VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

'SUPER MARIO STRIKERS'
Platform: GameCube
Genre: Sports
Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: E, for Everyone
Grade: ss 1/2 (out of 5)
If 2005 will be remembered for anything, it can be said that it was the year Nintendo took Mario and all his buddies into the sports world at full tilt. As the year closes, the gang takes to the pitch in "Super Mario Strikers," a soccer game that tries too hard to be something it's not, and sometimes disappoints in trying to live up to what it should be.
Of course, no sports game with Mario and his crew involved is going to be "normal." In classic Mario form, there are power-ups and ridiculous animations that define these games. The games are four-on-four matches, with team captains being supercharged with the ability to blast powerful shots on goal and shift the momentum in a single boot of the ball.
From beginning to end it comes across that Nintendo was trying to take a page from SEGA's nearly flawless "SEGA Soccer Slam," a game that could have been raking in money had SEGA stuck with it. "Super Mario Strikers" never gets to the level of "Soccer Slam," and instead comes across like a half-done clone.
Graphically, the game doesn't do enough to scream "Mario" in that the character models look great, but beyond that everything feels too easy. You come to expect Mario games to come loaded with bizarre stadium designs and comical pitfalls to shake up a match, and this rarely, if ever, happens here.
"Super Mario Strikers" is fun, and certainly worth renting or owning if you want it badly enough, it's just not to the level of excellence accomplished in the tennis and golf outings from the last 12 months.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG'
Platforms: GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2
Genre: Action
Publisher: SEGA
ESRB Rating: E, for Everyone
Grade: ss 1/2 (out of 5)
Now and then companies do fans a favor by letting the bad guy take center stage and have a game built solely around that character, with a mission bent on hellfire and destruction. From the "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe comes Shadow, who has been the foil in several previous "Sonic" games and now gets to helm his own saga.
The plot is rather elementary -- Shadow has amnesia and to discover his past he must search for special emeralds and either side with or against evil aliens that have started attacking. Luckily, the game allows you to choose how to proceed, either as a force of evil or to defeat the aliens and be the good guy.
Commercials have been showing splendid images of Shadow laying waste with weapons to the environments, and while that is possible, one should note that there is no rhyme or reason to it at all. With hardly any aiming mechanism in place, you can, and will, shred your friends as quickly as your enemies, and often leave things more confusing than helpful.
Graphically, the game is wonderful. If only the gameplay were vastly better, Shadow would have a future franchise all to himself. This may not be the case, however, as a buggy control scheme and a finicky camera thwart all hope of this being a successful game. Rent if you choose, but be ready for a rough go.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard
'EYETOY: OPERATION SPY'
Platform: PlayStation 2
Genre: Action
Publisher: SCEA
ESRB Rating: E, for Everyone
Grade: s 1/2 (out of 5)
As videogames further stretch the limits of interactivity, no one has gone as far to capture it like Sony has with its innovative "EyeToy."
The sad reality to "Operation Spy" is its lack of depth. Without much of a story mode and complicated by missions that don't seem to go anywhere, gamers are more than likely to feel left expecting more, and never seeing it.
The security feature is quite fascinating, giving you the ability to password-protect your software using face recognition. Once you experience this, you want it to be part of almost any other game, so that annoying siblings or sneaky friends cannot ruin the progress of your games.
"Operation Spy" is really just a collection of fun minigames, except that there are not enough of them. And once you've solved the core ones, they are much easier to defeat the following times around. The graphics are one of the major saving graces, as they are top-notch. There is much potential with "EyeToy" as it continues to take interactive gaming to new levels.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard