Games: Jak and Daxter - The Precursor era<br></br>Silent Hill 2<br></br>Wario Land 4<br></br>Max Payne
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PlayStation 2
*****
From naughty dog, the developers of the madcap Crash Bandicoot, comes this flabbergastingly good-looking 3D adventure for the PS2. You take the role of Jak, the spiky-eared, manga-style character that you use to roam freely throughout the land zapping enemies, collecting eggs, herding sheep – you know the platform schtick – to be rewarded with the hugely desirable power-cell. Collect enough cells and you'll be rewarded with new areas to explore.
From the beach sunsets and waterfall spray to the character's rap-style victory dances, everything is gloriously rendered. The gameplay, as you would expect from a platform adventure, can at times feel rather slight – this is a collector-fest, not a puzzle-solver – and provided that you can stuff the bullies, hone your precision jumping and scoop up enough of the proliferation of goodies that are scattered about, it's not going to be too difficult to progress. But things do start to become more exciting, the more you explore the impressively vast environment.
If you like the platform sort of thing, you'll love this – it's certainly the best of its kind ever seen on the PS2. And even if you don't, it looks so good it might be the one game that convinces you to ditch all other consoles and commit solely to this one. It would seem the PS2 is coming of age. (SCEE, £40)
Silent Hill 2
PlayStation 2
*****
Brain dead from a festive season stuffed with pixellated Anne Robinsons, Chris Tarrants and other turkeys? Refresh your grey cells with a blast of chilling air from this horrible sequel to Konami's eerie puzzler for the PS1. Just don't play it with the lights out. The game is unsettling from the very start when you find yourself alone in the fog clutching a letter from your dead wife with only startling moans and groans emanating from the bowels of the fog to keep you company.
It's up to you to solve the mystery of her letter – this entails solving some fiendish puzzles, which will have the more impatient gamer racing for the walk-through. You've also got to dispatch the undead characters as they cross your path. This is the easy part though, because the snot-belching zombies fail to terrify once they've materialised. But as with all successful spine-tinglers, it's the thought of the horrors still out there that'll have you reaching for the off button. This game is frighteningly good. (Konami, £40)
Wario Land 4
Game Boy Advance
****
Wario has returned for yet another instalment in his series of epic adventures. No 4, his GBA début, has Mario's arch-rival plundering pyramids in familiar 2D style but, unlike in his previous incarnations, this time he's mortal. The ghosts, ghoulies and mummies at large in the 20-or-so levels of this sharply rendered game can all kill him, which, of course, necessitates a modicum of caution but also adds to the game's longevity. This isn't your usual easy-as-pie platform fare, it's actually thumb-blisteringly difficult. Yes, there are the usual collectibles in each level and the odd tricky move to make, but the main thrust of each level is puzzle solving. Make one false move, bust one wrong wall or pick up the wrong jewel and you will ruin your chances of finishing a level with all the elements necessary to move on to pilfer the next sarcophagus – and back to square one you go. It's an infuriating and hugely addictive teaser. (Nintendo, £35)
Max Payne
PlayStation 2
***
Prepare yourself, if you can bare it, for yet another gritty first-person shoot-em-up. Poor old Max Payne returned home three years ago to find his wife and child killed by junkies, if that wasn't bad enough, he was then framed for a crime he didn't commit. "That was the day the pain started" – for all of us. The script is so packed with an agonising embarrassment of tired Chandler-esque clichés that it is impossible to tell whether the writers had a healthy sense of the ironic or were just trying too hard to be hard-boiled.
However, in a bid to differentiate this average action game from the teeming hoards of others on the shelves, the developers have added a Matrix-style "slow bullet" effect. You can slow time to dodge any bullets approaching in your direction. Trouble is, the graphics aren't quite good enough for you to see the bullets that you're attempting to dodge. Still, three stars for effort, I suppose. (£40)
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