The Corner Penthouse

The Hitchhiker was a Twilight Zone-esque show that aired on HBO in the early 1980s. It was somewhat of a precursor to HBO's later Tales from the Crypt series. Four volumes of episodes were released on VHS back in the 1980s by Lorimar Home Video. Each tape contains three episodes, the first of which is complete, while the other two are missing the beginning title sequence. All episodes end after the "Markowitz/Chesler Producing" logo (the "This Has Been An HBO Presentation" screen is omitted). Each tape was duplicated in the SP speed. An interesting bit of trivia: the tapes in this series originally sold for a suggested retail price of $39.95 (according to the commercial on the Vol. 4 tape).

I will be taking a quick look at all of them, starting with The Hitchhiker Vol. 1 VHS, which includes the following three episodes:

• "The Curse" - Jerry Maclachlan is the owner of a rundown apartment building who promises Serita, a tenant, that he will make repairs to the building. After he becomes involved with a strange woman Tanya, he discovers a snake tattoo on his body. Both Serita and Tanya tell him how to get rid of the snake. Stars: Harry Hamlin, Peter Yunker, Daryl Hayes, Janet Hodgkinson, Arnold Johnson, Deborah Lacey, Laurie O'Byrne, and Beah Richards.

• "W.G.O.D" - Reverend Nolan Powers is a money hungry radio evangelist preaching on the air waves about the bible. 0ff the air, he's a self-righteous greedy man. A tabloid news reporter, Sato, digs up the story about how the Reverend killed his brother, Gerald. Gerald's ghost comes back to haunt the Reverend, ruin his career and pay him back for causing his death. Stars: Gary Busey, Robert Ito, Geraldine Page, Brioni Farrell, and Ian Forsyth.

• "Hired Help" - Kay Mason, abusive owner of a dressmaking sweatshop, is cursed by an angry worker who exclaims that she will be paid back by the devil for her actions. When she hires a mysterious stranger to do some odd jobs around the house, she doesn't realize he's the devil in disguise. Stars: Karen Black, Fernando Allende, and Donnelly Rhodes.


The Hitchhiker Vol. 2 VHS includes the following three episodes:

• "Dead Man's Curve" - Claudia now a famous novelist, returns home for her high school reunion and opens old wounds in Lee, the sheriff. Claudia finds out that Lance, her town-appointed escort, is really the son of a former high school boyfriend who blames her for his father's death. Fighting over her, Lance and Lee replay the fateful event that killed Lance's father. Stars: Susan Anspach, Michael Ironside, and Michael Schoeffling.

• "Nightshift" - Jane Reynolds is a nurse at a retirement home where she steals the resident's valuables, which her boyfriend Johnny hocks. The couple get an unpleasant surprise when her newest victim is an old man who is much more than he seems. Stars: Darren McGavin, Margot Kidder, and Stephen McHattie.

• "Last Scene" - Alex, a former actor, tries to prove his abilities as a first-time director. In his first film he must deal with a first-time actress, Leda Bidell. Off the set Leda is being terrorized by the fictional killer from the movie, and when she finds out who it is, she enacts the last scene with him in reality and instills in him a fear that haunts him for the rest of his life. Stars: Peter Coyote, LaGena Hart, Tom Heaton, and Garwin Sanford. Directed by Paul Verhoeven.


The Hitchhiker Vol. 3 VHS includes the following three episodes.

• "Ghostwriter" - Jeffrey Hunt will resort to anything to create a lucrative career as a novelist, even if it means faking his own death. His wife Debby believes he is dead and continues her affair with Tony, Jeffrey's editor. By the end, everyone must pay for their own deceptions. Stars: Barry Bostwick, Willem Dafoe, M. Emmet Walsh, Dayle Haddon, Anthony Holland, and Madeleine Sherwood.

• "True Believer" - A non-believer in the supernatural, Detective Frank Sheen must investigate a priest's suspicious suicide. Upon questioning Father Dowling he learns that the convent is demonically possessed and closed down years before when Sister Theresa committed suicide. After one night in the place, he soon begins having his own suicidal feelings. Stars: Tom Skerritt, Ornella Muti, and Walter Learning.

• "And If We Dream" - Roseanne Lucas develops a mad and obsessive crush on her married high school photography teacher Todd Fields. Todd finds more than he bargained for when he steps over the line and sleeps with her. Stars: Stephen Collins, Roberta Weiss, Brian Dooley, Nicholas Kilbertus, Bronwen Mantel, and Mitch Martin.


The Hitchhiker Vol. 4 VHS includes the following three episodes.

