Editorial Review

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial lets you play as Elliott, E.T., or both in an action-adventure game that re-creates the characters, locations, and excitement of the 1982 movie. You'll face the same challenges as the movie's heroes, such as assembling the transmitter to phone home, breaking E.T. out of quarantine, piloting the bikes through the treetops, and trying to flee the authorities.

Editorial Review

More often than not, when a game is in development for more than threeyears, it does not live up to the hype. Bungie's Halo is the exception.Not only does it meet expectations, it greatly exceeds them. This sci-fifirst-person shooter is a nearly perfect blend of gameplay, graphics, and sound.

The story revolves around the conflict between humans and an alien race known asthe Covenant. The aliens have discovered a powerful artifact--on the ring-shapedplanet called Halo--that will shift the balance of power, and it's up to theplayer to stop them. In addition to several first-person-shooter levels, thegame offers numerous opportunities to engage in vehicular combat. Both the enemyand allied artificial intelligence are extremely impressive. Enemies will usethe terrain and layout to put you in tight spots. Allies will know when to coverand aid you. For instance, if you hop into a jeep, an ally will know to jump inand man the turret on the back of it.

The graphics are exquisitely detailed, but only move at 30 frames per secondrather than 60. The sound effects and voice acting are superb. The level designis among the best ever; most of the game is engaging and challenging withoutbeing frustrating. There's also high replay value thanks to the built-insingle-player, cooperative, and deathmatch modes.

Much like the outstanding GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64, Haloraises the bar for console first-person shooters. All console action games willbe measured against Halo for years to come. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

• Outstanding game design
• High replay value
• Impressive AI

• Several maps are used multiple times
• Save functions could have been better implemented
• Graphics move at 30 frames per second, not 60

Editorial Review

Reviews (42)

A Terrible Excuse of a Game
Mortal Kombat Advance was released years ago, but as long as the game remains on the market, people should be warned of the utter disgrace of a title they may one day consider.If you're reading this because that day has come, heed my words closely: There is no legitimate reason to buy Mortal Kombat Advance.None.

Midway was once well-known as a failure in making handheld versions of their popular, arcade-quality titles.Mortal Kombat Advance is one of these.The game is filled with bugs, making the easiest difficulty as ridiculous as it is inconsistant, then almost impossible on any difficulty from the default up.If you're still playing the game after a half-hour or so, it's probably to figure out how to beat anyone in the higher difficulty levels; simply put, it isn't.The game just wasn't made well enough to offer fair play against CPU, and if that's all you've got for play options, then your experience is going to be the worst possible.

The rest of MKA's elements are a mixed bag.The graphics are standard for classic Mortal Kombat games, but the animation is subpar, giving it the air a bad SNES port.The same goes for sound, which is minimal, and music, which is poor if even existent.There really isn't anything for this game to fall back on; not only is it shamefully unimpressive in its gameplay, but it's an embarrassment to hear and see, too.

The only thing this game is even remotely good for is two-player combat.There are over 20 "Kombatants," giving players plenty of characters to keep things mixed up.Not having to deal with the AI is a plus, but the bugs make it difficult to execute moves; consequently, fights are reduced to button-mashing and desperate attempts to pull off combos and special moves, which may or may not even work.This too may ultimately leave you frustrated, especially since the prospect of playing two-player meant TWO copies of this game were purchased; that's simply two too many.

Midway has learned its lesson since releasing Mortal Kombat Advance, releasing far better titles in MK: Deadly Alliance and MK Tournament Edition.Again, if you're even considering Mortal Kombat Advance, do yourself a favor and don't.There are plenty of better options out there.

MKA = UMK3
Its umk3 potable and ruined. It could have been so easy to finally come out with a good mk game on gameboy. the graphics and sound are incredible, and the number of players is nice, but pnce again the game play is sooo bad. It is extermely hard, and very boring. The people move so slow and its almost impossible to win. They should take the old mk2 for the old gb and port it to gba with color and bloo(sorta like the gg version) that would be a thousand times better.

