almost all you do is use the A button to shoot, or hold it down to charge a shot. There's also an awkward targeting system, but I won't go into that. Despite the fact that the laser seems to be more powerful than the entire continent of Eurasia, you'll have a lot of trouble taking down velociraptors, because even if you think you've hit them, they can easily avoid being shot due to their speed. Overall, this is almost a fun game, if you can cope with the horrible accuracy.

Waterworld. Let's clarify something from the start: this is not a game. In the Waterworld ride, you choose one of five spots in the semicircular bleachers from which to see the event (the viewing angle changes), and then watch a scene from the movie Waterworld. As if this fact in itself was not enough to steer you away, they pull it off really badly. The graphics are good, with the fire and water splashing effects; but it isn't exciting, or even interesting. It's just a seaplane crashing through a barrier and splashing onto the water. Then flames shoot up, and it's over in 7.9 seconds of pointlessness.

Wild Wild Wild West. In this game, you compete with a computer (or second player) controlled gunslinger, trying to shoot down as many targets as possible in a western town. Not only is this game neither wild, wild, nor wild, but the controls have sensitivity issues. It's not bad, but gets dull.

The Quiz. Run by ''Winnie Woodpecker,'' this mini-game is a quiz about Universal Studios movies. It was a long time before I started seeing duplicate questions, though there were also a few typoes I noticed. During the quiz, I was very tempted to curse loudly at my television, due to the obscure and inane questions (my friend said ''hectares....what the **** is a hectare?''). And after failing the quiz, the woodpecker says ''You need to watch more movies'' in positively the most infuriating way possible.

15 Puzzle. Like everyone's old love-to-hate slide puzzle, this mini-game gives you a slide puzzle of a selected size (3x3 blocks, 4x4, or 5x5) to re-arrange into a picture. As with real slide puzzle games, unless you know how to do this, it is entirely possible that this game will drive you to smash your head into a brick wall.

Concentration. Finally, a game that makes sense! Just like the old Concentration game, and just as simple. Sadly, this is one of the best games that Universal Studios Theme Park has to offer.

''Universal Studios'' letters. Throughout the park, you may see letters laying on the ground (they look sorta like trash, only gold-colored). Walk over them to collect them; it'll fill in a letter of ''UNIVERSAL STUDIOS,'' and you'll get some points. You get a stamp if you get all the letters.

Stamps. Collect stamps from the mini-games. Blue stamps are for completing them, and Red stamps are for doing them well (in Medium and Hard difficulties). After you get all the (blue) stamps, you can see the ''Hollywood Magic Show,'' which is a bunch of badly-animated fireworks, and a cheesy excuse for an ending. If want to see what happens after you get all the Red stamps, knock yourself out; I personally didn't have the patience to do so.

Some of the mini-games are insultingly simple, while others are insultingly impossible. The music throughout the park is poorly done, and very mentally tiring at times. The sound effects are repetitive and annoying, and the spoken voices are just plain irritating. The graphics are good sometimes, mediocre most of the time, and horrible the rest of the time. Replay value in this game doesn't exist, since there's no new challenges after one time through, and the old ones are things you just don't want to do again. Fun factor is low to none. This game appears to be geared towards kids, but I'm not sure if they'd enjoy it much either, with the massive park to meander through. And there's another thing I'm wondering about - this game is rated Teen. I was surprised when Super Smash Bros. Melee earned a Teen, though it is about fighting, after all; but this one just doesn't make sense. And if the game is for Teens, then why in the name of Miyamoto are all the characters you can select small children?!

Another minor feature that bugs me is that you need to save the game manually. Unlike most Gamecube games I've seen/played so far, where saves are automatic or you're prompted to save after doing something, you need to select Save from the menu and manually save your game here. This is just a little thing, but every little thing adds up.

Overall, this game should not have been made. I'd like to hope that anyone who was able to purchase a Gamecube Development Kit would have some talent at making games; it is clear that Universal Studios Theme Park does not show this in any way. I'm impressed with how they managed to make so many different game engines for the mini-games, but it's too bad they're almost all horrible games.

Bottom Line: Do not buy this game. Do not rent this game. If you are offered this game by someone, run away. This game might have been successful if it was used as a demo game to show off what the Gamecube can do, because it has a variety of mini-games; but again, even if it was for demo only, there's still the problem that the park is too big. If for some reason, you play this game and like it, then I wish you the best of luck; but I highly urge you against that, because there are better things you can do with your time, like writing letters to government officials asking to make the grass pink.

Progress: Complete