Whether it's racing, shooting or are-pee-gee'ing, there's a ton of games to play this month, and the TNL staff is prepared to tackle just about any title given to us. Well, maybe. It seems that the deluge has hit us hard, and we're currently up to our necks in titles, we're sure you're the same way. You know the old saying, right? "So many games, so little time." It's as if they want us to go and declare bankruptcy or something. Luckily, we haven't gone that far just yet, but who knows...

As you may have noticed, several of the games for our Gaming Report this week contain links. Simply click on any of them to find the corresponding review on our site. It's fast, easy and we don't send you a service charge fee for using it. Make the most of it!

· · · TNL Staff

Reno

I haven't been playing many titles other than Project Gotham Racing 2 these days, so I don't have much to write this time around, unfortunately. Having played the game for a solid two weeks, I feel that it's one of the more surprising titles this year, not because it's good, but because of how polished the game is. You can walk around in your garage or in the showroom, you can play Geometry Wars or with the radio. Hell, just by looking at the streets of Stockholm or Florence you'll see the beautifully bump-mapped roads that just make this game look even sweeter every time you play it.

Other than PGR2, I've been playing a bit of Beyond Good & Evil, Prince of Persia and of course, Soul Calibur 2. I also took the time to go through Final Fantasy X-2 a little bit, just to purchase some of the movies so I could watch them later. Speaking of Square's latest RPG, Mark Ryan showed me this article on IGN! My Final Fantasy X-2 guide got the nod for the best PS2 Guide of the Year on the site! Yeah, I know it's not that much, but it's good to be acknowledged for your efforts once in a while. Now, if only they'll raise my pay....

James

Gaming, gaming everywhere and nary a second to play. Welcome to the Christmas season, when gaming time is as rare as an obedient cat. Most of my game time lately has been spent in pick up and play gaming, a few minutes here and there squished between one day's running around and the next. Then again, leafing through my last few Gaming Report submissions seems to show a continuing trend, so maybe it's just me and my lousy time management skills.

Playing now: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Disgaea, finishing up Star Soldier, anticipating Christmas when Beyond Good and Evil (Gamecube) arrives, working on my Geometry Wars high score, and hungrily eyeing Shikigami no Shiro 2 on Gamecube. I'm also planning on finally breaking down and buying an Xbox after the holidays are over, because the amount of games I have for it (long storymade short- I had a roommate who owned one) or want for it has finally reached critical mass.

For those who've no idea what Geometry Wars is, let me explain. In Project Gotham Racing 2, in the garage, there's an arcade machine. You can walk over to it and click on it, and up pops the classically styled arcade mini-game Geometry Wars. It's a combination of Robotron and Tempest, with Robotron's free roaming, free firing setup and Tempest's vector graphics and iconic enemy design, and it's a total blast. It's only got a small handful of enemies, 4-6 depending on how you count, but it's amazingly well designed and I'd happily have spent many a quarter on it back in the day had it existed. As it is it's like somebody tapped into a hungry part of my gaming brain that I didn't realize was there, tossing it the equivalent of a side of fries. Not all that big, leaves you wanting more, but really really tasty and satisfying. To whoever is responsible for this at Bizarre Creations, if you add a few more enemy types and publish this as a full game I will give you money, and persuade others to do the same.

Of course, the real problem with Geometry Wars is that I don't own either the system it's on or the game it's hidden in, so I'm spending 20+ minutes at a shot playing it on a demo machine with PGR2 in it. Before you tell me that's kind of pathetic, I know already, thanks. Still, nobody has yet beaten my 134,000 score, so I'm doing something right.

Mark Ryan

So uhhh, I don't have any money these days, meaning that the old gaming budget is extremely tight. Thus, I've been playing the heck out of a game that's three years old, and I'll let you guess what it is. Almost nightly, my roommate and I sit down for an hour so I can deal him a beating with Dhalsim, Storm, and Sentinel. Oops, I think I just gave it away.

Yeah, I'm still playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Seriously, best fighting game ever, though I'm in need of a new arcade stick after the three years of abuse my current one has endured. Every once in a while I'll try and pick up Soul Calibur 2 or Capcom vs. SNK 2, but they're too inferior to enjoy. C'mon Capcom, where's our Marvel vs. DC vs. Capcom?