Features

• For 1 or 2 players
• Classic adventure game
• Defeat the Mother Brain and her minions
• Acquire high-tech gadgets to help you fight
• 2-D scrolling action

Reviews (26)

Unique, inspiring, a masterpiece...
I first played Metroid when I was about 4 or 5, very young. I saw my parents playing it, and I had to play it of course. I think the thing that took my breath away the most was the idea of being able to play in one huge world and gain abilites by finding items. The difficulty was very high, so I had plenty reason to come back for more, as well. The GBA version of Metroid is much easier, in my opinion, due to the fact that you don't need to imput the passwords over and over again. That is the only flaw in this game: the passwords are confusing as heck. It uses lower and upper case letters, as well as a plethora of numbers and punctuation marks, so it is easy to write down something and get confused later on ( zeros look like o's...). Anyway, next to Super Metroid this is probably the greatest video game ever made, and expresses what a good video game is all about: Using your brain power to achieve something that is not only complicated, but fun. This is an open-ended game which is one huge level. Unlike Contra, Adventure Island and all those classic NES games, Metroid was one huge level which was intertwined and allowed the player to interract with the environment (ex: shooting a creature with the ice beam, then blowing a few blocks away above your head to reveal a hidden passage). It's hard to express how fun this game was, and still is.

Graphics- 10/10 When it cam out, the graphics were top of the line and the environments look pretty awesome, especially the Norfair, Ridley, and Kraid environments. The backrounds are in many different textures and colors. Some environemts are downright creepy (the purple orbs in Norfair, and the purple drooping rock-esque things on the ceiling for example, or the big structures of the alien heads on the walls before you enter Kraids and Ridleys lairs, also the creepy structure before you fight Kraid and Ridley.), while others just fit in perfectly with the enemies and music themes. Each of the enemies has an interesting designs, and for its time the bosses were pretty cool.

Music- 10/10 The Brinstar theme has got to be the catchiest and most memorable music theme out of any video game...ever. The other themes are great as well, especially the Kraid, Norfair, and Ridley themes. The music is quite atmospheric and sets the tone for the exploration quite perfectly, making it not only fun to explore, but pleasing to the ears as well. Music plays a big role in this game.

Controls- 10/10 For its time, Metroid played extremely smooth, and Samus controlled great. It was one of, if not the first game to allow you to aim upward, making it a lot better. Sure you can duck down or aim diagnolly.. but this was NES, not Playstation 2, remember?

Gameplay- 100/10 One hundred out of ten. This game took the idea of gameplay which was created by titles such as Super Mario Bros and just blew it away. There are countless items and powerups to collect, each uniquely hidden and well worth it. Metroid was the first game to really utilize exploration, unlike other games which were purely level-to-level. Sure, sometimes things are hidden in a ridiculous manor compared to games these days (having to blow away some random block to unveal the next room), but I think this only made the game more unique and durable. I mean, having to search for new rooms was not only thrilling, but it really made it feel like you were Samus embarking on a bounty hunter mission against the aliens of Zebes. Gameplay is absolutely flawless.

Overall-10/10 This is probably the greatest NES game ever made, and I think everyone (kids or adults) should play this game, for it is not only brain-teasing, but is also quite fun. If you can look past its dated graphics and what-not, you will see that for its time everything was great, and to me it still looks as good as it did before. I cannot recommend this any more.

Liked it.
I was at my cousins house. It was her 9th birthday and she had nintendo. I stumbbled upon a came salled Metroid. I asked my cousin about this game and she told me she didn't like it and said it was hard. So I played it and couldn't get past the first level! Yes it is hard and I never got to beat it. But still a good game and I liked the sounds.

The game that defined open-ended exploration; a true classic
In 1986, METROID forever changed the face of video gaming.A richly atmospheric title, METROID offered a darker, grainier side to the bright images and sunshine gaming that were at that time populating Nintendo.(To this day Nintendo still specialises in that `sunshine gaming,' with more titles for little kids than adults, but that's rather beside the point).SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, the 8-Bit's flagship title, was colourful, woefully short, and a fun jaunt to rescue Princess Toadstool from the evil Bowser.SUPER MARIO BROTHERS displayed a mastery of excellent level design, but it did not take long to beat.The rest of the video games at that time, san ZELDA and KID ICARUS, were also of a relative simple nature.