• "Videodate" - Jack Rhodes is a salesman that attempts to wear many disguises to get what he wants - women. One day, he gets a video letter from a mysterious woman who challenges him to meet her. She plays him like a fiddle and takes advantage of him. Now the tables are turned and Jeff can't escape, not even with his life. Stars: Shannon Tweed, Gregg Henry, Pauline Little, Michael Rudder, and Linda Smith.

• "Face To Face" - Dr. Christopher Hamilton, an ambitious and pompous plastic surgeon, meets his challenge in Nina Russell, a patient in the process of a gender change. He completely botches up the procedure when he shows up to the surgery unprepared. Stars: Robert Vaughn, Sonja Smits, Sybil Danning, Michele Scarabelli, Robin Greer, and Arthur Corber.

• "Man's Best Friend" - Richard Shepard is kicked out of his house by his wife Eleanor. He takes in a stray dog that begins killing off his enemies. When the dog goes for Eleanor, Richard tries to keep the dog from killing the woman he loves. Stars: Jennifer Cooke, Michael O'Keefe, Boyd Norman, Margot Pinvidic, and Joel Polis.

It shouldn't pose much of a problem to put together a DVD containing a collection of music videos. So how come the makers of the Weird Al Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection DVD got so much wrong?

1. The videos are not in chronological order. That right there is a major no-no.

2. There is a layer change-type pause inbetween EVERY video (I think they put each video on it's on Title and my player has to pause in order to retrieve the video). Because of this, some of the extreme end of the audio for each video gets cut off.

3. There are some compression artifacts, such as at the very end fade outs of "I Lost On Jeopardy" and "The Saga Begins", and after the movie clip montage in "UHF". Considering the total length of the videos is 86 minutes (plus another 10-15 minutes for the bonus features), there should not have been a need for very much compression, so there should be no artifacts at all.

It should also be noted that the Spy Hard video has two titles: "Spy Hard" and "Opening Title Sequence by 'Weird Al' Yankovic." The one on his previous DVD release ("Weird Al Yankovic: The Videos") has no titles at all. Of course, in the film "Spy Hard" all of the titles are present. This means that there are now three different versions of this video.

Overall, the UHF DVD (MGM) is excellent, however I can't give it a perfect 5 star rating because of what's on side B: deleted scenes and the Pan & Scan version of the film (not the full frame unmatted version from the original VHS release). Al mentions that there are hours of deleted scenes, so why didn't they use the entire side B for them? Nobody asked for the crappy Pan & Scan version of the film. To add insult to injury, two of the deleted scenes are fast forwarded through. Sorry Al, but even if you don't think those two scenes are of any value, your fans think otherwise.

2017 UPDATE - Although my mini-review was about the original 2002 MGM DVD release, it can also apply (mostly) to the 25th Anniversary Edition DVD and Blu-ray released in 2014 by Shout Factory because all DVD extras (minus the Easter Eggs) were ported over "as is" with no new deleted scenes added.

As a fan I enjoy hearing Billy speak about his music and videos, but not at the expense of the videos themselves. The person who edited the Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 DVD together chopped up most of the music videos so as to intersperse Billy's comments within them. All of the music videos are chopped up, except for:

-- And So It Goes [though Billy speaks over it]

-- No Man's Land [after a false start, the real video plays complete]

-- Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) [though Billy speaks over the last few seconds of the video]

-- To Make Your Feel My Love [though Billy speaks over the very end of the video]

It should also be noted that the last two videos are in reverse order from how they are listed on the packaging. "Hey Girl" and "To Make Your Feel My Love" is the correct order.

Although I really dislike the original board game (I find it terminally boring), I decided to rent Trivial Pursuit Unhinged. I figured that since it's a video game it might provide some enjoyment that can't be found in the board game, due to the nature of the formats. Well, I was wrong!

For starters, you can't really play this game with one player offline because there are NO computer opponents. There are three game play modes, and two of them can be played with just one player BY HIMSELF/HERSELF, but where's the fun in that? The game has online play, but I don't have the PS2 Network Adapter, so I couldn't test it out. Online would be the only way to play this with just one player, in my opinion. (As of this writing, I haven't had the chance to gather my friends together for a game.)

GAME PLAY MODES

CLASSIC - 1 to 6 players - Roll the dice and move around the board. If you land on a category space or headquarters, you answer a question in that category. If you were on a category headquarters, and you answered the question correctly, you get a wedge of that color, and you roll again. If you were just on a regular category space and you answered the question correctly, you just roll again. If you answered incorrectly, turn passes to the next player. The first person to get all six wedges, go back to the central hub, and answer the final question, wins the game.

FLASH - 1 to 6 players - You start on level one, and the goal is to get to level six. On each level you get to choose between two question categories. Answer the question correctly and you move up one level. Answer incorrectly and you stay at your current level. Whether you answer correctly or not, your turn is over and the next player goes. The first player to get to level six is the winner.

