If you call yourself a gamer, you are no stranger to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Series, and you can identify that each title wearing that label has delivered outstanding gameplay with lasting appeal. The point where Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x is at variance from the previous games Activision and Neversoft have pumped out, is that it’s a compilation of our favourite levels in THPS1 and 2, with a few exclusive levels prepared for the Xbox. So you already have Tony 1 and 2, and you are wondering, why the heck should I buy this? Think of it this way; imagine all the levels that have indulged you with countless hours of entertainment, brought to life with the Xbox Consoles graphical power. Ok, so I was a doubting Thomas too before I chugged this thing into my Xbox, but one confrontation with my favourite level from Tony Hawk 2; School, opened my eyes. The block-grass are now a realistic field of individual blades, the jaggie-packed-character models are now as smooth as butter, with unique facial features resembling their true life bodies. The sound in the game was pretty much the same kickin’ mix from Tony Hawk 2, but this time around, with the Xbox, you are able to upload your own tracks to play during the game, props to Treyarch for adding this feature. Gameplay The gameplay, as in all of its predecessors, is still Rock Solid. There are seamlessly non-ending possibilities to the amount of tricks, you can pull off in this game. You quickly get used to the button format on the Xbox Controller, and in no time, with ease, you will be pulling off Nose Manual + Boneless + mute + 50-50 + BS Feeble x 4 style tricks. The lasting appeal this game boasts is incredible. We played this game for 6 hours straight the night we got it, and have trick attack matches almost every day! One of the features carried from Tony Hawk 2 is the park editor. Untouched, you can still create large skating environments with different items to choose from. The exclusive levels could have been larger, I was expecting more then what Treyarch gave us. The disco level made up for this disappointment though, with the amazing lighting effects, just can’t get enough of it. The multi-player aspect of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x is unharmed in the compilation. You can play up to 4 people on your Xbox at one time, with the option of system link to play up to 16 people (or online play if you go through Gamespy Arcade). There are 5 modes of multiplayer. Our favourite being Trick Attack; competing against your friends to see who can grab the highest score. Other modes include Graffiti, Horse, Tag and Free Skate. Graphics Definitely the category where Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x shines. Treyarch has successfully taken two games, which boasted incredible graphics in their own time, and transformed it into the very best looking Tony Hawk game yet with the Xbox Console’s graphical power. Whether you are flying up doing a perfect Indy x 5, or crashing down spraying blood left right and center, the game boasts flawless graphics to give you a sense of realism and enjoyment. Using the same basic skaters, THPS2x enhances the character model’s facial features, clothes and body to a degree comparable, if not better, then the ones found in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. You have the FunXbox guarantee that you will look at both of this game’s ancestors as inferior after getting your grubby paws on THPS2x. Sound The sound in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x is the same groovin’ mix found on the original 2, however, with the Xbox, you can upload tracks from your cds, and play them during the game. The environmental sound effects provided an extra sense of realism, however at some points, it could have done without, like having a gravel sound when riding over grass. All in all, a worthy compilation of the games that revolutionized the skateboarding genre. It had great potential, but we personally feel it lost some points in not living up to it’s end of the bargain for ‘exclusive xbox levels’ by giving levels with little or nothing new. However, this game is without a doubt, the best looking Tony Hawk game yet, it will be interesting to see what Neversoft can pump out with the THPS 3 and 4 games for the Xbox. --Matt Durrant

Well, it's been an exciting year for Tom Clancy fans. 2002 brought us some fine games for the Xbox like the FXB's Game of the Year, Splinter Cell, and the ever popular online masterpiece, Ghost Recon. This taste of the Tom Clancy gaming collection has left many gamers craving more. Both Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon turned out to be huge successes, and now, belive it or not, the games continue to pile up in delvelopment for our beloved console. One of these games is Rainbow Six III: Raven Shield. Features: -15 all new action packed single player missions -6 dedicated multiplayer maps -Uses Unreal2 engine for unequaled visual effects -57 weapons with real-world accessories for endless customization - New multiplayer modes -Real-world tactics and methods from SWAT team instructors -Bears the Tom Clancy namesake and promises to bring the realism