Enter Samus Aran.This was a game that offered unprecedented depth of play, was dark and grisly, and had great, mood setting music, and long, twisting corridors that led you deep into the Space Pirates' lair.An incredibly large game for the time, comparable only to THE LEGEND OF ZELDA and KID ICARUS of the first generation Nintendo titles, you could wander around for hours, exploring and gaining access to new areas with new items.I tend to think of KID ICARUS (why didn't this become a franchise???) and METROID as brothers, and ZELDA and METROID as first cousins.While ZELDA offers a very innovative, opened-ended (for the time) overworld experience with fantasy elements, METROID does the same type of innovation for side-scrollers, with a map just as expansive (though in a different format) as ZELDA. Which brings me to the actual game play of METROID.

Metroid operates as one long map broke off into sections.There is no level progressions like Mario.But the game does contain you too certain areas that only opens up after you had receive new items.These items are cleverly hidden throughout the game's map, and just when you think you've come to a dead end, suddenly you bomb the floor and a whole new area opens before you.And the game isn't too kind when it set you down in that opening area of Brinstar.Equipped with only 30 energy units, Samus has to be tough to survive.Energy is scarce and can be time-consuming to collect. (Compare obtaining life in METROID to SUPER METROID; in SUPER METROID there's all sorts of energy).The energy being so hard to collect, and the ungodly complex password system, do flaw the game, but we have to remember this is a first gen NES title, so you have to cut it some slack.

Now would be a good time to talk about METROID's glitch.Much like the negative world in SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, METROID has one of the most famous glitches in the video gaming world.Called the Secret Worlds, you use a wall jumping technique that enables you to get to "new areas" of the game that are otherwise unreachable.Thought to be a secret, an intentional programming easter egg, these Secret Worlds, while still fun to search for, are not intentional.They are glitches.Search the Internet to find out all about these secret areas.

After transversing Brinstar and Norfair, getting new items, then Samus has to fight through the two bosses' hideouts and put them down before the final confrontation: Mother Brain.My favorite old school enemy, Mother Brain is a proven nemesis, much harder to beat than the laughably pathetic Bowser or even the more challenging Gannon.On top of that, once you beat her you have to get out of Tourian within a certain time limit (admittedly, it's more than enough time to get out).Even though Mother Brain's tough, we video gamers led Samus to victory countless times because of the stupendous game play and the compelling story.Once Mother Brain is dead and we get Samus out of Tourian, then the real payoff is unleashed.Samus is a WOMAN!And if you beat the game under certain time limits, you get different endings.During the days of rescuing damsels in distresses with a Brooklyn plumber or a green-clad boy, Samus's gender is very revolutionary, which brings me to the story aspect of METROID, which is currently under attack by ZERO MISSION.

METROID's best features are successfully combines rich story-telling (for the NES) with innovative gameplay.This isn't a kid's game like Mario.This is a classic science fiction story, heavily influenced by Ridley Scott's ALIEN.Metroid is a story of a Space Federation fighting for its very survival against the fearsome Mother Brain and its two subordinates, Ridley and Kraid, who had stolen the Metroids and had their own devious designs for them.I have a sneaking suspicion that the boss Ridley was named after Sigourney Weaver's character and Ridley Scott.Gunpei Yokoi, executive produce of METROID (and also one of the chief developers of the original Game Boy), said that while ALIEN was never specifically discussed during Metroid's development, it cast a heavy shadow over METROID.That same dark terror, about never knowing what was around the next corner and how you were hoping, against all odds, that Ridley in ALIEN and Samus in the game would come out on top, forever cemented both tales in the imaginations of their prospective audiences.

Because of the gameplay and atmospheric story, Samus Aran has become a classic video game icon.Thankfully, after many long years the METROID franchise has become alive again with new releases.But for those who want to relive the Samus's first glory, then this game would hold you enthralled.This is truly a classic game.