UNHINGED - 2 to 4 players (each needs his/her own controller) - Same as classic, except you play for points as well as wedges. You get one point for answering a question correctly and you can gain additional points by betting on whether the current player will answer the current question correctly or not. Points can be used to steal other player's wedges, protect yourself from getting one of your wedges stolen, or to choose a new question if you feel that the current one is too hard. Plus there are special spaces on the board that rotate the board, give you double or triple bonus points, let you recycle questions until you get one you like, choose between only two "multiple choice" answers instead of the usual four (called "50/50"), and do other things, too.

Each game play mode has one setting that you can adjust before you start the game. For Classic and Flash, you can choose whether you want to Shout Out the answers to the questions or select from four Multiple Choice answers. Shout Out is just like the traditionally way of playing. You read the question on the screen (no celebrities read it to you), you vocally give your answer, then you press X to see the correct answer. If you were correct, you press X. If you were wrong, you press O. Obviously the game is trusting you to honestly choose whether you were correct or not. This option of answering questions is best used when playing with other people in the room. For Unhinged mode, the only setting you can adjust is how frequently you want the special spaces to appear (low, medium, high, or never).


CATEGORIES/MULTIMEDIA

They are slightly altered from the original board game:

Pink - Arts & Entertainment (Whoopi Goldberg)
Yellow - History (John Cleese)
Orange -Wild Card (John Ratzenberger)
Blue - People & Places (Brooke Burke)
Brown - Science & Nature (Bill Nye the Science Guy)
Green - Sports & Leisure (Terry Bradshaw)
(The black spaces are Roll Again)

I'm rather disappointed by the whole multimedia aspect of the game. The game features six celebrity "hosts". However, you only HEAR them read the questions for their particular category (except if you have the Shout Out option on, in which case you read the question yourself). You never see them at all. The game also boasts multimedia questions, in which you are asked a question pertaining to a still photo, audio clip, or video clip. However, these questions come up very infrequently. Most of the time you'll just get a boring old text question.

MY FINAL ANSWER

This game was designed for only two types of people: single player trivia junkies who have a network adapter and online capabilities, and groups of people who love trivia games. Unless you fall into one of those two categories, there will be absolutely nothing in this game for you. If you absolutely must try this game out, rent it first to see if it suits your needs before you buy it.

There are a few things you need to know before reading this review. First, I will be making many comparisons between this PlayStation 2 edition and the previous edition, "Wheel Of Fortune 2nd Edition" for the PlayStation 1 (released in 2000).

Second, this game was originally to be released near the end of 2002, and was originally called "Wheel Of Fortune 2003." Like the two previous games before it for the PS1, it is sort-of a port of a PC version, which in this case DID get titled "Wheel Of Fortune 2003" (though I think the title has gotten changed on additional printings to "Wheel Of Fortune") and DID get released for the PC near the end of 2002. When I say "sort-of a port", I mean that both games have the same box graphics and puzzles, and I'd bet they have the same video clips and audio, too. The only difference is the graphics and GUI.


BASIC GAMEPLAY

For the benefit of those people who have not seen the show, I will describe exactly how the game is played.

Three contestants compete to solve word puzzles in an effort to win cash and prizes. You start by spinning a wheel, which not only has dollar amount spots, but also spots that will take away your money (Bankrupt), award you a special prize, make you lose your turn, earn you an extra spin, and so forth and so on. If you land on a dollar amount spot, the contestant guesses a letter and receives that amount of money for each instance of that letter in the puzzle. If the contestant has enough money, they can then choose to buy one of the five vowels. However, if the contestant guesses a letter that is not in the puzzle (or lands on a Bankrupt or Lose A Turn space), it's the next contestant's turn – kind of like a round robin version of Hangman.

Once the active contestant believes he/she can solve the puzzle based on the letters currently shown, he/she attempts it and if correct wins the total amount of money earned in the round. Players that earn money in a round, but do not solve the puzzle, do not take that money over to the next round. After the end of three/four/five rounds (or after 10/15/20 minutes has elapsed) the contestant with the most money is declared the winner. That contestant then gets to play the "Bonus Round."


GAMEPLAY OPTIONS

It should be noted that for the first three options, you can choose to have 1 human player (2 AI [computer players]), 2 human players (1 AI), 2 human players (no AI), and 3 human players. The option to have 2 human players and no AI is a new addition to the game, as it was not available in the 2nd Edition.

• Quick Play - A three round game, in one of the six theme sets (randomly chosen by the computer), and no career stats are saved. This is a new addition to the game, as it was not available in the 2nd Edition.

• Normal Game - Choose between playing a game with a time limit (10, 15, or 20 minutes) or a fixed number of rounds (3, 4, or 5); one of six theme sets; and career stats are saved.

• Tournament Game - Only available to players who have won at least five games or have earned over $50,000 in career winnings. As with a Normal game, you can choose between playing a game with a time limit (10, 15, or 20 minutes) or a fixed number of rounds (3, 4, or 5), and career stats are saved.

• Solo Game - A one player game in which your goal is to win as much money as you can. In other words, to beat your high score, which is saved as part of your career stats. You are given a certain amount of free spins to use for the entire game, the exact amount depends on the game length you selected. (You get 7 free spins for 3, 4, or 5 rounds or for a 10 minute game. You get 9 free spins for a 15 minute game, and 10 for a 20 minute game.) Each time you choose a letter that is not in the puzzle (or land on the Bankrupt or Lose A Turn spaces), one of your free spin tokens will be taken away. If you choose a letter than is not in the puzzle (or land on the Bankrupt or Lose A Turn spaces) and have no free spins remaining, the game is over. I should note that the option to play 10/15/20 minute rounds in this mode is a new addition to the game, as it was not available in the 2nd Edition (where you could only choose a fixed number of rounds). However, 2nd Edition gave you more free spins for each number of rounds: 10 for 5 rounds, 9 for 4 rounds, and 7 for 3 rounds. Another change from the 2nd Edition is that when you play 3 rounds, you are playing 3 complete rounds (possibly a bonus afterwards, I didn't get to it yet). In the 2nd Edition it was two regular rounds and the bonus round.

• Contestant Exam - Allows one player to try a sample exam like those used on the show. You will be shown 16 partially completed puzzles from four different categories, and given 5 minutes to solve all of them. You need at least 12 complete to receive a passing score. This is the EXACT same exam given on the 2nd Edition! However, the 2nd Edition showed videos of Vanna White before and after the exam to introduce it to you and congratulate or console you for how you did. This version omits the videos and just shows a black screen with white text that says "Score __ of 16" after the exam. As with the 2nd Edition, there is no bonus for getting all correct answers (though you got to see the Vanna video in the 2nd Edition). Also, this version makes a few minor (but positive) changes to the controls for this mode. The 2nd Edition only has a button (square) for going back to the previous blank space. This version uses both square and circle to go back and forward. In this version you can select Done (triangle) on any puzzle when you've finished before the allotted time. In the 2nd Edition, you must go to the 16th puzzle in order to select Done.

• Career Statistics - Every time you complete a game, your score and winnings are added to a running "career" total of statistics, which are stored by player name. The statistics tracked are: Game Wins, Game Losses, Earnings, Prizes Won, Most Money On 1 Letter, Most Money On 1 Turn, Best Game, Tournaments Won, Puzzles Solved, Vowels Purchased, and Best Solo Game. You can have up to 8 careers stored.

• Options - Response Time: 30/60/90 seconds. Sound Volume: Off, 5 through 100 (in 5 increments). Vibration: On/Off. Credits. These settings affect all games played during this session. You can also change Response Time, Sound Volume, and Vibration on a per game basis by pressing pause during a game. Unfortunately, game settings are not saved to the memory card (only careers). So if you want response time to always be 30 or 90, music to always be at a level other than 80, or vibration to always be off, you have to make these changes every time you boot up the game. Also, there is a big problem with the Response Time option: it affects ALL timers (except Bonus Round and Contestant Exam). So if you change it to 30, for example, you will get 30 seconds to decide whether to spin/buy a vowel/solve, 30 seconds to choose a letter, and 30 seconds to type in letters to solve the puzzle. 30 seconds is too long to decide whether to spin, buy a vowel or solve; or to choose a letter. However, 30 seconds is not enough time to type in letters to solve a puzzle if it's one of the bigger puzzles and there are a lot of blanks left. I personally set it to 90 just so I have enough time for when I need it, but that doesn't provide for a very tight game like that of the real show.

The 2nd Edition also includes an option called "Behind The Scenes," which contains short clips/interviews (in windows/frames, not full screen) with the production staff from the actual TV show. They are divided up into the following sections.

• Green Room - Four clips of Gary O'Brien, Contestant Coordinator (the first person you would meet if you became a contestant on the show).

• Control Room - Four clips of the show's director, Mark Corwin.

• Production Offices - Four clips each of Harry Friedman (Executive Producer), Steve Schwartz (Producer), and Scott Bresler (Puzzle Writer).

• Stage - Four clips each of Charlie O'Donnell (Announcer) and John Lauderdale (Stage Manager).

• Dressing Room - Eight clips of Vanna White. The ninth clip, labelled "Bonus," is a short full-screen trivia featurette about the show (really cool!). Once you have won one game, all nine clips will be unlocked in this section (the first four are unlocked from the start).

Sadly, this entire option was omitted from this game. This is an insult because this game is in DVD-ROM format, so it can hold a lot more data then the CD-ROM format of the 2nd Edition; and since it's DVD, the video clips could be full screen (not windowed) with extremely high quality. Plus they could have filmed new footage, maybe even given a featurette on the show (instead of short clips), and dare I say it, included Pat Sajak in the footage!

THEMED SET-PIECES

There are six themed sets that you can play on. They are Disco, Las Vegas, Great Outdoors, Oriental Escape, Winter Sports, and Fast Cars. These are the same set themes from the 2nd Edition, however they have either been completed redesigned or are virtually the same but with some new movement thrown in. For example, the Winter Sports set is essentially the same as in the 2nd Edition, but now the snowman's scarf blows in the wind and the polar bear moves his head (though I haven't seen the bears drive by on the sled, like in the 2nd Edition). Of course, it almost goes without saying that the graphics are leaps and bounds above what was in the 2nd Edition on the PS1. And on that note, let me segue into the next topic ...


GRAPHICS

Since this is a PS2 game and the previous version was a PS1 game, I would expect for this game to have substantially better graphics, and thankfully it does. This blows the 2nd Edition completely out of the water. However, that's not to say that the graphics are 100% perfect.

The camera movement can be a bit nausea inducing as it keeps zooming in and out from a close-up of the board to the board with the wheel in foreground. Is some ways it's an improvement over the 2nd Edition's constant movement from the board & wheel over to a video clip of Vanna playing on a wall to the right and back over to the board & wheel again. Still, I wish the camera would just stay put.

Spinning the wheel comes with an excellent blurring effect. However, I'd still advise not looking directly at the tv while the close-up of the wheel spinning is on screen as it could make you nauseous.

When it comes time to select a letter, you will be treated to the ugliest 3-D tilted letter board you will ever see. Why they could just use a two dimensional letter board, like in the 2nd edition (and every previous edition known to man) is beyond me. It can give you a headache looking at the letters tilted like this.

I also feel like they got a little cheap when the did the graphics for the bonus round. In the 2nd Edition the five prize cards have the letters W-H-E-E-L on them. In this game they are blank.

As previously stated, the sets look much better than in the previous game. The floors are shiny and reflect quite nicely, fire burns realistically, lights twinkle, and other nice little bits of eye candy abound. So, it's not all bad.

VIDEOS

Let me start off by letting you know that I absolutely hate the videos in this game and the 2nd Edition. I find them annoying and absolutely useless. There is nothing they can convey gamewise that can't be handled by an audio clip or on-screen text. I own the 1st Edition for the PC and it gives you an option to turn off the videos (or set it to "minimal"). I would assume that this option is also available for the PC versions of the 2nd Edition and WOF2003. However, there is no way to turn off the videos in any of the PlayStation 1 & 2 versions (I never played the PS1 version of the 1st Edition, so I'm just making an assumption here). This is completely unacceptable as the videos bog down the game, moreso for Wheel Of Fortune than for Family Feud (another PS1 game that I wish had a videos off option).

Luckily there are a few less videos in this game than in the 2nd Edition, but only a *small* few. For one, no longer does the the show opening video play before a new game. Also, there are no longer any video clips for the following actions: no more vowels, bankrupt (when computer gets it), and lose a turn (when anyone gets it). However there is a video every time you have the chance to use a free spin, which I don't think was in the 2nd Edition.

I will say one nice thing about the videos. They are very sharp and crisp with no compression artifacts (like in the 2nd Edition).

The prizes are represented with excellent video/slideshow presentations, although there aren't enough of them as they repeat often. Vanna White's acting is very bad, but on a "so bad, it's good" level. I laugh every time she looks over to the blank space on the right (her left) at the end of most videos. It's just looks so dumb that you can't help but laugh. Of course, usually I just press the start button to skip all of the videos, but I've watched enough of them to fairly judge them.

SOUND

Now here is the major letdown of the entire game. Practically the entire soundtrack is recycled from the 2nd Edition. After the company logos and copyright screens you'll be welcomed by Charlie O'Donnell using the same dialogue that you first heard upon booting up the 2nd Edition back in 2000: "Hi folks. I'm Charlie O'Donnell. We'll get to our game in a second, but first we have a little business to take care of." Heck, my PC version of the 1st Edition made in 1998 has the same opening dialogue (though Charlie adds afterwards, "First off, how do you want to do this? Normal Game, Solo Play, Tournament Mode, or see the high scores?"). I think it may be safe to assume that the PS1 version of the 1st Edition contains the same dialogue. Geez, Atari(Infogrames)/Artech, don't you think you should have recorded some new stuff for this game instead of rehashing what you did years ago?!?

