
<MAP NAME="boxmap-p6"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="1, 140, 83, 150" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x150.gif" width="120" height="150" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p6" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Action Publisher Eidos Developer Yukes ESRB T (Teen) Released Q1 2002

- Okay music - Okay story

- Bad everything else

Review: The Bouncer (Playstation 2) Review: Shinobi (Playstation 2)
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E.O.E. (Eve of Extinction)

Score: 5.0 / 10

It is rare to see in this “next generation” of gaming the alienation of a genre. Often what occurs is, after innovations in hardware come innovations in game design to utilize the increased power of the hardware. Most of the subsequent updates in game design have been welcome; Street Fighter to Soul Caliber, Final Fantasy IX to Final Fantasy X and so on. However beat em' ups have suffered a different fate. Consider; Streets of Rage to ONI or more poignantly and to the point Final Fight to Eve of Extinction (EOE). Again the attempted advancement in game design has failed to equal the new technology and we are left with a dud on our hands in EOE (though it could have been awesome in a scaling side scrolling iteration).

Yukes' the developers of Sword of the Berserk: Guts’ Rage have again placed combat at center stage with EOE. Though the story has some compelling themes, like souls being sucked out of humans and placed within weapons, they are merely in place to bring cohesion to the endless battles you face.

You control Josh Calloway an employee for Wisdom corp., who, after kidnapping Josh’s girlfriend and putting her soul into an oversized blade, has made retribution the order of the day. Josh begins his mission with his fists and a sword that can become a Bo if the situation demands it. Each weapon Josh obtains operates on a level up system, all of which leave much to be desired. I want R-Type type level ups not wimpy Gradius ones! Anyway, most of the weapons are multi functional, for instance, the Bo allows for a heightened jump if used properly. Each weapon also has a super-duper “Legacy Attack”, each one distinct from the other. Most are simply supped up attacks though a few allow for time stoppage or invincibility and such. Though the Legacy attacks are nifty to look at and can be effective, they are difficult to control and so they are never used.

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The thing that I have always hated about these next-gen 3D fight fests is that they never have any realistic atmosphere. All the enemies are carbon copies of each other (in this instance they are carbon copies of Agent Smith (who can now supposedly carbon copy himself!)). The environments are contrived, sterilized and boring. In this case the game begins in what attempts to be Times Square, though I can imagine the development team slept in their hotel rooms or spent their

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location research time seeking out the hottest karaoke joints instead of mapping 42^nd and B’Way. In any case all the levels seem like wastelands, there’s no life to them, no feel. It is times like these when I love Shenmue the most.

Nothing really stands out in EOE, I had to force myself to finish it; nothing compelled me to do so. I wouldn’t play it if I were you.

- Tolkiemingway

(July 25, 2002)