with it -Classic Rainbow 6 franchise In Raven Shield, as in previous installations of the Rainbow Six series, you command the elite, UN counter-terrorism unit, code-named "Rainbow." Team Rainbow is a highly trained group of special-ops soldiers who are trained to handle the most covert of missions with the utmost of precision and stealth. This team of specially trained men are sent in to prevent disaster and to protect the freedom of the United States and its allies. Raven Shield (RS) takes place over the course of 15 action packed missions, spanning the entire globe from London to Rio de Janeiro. While little has been leaked about RS's plot,we can rest assured that missions will mainly consist of counter-insurgence operations with mission-critical objectives. Objectives will probably be similar to those found in titles of this genre, like basic search-and-rescue and seek-and-destroy missions. The gameplay will revolve around you taking care to see that no squad members are killed and no mission objectives are failed. Another sure thing is that RS will be in the first person perspective. Since the game is to be set in the very near future, the weapons will mainly be comprised of by real-life weaponry, with some current prototypes and in-development weapons thrown in for good measure. Unlike most Tom Clancy first-person-shooters, in RS gamers will be able to view their firearm on-screen, rather than just having the aiming reticle most Ghost Recon gamers are familiar with. Many gamers that have grown accustomed to the other Tom Clancy masterpiece on XBOX Ghost Recon may be expecting RS to be a knockoff. However, be assured that this is not the case. The games are and will be alike in many ways, since Tom Clancy games don't usually vary in terms of genre but the game will be dramatically different from Ghost Recon in many ways, such as the variety of locales in the game, the viewpoint, and the overall variety of missions. The entire idea will be a unique experience for Ghost Recon players, while maintaining the classic appeal that the Rainbow Six series brought to the FPS experience. As many of you may or may not know, there have been many Rainbow Six (R6) installations prior to RS, on a number of different platforms. Rainbow Six soon proved to be a leader in the covert-ops' FPS genre, and thus the Tom Clancy name began to stand for realism and innovation, and this can be seen in previous installments of R6. The developers of Tom Clancy games realized that the genre and the name were in high demand and thus the games became more than just based on Tom Clancy's bestselling books; they became the physical embodiment of all of the intrigue and intricacies that many of Clancy's books would demand of this sort of presentation. Overall, the gameplay in RS will be based around stealth, accuracy, planning, and the implementation of these three elements towards the successful completion of the multitude of missions. We can also be sure that RS experience, like that of all of its R6-predecessors, will be built from the ground up to be as realistic as possible while retaining the action of firefights and the spine-tingling excitement of covert-ops. For example, team members who die will be lost forever, and, usually, one shot will kill the enemy; and you as well. To ensure that the realism of counter-terrorist operations is "ported" over to consoles, the design of RS is being overseen and supervised by actual SWAT team members and military special tactics officers; a measure that was never taken in the development of previous installments. With this attention to detail, we can rest assured that RS will bring a challenging and rewarding FPS experience into our living rooms. The in-game graphics are not, at this stage in the development, very far along, as seen in the video preview that was included with the Ghost Recon disk. The graphics will be significantly overhauled to look their best on the XBOX version of RS. The most noticable change from previous R6 incarnations will be RS's use of high resolution textures, as can be seen in the latest videos and screenshots of the game. The game is intended to surpass the other Clancy first-person-shooters in the graphics department. Don't expect Splinter Cell-style graphics, but expect to see some clean, crisp improvements from earlier screens. The game will be online for the PC and there is already an online demo available for download at www.raven-shield.com but the Live compatibility status is still TBA. The game would be wonderful online with Live but no one can promise anything but the developers and, unfortunately, they are keeping a very tight lid on information about RS. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed. For more information visit the official Raven Shield site as noted above. Although RS is quite far away from XBOX release right now, it promises to bring the Clancy-style gameplay that we have all come to know and love. If Ghost Recon is any indication, RS should be a success on the XBOX and should satisfy our undying thirst for reaistic gameplay; until, that is, the next jaw-dropping Tom Clancy achievment sweeps us off our feet. Evan J. Vickers - Funxbox Staff


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