I did just finish working with Electronic Arts' Need for Speed Underground. After finishing the ho-hum single player, I decided to take it online. After about a half hour of setting everything up, creating an EA online account, and finally actually getting into a game without getting an error message, I raced two guys who were most obviously cheating. Within ten seconds, it was too clear that they had some speed hack--and people wonder why I absolutely hate online gaming.

When I'm on the bus going to school (which just got out for the semester) I've been livin' it up with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It's definitely at the bottom of the GBA Castlevania empire, but still damned good. Though I seriously wonder how anyone could play this on a regular Game Boy Advance--even on my SP, I don't see some enemies until after I've smacked into them. And while the block puzzles slow things down too much, Circle of the Moon is still amazing me. I love Game Boy Advance--best system ever.

Ren

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)

Although exams have been keeping me quite busy lately, I managed to find time to play some FFTA. And let me tell you, 66 hours is a long time to be playing anything. I still like the game, and it's still somewhat fun, but keeping all of my clan turf from getting attacked is very time-consuming.

The laws continue to get on my nerves at this stage of the game. It's so easy to forget one of the laws during battle and end up going to prison, or even worse, getting that lovely Game Over screen. One day I will beat FFTA... when I have the patience.

Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox)

I forgot how fun this game is. I'm typically not a huge fan of the flying or shooting genres, but there's something really entertaining about PDO. Rather than actually focusing on what I'm supposed to do, I usually amuse myself by switching between dragon forms repeatedly. This may explain why I can't beat the first boss. At any rate, I'd encourage any Xbox owner to check PDO out, because flying + shooting + dragons = fun.

Teddman

Christmas NiGHTS - Sega Saturn

Ah, it just doesn't feel like the holidays for a Sega fan without a little Christmas NiGHTS.

Sonic Team's 1996 holiday expansion pack for their Sega Saturn cult classic is often called "the best demo disc ever" and it may well be. The Xmas remix of NiGHTS' Spring Valley course alone is terrific. Rings become wreaths, the Ideya capture chambers become Christmas trees, silver bells float in the air, snowflakes fall, and distinctly NiGHTS-flavored techno versions of "Joy to the World" and "Jingle Bells" play through it all. When you finish each stage, the game even shouts out "Hallelujah!" If that stage was all there were to the demo, it would still be a fantastic bonus for fans.

But the thing I've always loved about Christmas NiGHTS is that it's not only a Christmas game. During the rest of the year, you can play a regular version of Spring Valley that makes use of the Saturn's internal clock to change the scenery according to season. Playing the game on New Year's Day, April Fool's, Valentine's Day, and other special event dates will result in bonuses and new graphical themes. The Xmas mode is selectable year-round, but automatically triggers itself in December (and Santa himself shows up on the big day). Producer Yuji Naka reportedly intended to have date-sensitive weather conditions and bonuses like this for all of the stages in the original game, but just didn't have time to add them in. The purpose of Christmas NiGHTS was two-fold: Sega not only wanted to promote NiGHTS for the 1996 holiday shopping season shortly after its release, but also got to put back some of the finishing touches left out of the game.

Many features that Sonic Team had originally intended to include had to be cut in order to meet its release deadline. Now those extras are available as "Christmas presents" (bonus items you unlock by beating the game's demo stages repeatedly): a sound test and remix menu for the game's memorable music, several NiGHTS museum galleries showcasing development artwork, two promotional videos for the game, a Nightopian menu that analyzes the little critters from your NiGHTS game save, a brand-new link attack stage, a new time attack stage, and the ability to play the Christmas course as Sonic the Hedgehog! That last one alone is worth the price of admission.

What price of admission? Christmas NiGHTS was originally included free with the purchase of several gaming magazines (such as the now-defunct Next-Generation) or could be picked up at Blockbuster Video along with a rental. Nowadays, Sonic Team's 1996 Xmas present has become quite rare and can fetch prices of as much as $60 or more on eBay! But for a devoted NiGHTS fan, it's priceless--after all, Christmas NiGHTS could unfortunately end up being the only "sequel" this classic game will ever see!