Age of Mythology
International Distributor: Microsoft
Taiwan Distributor: Microsoft Taiwan
Release date: Already available
Versions: English or Chinese (PC)
The long awaited Age of Mythology came onto the market last month to a mixed reception, generating considerable debate among gamers about its innovativeness. Despite quips that this is no more than Age of Kingdoms with enhanced graphics, local gamers have expressed strong support for the game' s "three civilizations" -- each with their own characteristics -- model on which the game is based.
Age of Mythology takes gamers into the world of three ancient civilizations -- Egypt, Greece and Northern Europe -- allowing for the existence of the deities that these civilizations worshipped to play a role in deciding the course of the game. In addition to collecting material resources to build up their strength, gamers must offer sacrifices to these deities to make use of their divine powers.
While there are fewer types of military units than in Age of Kingdoms, there is the significant addition of magical beasts such as hydras and dragons which have an overwhelming advantage when dealing with normal human troops. But humanity has the option of calling on the heroes of mythology to fight these creatures.
In addition, Age of Mythology has 36 individual scenarios so that gamers can assume the roles of characters from the epic poems of ancient mythology.
According to Grace Chou (周文英), Home and Entertainment Division Manager of Microsoft Taiwan, each culture is significantly different from the others and the battles between magical beasts and the ability to call down divine cures (locusts, hurricanes, the fires of hell and so on) also gives the game a degree of unpredictability which enhances the excitement.
"Microsoft's Age of Kingdom series, along with Blizzard's War Craft series, have become the two main real-time strategy (RTS) games on the market. Mythology is built on the structure of Age of Kingdoms, but is faster-paced, visually more exciting and also incorporates elements of role-playing games. It's release is direct competition for War Craft III for the top place on the RTS charts," said Antonio Lu (呂維振), senior editor of the Gamebase Web site.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
International distributor:
Electronic Arts Games
Taiwan Distributor: EA Taiwan
Taiwan Release: Already available
Versions: English (PC, PS2, Xbox)
Car chase games are back with a vengeance with the release of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 in which gamers now have the option of driving 22 types of sports car along famous raceways and even on the open road, dodging pursuit by police cars and helicopters.
The gamer collects prize money from races in order to enter higher-level competitions and purchase better cars. One of the greatest differences when compared to past racing games is the pursuit options, which allow gamers to drive while dodging pursuit by police, choppers dropping oil and nails on the road, road blocks where you least expect them, all the while traveling at 220kph. And if you don't get off on being chased, you have the option of taking on the role of the police to chase the bad guys and bring them to justice.
This is the first game released by Electronic Arts Games for multiple platforms, with the PC and PS2 versions already on the market and selling well, and with the Xbox version scheduled for release early next year.
Unreal Tournament 2003
International distributor: Epic Games
Taiwan distributor: Infogames Taiwan (英寶格)
Taiwan Release: Already available
Versions: English or Chinese (PC)
The long anticipated Unreal Tournament 2003 is finally available on the market with many of the faults that had plagued earlier editions, most notably the coarseness of the graphics, having been remedied. This edition is a strong competitor for Counterstrike (CS) and Quake.
According to John Chiang (蔣鏡明), editor in chief of Netgame biweekly, CS was able to sweep Taiwan because it did not make high demands on a system's hardware and allowed team play, making it wildly popular among Internet cafe habitues. For those who place more emphasis on individual skill, the hardware-intensive Quake3: Arena and Unreal Tournament became the games of choice.
Like Quake, Unreal Tournament 2003 emphasizes individual skill, with one warrior capable of fighting off hoards of attackers. There is very much a heroic dimension to the game, and this makes it difficult for new players to make headway in the game as their characters are repeatedly killed off before they even get started.
"Unreal Tournament 2003 is more popular than CS abroad," Chiang said. "And with CPU and graphic card prices falling rapidly, it is likely that Unreal Tournament 2003 will make headway in Taiwan as well." Unreal Tournament 2003 uses the most spectacular of the 3D graphics engines currently on the market, and in the new edition, the 3D multifaceted drawing function is 10-times superior to that available in the previous edition. In addition, the modular skeleton of the characters allows them an extremely high degree of realism in movement.
There are 50 character types to choose from in Unreal Tournament 2003, including both humanoids and extraterrestrials, which ensures enough variety so that there is little danger of confusion during team combat. Another aspect of the game is making the right selection of character in order to get your way through certain obstacles. Combat tactics have also been altered with the addition of a new function: the ability to absorb the life force of a defeated enemy. This force can be expended on certain tactical movements, giving a big advantage in combat, but each time such a function is used, part of this energy is used up, so knowing when to use this option can be key to victory.
NBA Live 2003
International distributor:
Electronic Arts Sports
Taiwan Distributor: EA Taiwan
Release: Already available
Versions: English (PC, PS2, Xbox)
This year, the NBA has closer ties with Asia than ever, especially with Taiwanese player Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) turning down selection by the national team to train with the Sacramento Kings and rookie Chinese center Yao Ming's (姚明) strong performance in the NBA. These developments have made EA Sports' NBA Live 2003, which covers the 2002-2003 season, even more appealing to Taiwanese gamers.
NBA Live2003 follows pretty much the same model as previous NBA series games, except that the graphics are clearer and more fluid, and the interface simpler, so that players are drawn into even faster-paced NBA action. "In NBA Live2003, 60 images are processed in a single second, and responses are extremely realistic, showing the results of a breakthrough in response logic. After missing a basket, there are over 30 different actions that can be performed by the player," according to Ivan Lin (林昌明), senior editor of the Gamebase Website.
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