PlayStation

I'll start off by saying that graphically, Attitude is top notch. Iguana West has milked its 'skins' technology to its fullest here on the Nintendo 64. With skins, the developer can cover the jagged edges prevalent in all other 3D games with pseudo skins; the result is a smooth and detailed body for the characters that sometimes even fooled me into thinking I was looking at the real thing. It gives the characters in this game a refined look that compares with the graphics on the latest next generation system, the Sega Dreamcast. Yes, the character models are THAT good and one look at the detailed, facial texturing that Iguana West has thrown into the game and you'd have to agree.

They've taken wrestling way too seriously and given Attitude the same 'definitive' treatment that they have for their other, more 'legit' sports games. Ordinarily, the extreme abundance of statistics, options, and features lends itself well to technical games like Baseball and Football but good old rough and tumble Rassling? It's a rare occasion that I will say this, but given the subject matter, Attitude had too much depth.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Mild Language

As successful as Pokémon was, it has always lacked a compelling story or the sophisticated graphics to hold the interest of older players. Genki took notice and when they produced Jade Cocoon, they intended to come through in a big way. Genki abandons Pokémon's large sprawling story line (with a multitude of side stories) for one that could best be described as quaint.

Game Description: Try to save your village from a swarm of giant insects in Jade Cocoon: The Story of Tamamayu. Your goal is simple: you must travel through the forests surrounding your town and capture over 150 different monsters. When you capture a monster, you can either sell it for cash or train it to fight for you. If you want to combine the elements of particular monsters, breed them and create the ultimate weapon. Only you can save your village in Jade Cocoon: The Story of Tamamayu.

In terms of actual gameplay, JC isn't quite the sprawling trek that most RPGs represent. Instead, traveling is minimized through menus and plot devices that enable quick entry to particular areas. There is some exploration, but the main focus still resides on combating and capturing monsters (as Dale already mentioned, unoriginally dubbed Minions).

Game Description: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver tells the story of Raziel, one of the undead lieutenants of the vampire lord Kain. Jealous of Raziel's newly evolved wings, Kain tears them apart and casts his former champion into the netherworld. But a powerful entity that dwells in the netherworld has restored Raziel to a semblance of life and has set him on a path of vengeance. After this tantalizing movie introduction, you take control of Raziel in the spectral realm, where your new existence is explained to you. From there you enter the physical plane, ready to begin your quest for power and revenge. Raziel's combat moves are extremely brutal, as you'd expect from a vampire who has returned from the dead. When he finds a spear, Raziel gleefully stabs and slashes before he impales his foe, lifts it off the ground, and feasts on its soul.

Soul Reaver brushes with perfection but falls short. It's got the visual and aural punch that sets it apart from other games right off the top and Soul Reaver is just an outstanding realization of its creators' imaginations.

Is there life after death? Well, according to fiction and pop-culture, there most certainly is. For as long as we've known, tales of the undead have permeated through our society in the forms of Nosferatu, Dracula, and Tom Cruise.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood, Animated Violence