In addition to the stuff from Mr. O'Donnell, you'll also find that this game has the same background music and the same AI voices as the 2nd Edition. In voice actors for both this game and the 2nd Edition are Christine Moran and Derick Fage. While it's reasonable to believe that they were brought in to record some new dialogue to go with the new puzzles (I assume that there's new puzzles), it's also reasonable to believe that much (if not all) of their generic comments were recycled from the 2nd Edition, particularly since most of it sounds the same (cheesy phrases like "Show me the big money!" and "Alright, I'm having some fun now!" spring to mind). Why else would they hire the same two voice actors? They could have, and SHOULD have, hired MANY new voice actors. Why do we need to have the same two AI opponents to play against? Why not get a variety of voices for our opponents?

GAMEPLAY PARTICULARS

Some random comments that didn't fit anywhere else.

For those who may need this information, memory card usage is 99 KB and the card must be inserted into slot 1. I would think that with the PS2 having been out for a couple years now, that game developers would make their games work with the card in either slot 1 or 2.

Three people can play this game at the same time without the need for a multitap. The second and third players alternate use of the second controller. The 2nd Edition also worked like this, even though the manual and packaging incorrectly said that a multitap was needed.

The loadings feel a bit longer than they should be, but are still relatively short (like 10 seconds each).

The alternating nature of the game results in some long wait times between turns. When playing alone the only thing to do while the computer spins is try to figure out the puzzle, but that's of limited benefit and doesn't help when the player already knows the answer. I really wish they would have found a way to get around this. Perhaps they could have added a "fast forward" button or something.

I've read online that there are over 3,200 puzzles. Since I rented this game, and didn't have a manual or packaging to tell me, I have to assume this is true.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I can't believe that this game was delayed for a year, considering how much was recycled from the last game, and the few things that are missing.

I really miss the old NES/SNES/Genesis games where the focus was more on the gameplay than on the presentation (though the games did looked good for their time).

MAJOR REASONS TO GET THIS GAME INSTEAD OF THE LAST ONE (2ND EDITION FOR PS1):

• Can have a human vs. human game with no 3rd AI player.

• Better cheat device (Code Breaker) codes: Don't lose money when getting bankrupt, always have a free spin, vowels are free. These are suggested for use when playing a one player game, but not when against friends.

These are the only two major benefits this game has over the 2nd Edition. Kinda pathetic, huh? Really makes you wonder why they made us wait an extra year for the game.

If you read my review of Super Bust-A-Move 1 for the Playstation 2 you'd know that I gave it a very bad review. Simply put, it's the worst Bust-A-Move game ever as it is broken in every possible way.

I went into Super Bust-A-Move 2 expecting the same thing, hoping for marginally better. How pleasantly surprised I was to find that nearly everything wrong with Super Bust-A-Move has been fixed, resulting in a game that is one of the best in the series.

GAMEPLAY MODES

Here's what you've got:

– Story Mode (1 player)
– 1 Player Puzzle: Training / Normal / Classic
– Battle Mode – CPU Battle: Normal / Expert / Chain Reaction (1 player vs. computer)
– Battle Mode – 2 Player Battle: Normal / Expert / Chain Reaction (player vs. player)
– Edit Mode: Edit / Play / Save / Load (create your own puzzles)

The Story and Edit modes were absent in Super Bust-A-Move, and I'm very happy to see them return.

CONTROLS

Unlike Super Bust-A-Move, the controls are pretty quick to respond (which is a MUST for this type of game). However, they seem to be a tad slower than Bust-A-Move '99 & 4 (both for the Playstation 1). It's not a very big problem because they still respond very well.

GRAPHICS

The annoying and distracting backgrounds from Super Bust-A-Move have been toned down. They are now static and not in any way annoying or distracting. Thank Goodness!

The bubbles, too, have been toned down from what they were in Super Bust-A-Move. They are all regular size and it's easy to quickly tell them apart


MISCELLANEOUS

The plethora of long loading screens from Super Bust-A-Move are a thing of the past. While the one at the very beginning of the game is a bit longer than it should be, most of the loadings are 1 second long or less.

The only thing they didn't fix from Super Bust-A-Move are the characters. We still have a bunch of Pokemon rejects. I wish they would have put back all the cool characters from the Playstation 1 Bust-A-Move games. Oh, well. At least the characters aren't a very important part of the game (you can ignore them easily).

WHICH BUST-A-MOVE TO GET?

There are three good Bust-A-Move games that you can play on a Playstation 2. In all honesty, I can't recommend one over the other because each one has something unique that the other two don't have. If it helps, here's a quick comparison:

• Bust-A-Move '99 (PS1) - Basic puzzle play, Win Contest (continuous 1 player vs. comp), Collection (user created puzzles), no Story Mode.
• Bust-A-Move 4 (PS1) - Adds pulleys to the puzzles, no Win Contest, no Collection.
• Super Bust-A-Move 2 (PS2) - Adds conveyor belt walls and all sorts of unique bubbles to the puzzles, no Win Contest, no Collection.

