VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

Sunday, August 20, 2006 MIAMI VICE: THE GAME' (Vivendi Games) for PSP. Genre: Shooter; Rating: M. Grade: C+ Michael Mann's movie adaptation of "Miami Vice" (a TV series he helped create) was a fresh look at the Crockett-and-Tubbs cop duo and, of course, had all the trademark "Mann" looks all over it. Although he had nothing to do with "Miami Vice: The Game," it impresses in its ability to bring the stylized drama and action to the PSP. You can play as either Crockett or Tubbs, and though the characters look like the movie's stars, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, the actors didn't do any of the vocal work in the game. That's sad, but it actually doesn't hurt the game as much as such omissions have hindered other games. Most of the game has you moving between stints selling and buying drugs, and alternately picking up weapons and taking down drug cartels. The few struggles the game has involve the game play itself. In particular, the AI is not exactly bright, and so clearing out rooms of drug dealers and their henchmen is not as stressful and intense as it could be. Another problem is that, once again, we have a game made for the PSP that does not exactly lend itself to short-term playing. There could have been more missions, even if each were a little shorter, and the pacing could have been broken up to accommodate those on the go, which is still the entire purpose of handheld gaming. There are some nice mini-games interspersed throughout, and those (like the boat-chase game) inject fresh blood into the game so it doesn't all become about shootouts in rooms packed like sardine cans. PSP owners will regret the brevity of the game, because it looks and feels just like a Michael Mann movie should, but that should not stop you from buying it or at least renting it. —Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard 'BARNYARD' (THQ) For GameCube, PlayStation 2, PC, GBA. Genre: Adventure; Rating: E. Grade: C+ Otis the cow and all his farm friends are at your disposal in "Barnyard," which does a fantastic job of re-creating the antics and fun of the film. THQ has almost seamlessly taken brief snapshots from the film and blown them out into mini-games for you to enjoy, and this is done quite well. What really makes "Barnyard" stand out among movie-to-game ports is its surprisingly open-ended game play, giving you a fair amount of freedom to explore the farm and discover missions in any order you please. Most of the game is presented as a series of mini-games, which is a novel concept for a title such as this, where there is a bizarro-world blend of "WarioWare" and "Grand Theft Auto," sans GTA's M-rated violence and WarioWare's never-ending music. Younger gamers will certainly enjoy this title, since it takes the linear style most of these ports settle for and instead gives them the ability to play with/against the great characters from the film and create their own fun on the farm. —Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard 'THE ANT BULLY' (Midway) For PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC, GBA. Genre: Platformer; Rating: E. Grade: D There's nothing like recycling an old story, and the whole shrink-a-person-to-learn-life-lessons-through-the-eyes-of-insects plot is never going away. In "The Ant Bully" game, the action tries to fill in some of the holes in the movie's plot. The game is a well-rounded platformer, in the sense that you'll encounter just about every trick of the trade that a platformer can provide, from climbing walls to jumping around feverishly on flowers and so forth. The fighting system is not always spot-on, and only adds frustration when trying to clear an area of enemy spiders or wasps. The rest of the in-game visuals are not that strong at all, and that's a shame considering we're about to enter full-scale, next-gen gaming. In today's animated films, audiences are beaten down with morality tales, and the game of "The Ant Bully" really hits you hard with the everyone-and-everything-is-equal tome with its barrage of scenes. But it needs to be noted that while that may be true in the movies, in gaming not everyone is equal, and "The Ant Bully" lags behind its contemporaries. —Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard