Volume 2 Issue 6 December 2006 Sony ... - Hardcore Gamer

Black Hawk Down:
Team Sabre is a tactical
action game that
manages to create a
very entertaining mobile
gaming experience... if
you don’t mind tactical
strategy over balls-out
shoot-outs.
It’s a game in which you control members of the elite Delta Force on 12 missions in locales such as the
deserts of Iran and the jungles of Colombia. Missions vary from saving hostages, destroying key enemy
facilities and, of course, annihilating enemy forces.
Your unit consists of three commandos with their own unique abilities. There’s the Engineer who is
weaponless but has the ability to cure team members, diffuse land mines, and call in air raids. The
Sniper is able to shoot from far away and can scan the entire area. The Rieman has tougher armor,
more ammunition, and a knife for close encounters.
The game balances play to where each member of the unit is essential to the success of the mission. If
one is lost, you’ll have a hard time getting by. For example, the
engineer is the only one who can spot and diffuse land mines
so if you lose him, your remaining soldiers can recklessly walk into them and get killed. Or if you lose
the sniper, you will lose the ability to scope out an ambush.
In case you’re not too big on the tactical part, the game also provides a few straight shooting levels
with the use of a helicopter. As it ies around, you can re in many directions, destroying tanks and
bad guys. These levels are rather lame when compared to the land missions because all you do is
control the aim of the guns, not the helicopter itself. There isn’t much here but these missions do add
some variety overall.
It takes an average of about fteen minutes to complete each level of Black Hawk Down: Team
Sabre, with the exception of the shorter helicopter stages, so it’s a decently long title. It could have
beneted from a few more levels or at least a map creator option, but nevertheless has wonderful
controls, detailed graphics and a well-balanced sense of strategy.
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Vivendi Universal
Release Date: October 2006
Genre: Action
Category: Shooter
# of Players: 1
4of5
Let’s get down to business right away.
If you are a longtime gamer and have
been anxiously awaiting Scarface: The
Rise of Tony Montana, all you need to
know is that it is a classic example of
a movie-licensed game. If you haven’t
had much experience with tie-in games
and don’t know what I mean, read on.
This game is inspired by the story of
the classic lm and focuses on jobs that Tony was involved in before rising to the top. Some are
new and others are taken directly from the movie, but they all carve the path to his ultimate
demise. There are 12 missions in all and they entail either driving or shooting.
During shooting missions, Tony is on foot and inside quarters taking out enemies using chainsaws,
shotguns, Uzis and more. Starting off with the chainsaw, the other weapons are made available in
later missions and they are all accessible at any time. Each deals damage in a different way.
Driving missions consist of traveling the city by car to pick up merchandise, mow down enemies
and the now-familiar protecting and tailing missions.
Unfortunately, you are not really in control of driving the
car. Instead, the car moves automatically and your jobs
are completed by pressing keypad buttons that match the
numbers or directions that appear onscreen. This relegates these missions to simple button matching
and they are fairly easy to complete, even on the highest difculty level.
To break up both mission types, at one point there is a game of Blackjack where you must double your
winnings to win the hand of Elvira. This is a standard game of 21 and allows you to place a bet, take a
hit, double down or stand. It’s an interesting diversion from the normal game play.
Scarface: The Rise of Tony Montana has standard graphics, minimal audio and decent controls but the
game just doesn’t “pop.” Sure, it features characters and quotes from the movie, but there is very
little diversity or challenge. Some fans may be let down.
Publisher: Starwave Mobile
Developer: Living Mobile
Release Date: October 2006
Genre: Action
Category: Shooter
# of Players: 1
2.5 of 5
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HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 2_ISSUE 6_ELECTRIC PEEN