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Ready to rumble, Driver, and NFL Gameday 2000 By Chip and Jonathan Carter Tribune Media Services READY TO RUMBLE, FOR DREAMCAST � Here's a boxing title that's guaranteed to change the face of gaming. It's a cross between the cartoonish graphics of Punchout and the hyper-realism of the classic Foes of Ali. You choose from 16 wacky, cartoon characters and take to the ring for exhibition or career bouts. Once you're in there, you'll soon realize what a champ this game is, and discover the Foes of Ali connection. The graphics are stunning � when a boxer lifts his arm, you actually see muscle ripple. When players take too many punches to the face, eyes start to swell shut and blacken. The feel of the game's tremendous as well � you're constantly ducking, bobbing, weaving, going for low body shots or jabs to the head, trying to get in close and land a couple of good shots so your power meter will max out and give you a shot at a knockout blow. The characters are terrific, from the ghetto stylings of Afro Thunder to the must-be-seen to be believed attributes of the "bouncy" Lulu. Other boxers come from around the world. They're all shapes and sizes, with different attributes, but one thing's for sure: They're all ready to rumble. JONATHAN SAYS : Sure the "ready to rumble" thing's kind of cheesy, but it's good cheese. The fact that they got Michael Buffer � the real guy � to do the voiceover is kind of cool. A. CHIP SAYS : This is a tremendous game that really shows off the DreamCast in a great light. Sega owes Midway big time. A. OVERALL RATING : A � BUY IT FOR AGES 10 AND UP. DRIVER, FOR PLAYSTATION � It's easy to see why this one jumped straight to the top of the charts as soon as it was released � it's a terrific, engrossing, deep and richly developed driving game. Oh yeah, it lets you pretend to be a bad guy, too. See, 'cause actually you're a good guy. You're Tanner, a former stock car racer who left that game to join the police force (yeah, we know � just stick with it, though � there has to be some kind of premise, no matter how flimsy). Your driving skills are legendary, so when the chief needs someone to infiltrate the criminal underworld in cities like Miami and San Francisco, you're the natural choice. Nobody but you and the chief know about the deal. You even turn over your badge to complete the immersion into your undercover world. Once you prove your metal on the streets, you start getting jobs as a getaway driver. And that's when the real fun starts. The physics of this game are absolutely unbelievable. The cars in Driver look, drive, react and respond just like real cars. If you bump into a street sign, you feel it, and take a ding. Sideswipe another car and you'll take damage. Floor it and you'll feel the G-forces kick you in the butt as you take off. The graphics are otherworldly � so real they're almost surreal. Driver has a look to it that's all-to-rare, shared only with classics like the Resident Evil series and a handful of others. If you don't want to play the undercover game, there are dozens of other challenges that'll put you in real-time scenarios in ultra-realistic cities around America. You'll actually deal with a working traffic system (lights on timers, cops looking for the slightest violations, the whole bit) and follow realistic street layouts in each city. JONATHAN SAYS : There's something appealing about being on the other side of the law. It's fun to be the bad guy once in a while. I know, I know you're theoretically the good guy ... but it doesn't play that way! A. CHIP SAYS : I'm impressed. When I first heard Tanner fire up that Mustang in the parking garage, I was hooked. The deep, throaty rumble, the way the tires squeal when you peel out � it's great to see folks pay this much attention to the little stuff, the details that can make the difference between a great game and a classic. Driver's a classic. A. OVERALL RATING : A � BUY IT FOR AGES 14 AND UP. NFL GAMEDAY 2000, FOR PLAYSTATION � Something happened between the time this series left the studio last year and this. There're a lot of good things going on here ... but there are some serious � near fatal � drawbacks that leave this year's model a shell of earlier triumphs. GameDay 2000 features all 31 NFL teams, all past Super Bowl teams, more than 1,500 players, 1,240 new plays created by real NFL players, all-new 3-D graphics, a Telestrator, announcers Dick Enberg and Phil Simms, and 200 new motion capture moves from 13 NFL players, including Bengals QB Akili Smith, Jaguars WR Jimmy Smith, Vikings DT John Randle, Raiders WR Tim Brown and CB Charles Woodson, New York Giants CB Jason Sehorn, and Buccaneers FB Mike Alstott and LB Hardy Nickerson. Authentic playbooks, taken from NFL teams, were created for NFL GameDay 2000 with the help of players like Broncos RB Terrell Davis, Packers WR Antonio Freeman, Falcons CB Ray Buchanan, Raiders DT Darrell Russell and Chiefs WR Derrick Alexander. And still, this one comes up short somehow. There are some terrific features here. The new "GM Mode" lets you play multiple seasons as a coach, player or general manager. Gamers can control the everyday activities of a team over several seasons. There's a "Play Editor" that you design plays. There's also the popular "Create a Player" feature. And in a stroke of genius, you can import college seniors from 989's NCAA GameBreaker 2000 and let them play in the pros. You can also pick your position � play as a quarterback, running back, wide receiver or tight end throughout an entire game if you like. That means you can pick your favorite player � or create a character of your own � and take control of him on every single play. You can play single games or a season mode, or just head for the playoffs. All that's the good news. The bad news is that it's darn near impossible to tackle anybody or pass the ball. Tackling is an exercise in frustration � the ball carrier never goes down with the first hit; instead he drags tacklers for seven to 10 yards. And usually, it takes a second or even a third tackler to bring him down even then, whether it's a bull like Terrell Davis or some pantywaist third-tier receiver. Passing's practically impossible. You drop back, find a wide-open receiver, let the ball fly, then run to the ball (you have to move to it as a receiver � you won't go there automatically) reach for it ... and cry out in frustration as yet another pass is dropped, whether there's a crowd of defenders in sight or nothing but open field ahead. The running game's good � great, in fact. But the pros are supposed to be about passing, and that's hard to do here. What's all the more frustrating is that this one comes from the same team that brought you the terrific NCAA GameBreaker 2000 � in fact, it uses the GameBreaker engine! Obviously some of the GB features were tweaked for the pro version. JONATHAN SAYS : I found this game very hard to play, and pretty frustrating. When wide-open receivers drop a dozen Dan Marino passes, you have a problem. If you just want to run the ball, you'll do fine. But remember, the other guy's gonna run it, too � and you won't be able to stop him either. B-. CHIP SAYS : Gee I hate to see this. The 989 made a lot of progress, and some of the new features are just fantastic. But a couple of bugs make this year's entire in a masterful series practically unplayable. Hopefully they'll keep what was good, learn from their mistakes and reload for next year. B-. OVERALL RATING : B- � RENT IT FOR ALL AGES. Chip & Jonathan Carter are a father/son gaming team who've been twiddling their thumbs professionally since 1990. For more tips, tricks, reviews and news, check us out on-line at http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/ecol/mainpage . Or e-mail us at [email protected] . Got a question? An inside tip you'd like to share? Write to Chip and Jonathan Carter in care of this newspaper. While they cannot respond individually, they will answer questions of general interest in their column. (C) 1999 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA