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Why not Resources |
(KRT) PQ: PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT For: PSP From: D3Publisher/Nowproduction The puzzle genre isn't exactly teeming with games that are true-blue brainteasers, so the concept behind "PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient," which claims to measure your practical intelligence through via 100 3D challenges, is an appealing one. The game delivers on its promise -- mostly. The challenges in "PQ" are terrific, offering a simple objective -- get to the exit -- but testing your ability to visualize, organize, memorize and occasionally improvise an escape plan around and through various combinations of conveyors, blocks, stairs, mazes, lasers, switches and more. Trial and error will help you get by from time to time, but such success is the exception rather than the rule. If you can't turn on your rock, you're better off playing something else. Where "PQ" stumbles is in its need to "measure" and score -- by way of time elapsed and moves made -- your intelligence. Challenges come with a time limit, and if you don't finish before the "Time to Failure" clicks down to zero, you get a zero and are whisked, unnecessarily frustrated, to the next challenge with no immediate chance to try again. Being timed and graded is one thing; not being able to finish the puzzle is another. This is especially true when you consider how worthless the score becomes after multiple replays and the effects of level memorization sink in. "PQ's" ambition is admirable, but if it had simply laid out 100 challenges and asked you to complete challenge A in order to see challenge B, it would've been just as remarkably unique without saddling players with the unnecessarily frustration that comes with being rushed. Grievances aside, though, the game is still one of a kind. And if the subject matter has your attention, it's definitely worth a look. ___ STATE OF EMERGENCY 2 For: Playstation 2 From: DC Studios/SouthPeak Interactive Gamers don't exactly have fond memories of the original "State of Emergency," which took roughly 10 minutes of entertainment and tried to stretch it around a $50 game. The hyped-to-the-heavens ability to participate in a full-scale riot -- complete semi-destructible environments and hundreds of completely destructible bystanders -- was definitely something, but when the novelty quickly wore off, any good feelings about the game followed right behind. DC Studios are playing depth card for "SOE2." An actual storyline replaces the original game's somewhat random violence, and you now have missions to complete beyond simply racking up bodies and points. In addition to the usual running and gunning, the sequel also offers stealth sequences and the chance to commandeer everything from helicopters to speedboats to tanks. Unfortunately, with the exception of the tank, the new additions range from mediocre to broken, and the problems from the original game don't get the fix they need. The sloppy on-foot controls were acceptable for a shallow 2002 game, maybe, but they're really archaic in 2006. The vehicles -- particularly the nightmarish chopper -- don't fare much better. The game's A.I. is hopelessly inept: Enjoy dying while the computer-controlled ally assigned to watch your back instead chooses to run in circles like a dog on caffeine. Better yet, don't. Given "SOE2's" boring levels and completely goofy storyline, the constant need to wrestle with the game is never worth the trouble. If you must experience the joy of a simulated riot, head over to Amazon.com and purchase the original game. It's available for $1.50 -- roughly what it was worth in the first place.
___ (Billy O'Keefe writes video game and DVD reviews for
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.) © 2006, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Have a comment? Please e-mail us. © The Voice 2006 Revised 09/17/2007 02:10:11 PM — http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/3_20/videos.htm |