All three have Edit mode and the rest of the mandatory puzzle modes.

If you're a die-hard Bust-A-Move fan, I'd say buy all three (that's what I plan on doing). If you're unsure if which to buy, rent all three and see which one you like the best.

I can't believe all the good reviews Super Bust-A-Move is getting. I just have to chime in with my opinion on this game. Simply put, they broke Bust-A-Move. They removed almost all of the game play modes; they removed the edit mode; they made the controls unresponsive (they take a second to respond); they added annoying and distracting backgrounds; the bubbles have been graphically-enhanced so they they, too, are now annoying to look at; they took away all the cool characters and added a bunch of Pokemon rejects; and they added a TON of long loading screens.

Most of that is pretty much self-explanatory, so I don't need to elaborate on it. However, I will give you a list of what few game play modes there are in the game:

– 1 Player: Training / Normal / Classic
– CPU Battle: Normal / Expert
– 2 Player Battle: Normal / Expert / Chain Reaction

Yup, that's it.

I rented this game to see if I had made a mistake buying Bust-A-Move 4 (for the Playstation 1). Well, I can tell you this, my purchase of Bust-A-Move 4 was definitely well worth it. I have Super Bust-A-Move 2 on my rental list. Although I suspect that it won't be much better than this one, I'll still be optimistic and give it a try.

If you want a good Bust-A-Move game to play on your Playstation 2, get yourself Bust-A-Move '99 or Bust-A-Move 4 (both for the Playstation 1). Both are essentially the same, though 4 adds pulleys to the puzzles. Sure the graphics look like they came off of a SNES, but is that really such a bad thing?!? The load times are short (to non-existent at times), the characters look cool (in that odd-Japanese way), and most of all, the controls are extremely responsive and there are a ton of game play modes.

As if you couldn't have guessed, Austin Powers Pinball is pinball with an Austin Powers theme - based on the first two movies.

STORY

Pinball itself doesn't have a story, but the themed tables "follow" the storylines of the movies. Here are the story synopsises as written in the game's manual:

• International Man of Mystery - As the utterly shagadelic Austin Powers, you must save the world from the never-ending threat of Dr. Evil! Defrost after 30 years in Cryogenic Suspension. Catch up to the '90s, and with the help of the smashing Vanessa Kensington, find the secret underground lair beneath the Virtucon headquarters. Stop Dr. Evil's plan to extort "100 Billion Dollars" and save the world from certain destruction by liquid hot magma. Beware the seductive fembots, who can lure men to their doom, and don't fall victim to the wiles of the sexy Alotta Fagina and her seemingly innocent hot tub.

• The Spy Who Shagged Me - Dr. Evil has stolen your Mojo, and that spells bad news for your bits and pieces! With CIA agent Felicity Shagwell at your side (and sometimes covering the rear) fight through Dr. Evil's henchmen - from the very vocal Frau Farbissina and the cyclopean Number Two to the terrifyingly well-fed Fat-Bastard - and reclaim your manhood. Rocket from Dr. Evil's hollowed-out volcano lair to his secret Moonbase, and stop the giant "laser" from destroying the world. Travel back in time to recover your Mojo and save Felicity from certain death.

I know that there's a real Austin Powers pinball table (my friend played it in the arcade), but I don't know if these tables are modeled after any real tables. Just thought I'd mention that.

GAMEPLAY

The game plays like ... well, pinball. To be a little more precise, it plays like a real pinball table, not like some sort of arcade simulation (like Sonic Spinball on the Sega Genesis). The control scheme is very simple: X fires the ball into play; the left shoulder buttons (L1 & L2) control the left flipper; the right shoulder buttons (R1 & R2) control the right flipper; the directional pad is used for nudging up, left, and right (there's no nudging down). This is an absolutely PERFECT control scheme for a pinball game. Much better then the default for Pro Pinball: Big Race USA.


AUDIO & VIDEO

The game looks and sound fantastic. While you may not be able to see every little detail on the table (unless you have a really big screen TV), the game doesn't suffer because if it. The bottom 25% of the screen contains the dot-graphics screen, which is easily readable and adds to the enjoyment of the game (dot-digitalized clips from the movies are shown throughout, when appropriate). The upper 75% of the screen shows the table, which scrolls as necessary.

The sounds are pretty good. The standard pinball-type sounds are there, along with audio clips from the movie featuring Mike Myers and Robert Wagner (I didn't hear Mr. Wagner yet, so I have to take the packaging's word for it).

