Though it wasn't the best zombie in the horde, 2004's Resident Evil Outbreak brought an interesting idea to the table: What if you took the same classic gameplay that powered the highly popular PSOne horror series and brought it to the online world? Based on the market reaction it was obviously a question that longtime fans were more than willing to answer, but also one with a conclusion that wasn't as favorable as hoped. Sure the game was cool and unique and beautiful, but it also had some issues... because despite its great atmosphere and appealing mechanical additions, its online aspects and sense of progression were terribly under realized. As an ongoing fan of the series, I really liked it at first (but only for so long); once other horror games like Silent Hill 4 and Obscure were released in the months following, Outbreak's flaws became glaringly more apparent. And that's what makes Capcom's latest follow-up Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 all the more disappointing --the designers just didn't seem to understand what was needed for the sequel. To be more specific, File #2 still suffers from the exact same problems that plagued 2004's effort, which makes it a lot harder to forgive a full year later. The analog-powered variation of an old-school configuration used since the series' inception is really starting to wear thin, especially after playing Capcom's near-flawless GameCube sequel, Resident Evil 4. The sluggish and unresponsive locomotion and camera-crippled directional control just isn't acceptable anymore; and to be truthful, it marks a bit of a milestone for me because while most of my co-workers lost their tolerance for this kind of setup almost a generation ago, it took me this long to join them. Of course, the biggest issue with Outbreak is that it still doesn't understand the importance of communication in an online environment. Just about every critic in existence had something negative to say about the first game's level of person-to-person contact, and other than a few small fixes here and there (there's an apology command now) the sequel remains relatively unchanged. File #2 still uses the right analog stick to issue a handful of basic commands to the characters around you, but outside the AI, it serves very little purpose when playing with other people. In-game keyboard support (or better yet, voice chat) would have made a lot more sense for figuring out what to do with one another. That communication problem is what ultimately creates the biggest hitch with Outbreak File #2 when playing online: it's inconsistency. You'll either find yourself pairing up with a pack of newbies that run around with no idea how progress (or worse, pressing the same command button a million times), or run into the veteran player that knows where to go and how to do it, thereby leaving your ass alone to fend for yourself. Needless to say, for a game that's built around the idea of being a multiplayer experience, it's a whole lot more enjoyable as a single player adventure. To its credit, If you can get past the poor online approach the game does add a number of new features to the existing Outbreak model that make it a much more complete experience than before. The incredibly long load times of last year's game, for example, have been dramatically improved (averaging 4-6 seconds between transitions instead of the ludicrous 12-17 second waits of the original). Hard drive support has made a comeback too, and its effect on the load times is even more dramatic than previously seen (it's close to instantaneous). The one thing that the Resident Evil series has always done best, and continues to do, is look good -- and Outbreak's sequel is no exception. All told, the animations are still a little stiff in comparison to several of today's other high-profile action/adventure games, but the quality of the character models, excellent lighting effects, and clever use of shadow and camera angles is still just as spooky now as it has ever been. Each of the eight different characters have seen upgrades that make them more diverse and effective too, with guys like George benefiting from a gun that'll fire healing units into allies, and Jim's brand new combo swing that gives him the ability to do more damage with pipes and bats. Other interesting includes, such as Cindy's blood-stopping bandage and Alyssa's high-voltage stun gun, help to round out a more versatile cast of players, while more general abilities like "Action Aiming" (walking while in attack mode) and "Ground Grab" (items on the floor can now be obtained as you crawl) turn out to be pretty useful as well. Outbreak's environments this time around are more interesting too. The first (and coolest) stage of the bunch is definitely the City zoo that puts you face to face with infected zombie animals including the rotting remains of one pissed-off undead elephant. Other areas, like the underground subway station or the dilapidated police depar

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful: Disappointing, May 5, 2007 By N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews Fun: Don't ask me why, but I kind of had high hopes for the Spider-Man 3 video game. Considering how much I loved the surprisingly great Spider-Man 2 game, I figured that Spider-Man 3 would just expand on what the previous title explored with it's immersive environments. Sadly, what we get with Spider-Man 3 is more of the same, only this time around it just comes off as boring and is only fun in small spurts. Once again you play as the wall crawler as you swing through a huge rendering of New York City, which once again is designed wonderfully and just aches to be explored. Sadly though, for such a huge city, not much seems to be going on, and the repetitive missions and choices placed throughout the game are just more grating than anything else. For a late in life PS2 game, Spider-Man 3 looks pretty good, and the controls are pretty responsive as well, and there's still fun to be had in swinging around the city, though depending on how often you've played previous Spider-Man games, that fun's lasting effect will vary. Not to mention that the game's hook: playing in the black Venom costume, never really goes anywhere either. Tobey Maguire once again lends his voice as Spidey, while other cast members from the film like James Franco, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, and J.K. Simmons are all here as well along with a returning Bruce Campbell as the game's guide/narrator. All in all, Spider-Man 3 is worth a look, but much like the film itself, this game will leave you a bit disappointed because there was a boatload of potential here to make something really memorable. Comment | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Average... Just average..., May 13, 2007 By T. Zinkle "volmama" (east TN) - See all my reviews Fun: I bet you were wondering when there would be a perfect super-hero game. If you were thinking it was now you were gravely mistaken. About three or so months before the release of the game, I was reading all of the hype and saying this is totally going to whoop the Superman Returns game. When the movie came out, I saw it on the first weekend. It was cool. I was hoping the PS2 version would be just as cool. When I finally bought the game, I found out they put most of their work into the next generation consoles. Let me start with the good things. In the previous game, you could go around a huge open-world New York City. You can do the same here. In the game there are different groups of gangs which rule different parts of the city. You can try to make the crime rate drop, or you can decide to do story mode missions. Later in the game, you acquire the symbiote which is really awesome. You are like ten times powerful in that. After a while though you have to take it off before it kills you. Comic book fans will be pleased to see New Goblin, Sandman and Venom, along with Carlyle, Lizard, Kraven, Morbius, and Shriek. Also, Bruce Campbell's voice is a nice touch. Now the bad things. The graphics are horrible!! They are really just plain horrid. I think they are even ten times worse than Spiderman 2 (or the first Spiderman game for that matter)! And recently, I just discovered that Kingpin, Rhino, and Scorpion are only in the next-generation games. AARRRRRRRGHH!!!!! Also, you can't go into buildings like you could the last time. Basically, if you ask me, they never really improved with this game. If anything they made it worse. Personally though, I like it. But I still wish it could be better. Overall, it's just average... Comment | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Dumbed down version of Spidy 2, May 15, 2007 By J. Pfeiffer "Graves100Bllts" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews Fun: After playing Spiderman 2, several times, and having a blast every time (Sometimes I just like to swing around the city, exploring but not actually doing anything), I eagerly awaited Spidy 3. What a let down. There is still a full city to swing around, but the graphics are some of the worst I have seen since PS1. They not only lack detail, but are often shakey, like the system's processor is being overloaded. The stats are largely removed, and you can no longer check fun things like how fast you have swung, or how far you have fallen. The missions are a bit repetitive, but that was a flaw with Spidy 2, so I can't complain about that. My biggest disappointment was the control of Spidy. the number of moves he can do is extremely limited. There are very few fighting combos to chose from. and his web abilities are almost non-existent. Forget about ever shooting more than one web, even when swinging (No more slingshotting yourself from between two buildings). My favorite move, the