The music played on the menus is very mellow, and somewhat appropriate ... it's nothing to hurt your ears, that's for sure.

THE FLAWS

The game does have a few flaws, which is why I rate it 8 out of 10 instead of a perfect 10.

(1) It doesn't auto-load & auto-save high scores to/from memory card. You have to do it manually every time you play the game, which is really annoying.

(2) It is not vibration function compatible, like Pro Pinball: Big Race USA is. If you've ever played Big Race with a Dual Shock controller, you'd know that vibration adds even more realism to a pinball game. It makes it feel like you have your hands on a real table.

(3) Austin Powers' familiar theme music is notably absent. Although the music in the menus are fine, that would have been better.

(4) Nudging seems to have no effect - though if you nudge too much, the game "tilts" on you. (In Big Race I actually saw the table move when I nudged, so it's possible that even though I don't see the table move in this game, the nudging could actually be working. So this might not be a flaw.)

REPLAYABILITY

It has as much replayability as the game of pinball does. Meaning, you won't play it everyday (unless your a pinball fanatic), but every now and then you'll get the urge and you'll pop it in and play it for a while. Perhaps you can even beat your own high score!

TO BUY OR RENT?

The game retails for about ten bucks. Considering that it's a near perfect pinball game, you'd be stupid NOT to buy it ... unless you hate pinball or Austin Powers.

Besides the Playstation 2, this game was also released on the Playstation, the PC, the GameCube, the Gameboy Color, the Dreamcast, and finally the Nintendo 64. I would suspect that the review I'm about to write would apply to all versions of this game, or most of them at least.

STORY

Simply put ... Daisy has been kidnapped by the evil Merlock and it's up to Donald Duck to rescue her.

GAMEPLAY

The game is essentially a corridor platformer ala Scooby-Doo & The Cyber Chase for the Playstation (or the Crash Bandicoot games, from what I've heard). There are a few areas (or worlds, or whatever you want to call them), each with a few stages. The first one or two stages heads away from the camera. The third is essentially a side-view, like a standard 2-D platformer. The fourth goes towards the camera with a giant hand chasing you (if it catches up to you and touches you, you're dead). The fifth is the boss stage.

I have no problems with corridor platformers, or platformers of ANY kind. However, this one just sucks! I can't keep track of the number of times I've died because what I thought was solid land was a cliff I couldn't see. To make matters worse, you're given a two hit kill (as opposed to the standard 3 hit kill of most platformers). The first hit makes you "Angry Donald" the second hit kills you. The little Donald face in the corner that shows his "mood" doesn't help to let you know how close he is to dying. Why couldn't they have had a simple two "piece" display that goes down a piece when he's hit? (I hope you can understand what I'm trying to explain.) Of course, checkpoints are far and few between, which makes dying and restarting even MORE annoying! Plus, you have a timer to content with. If you don't reach the end before the time counts zero, it's the end of you. Timers on a platform game are murder since they discourage patience and exploration - two keys to enjoying a platformer. You can forget about finding any of the secrets with a timer around.


As if all that wasn't enough to make the game bad, listen to what you have to do to pull off a special move:

1. Grab 5 gears in less than 1 second to get a letter of the world SPECIAL. Do this 7 times to get the entire word and earn a special move.

2. To perform the special move you bounce off 3 enemies in a row without touching the ground. Each bounce will light up a light bulb on the display.

3. When all 3 bulbs are lit (after the third consecutive bounce), you have to quickly (before touching the ground) press either R1 or Triangle.

4. Donald will then freeze in mid-air, at which time you have 3 seconds to enter the 5 button combo for the special move you want to do.

Of course, "Angry Donald" can't perform a special move. You must be "Happy Donald" (Normal) or "Hyper Donald" (one step above Happy, but still with a 2 hit kill) in order to do them. And since all the odds are stacked against you already, it should be no surprise that special moves can't be done in a boss level.

And the benefit of performing a special move? Donald will be invincible for a short period of time and gears will value more during this period. BIG FREAKIN' WHOOP! If I'm gonna do all that for a stinkin' special move, I want it to kill all the enemies on the board and give me easy sailing to the end.

AUDIO & VIDEO

This is the only area in which the game is good. The visuals look pretty good, though the characters look a bit strange during the 3-D cutscenes. They could have made a bit better transformation from the 2-D cartoon to the 3-D game world.

The sounds are even better as all of the original current voices are present: Tony Anselmo as Donald, Tress MacNeille as Daisy, June Foray as Magica De Spell, etc.

REPLAYABILITY

The game doesn't even have playability, so forget about RE-playability! I quit playing in the middle of the second world/area ... and I only made it that far thanks to a CodeBreaker code for infinite time.

TO BUY OR RENT?

Avoid at all costs!