Between this game and EarthBound, they make every other game irrelevant.  This game is for the SNES which can also be found on the PSone with cutscenes and long loading times. 

It starts out where the main character, Crono, goes to the fair that is celebrated for the new millenium, 1000 A.D.  He runs into a girl named Marle, and then she is sucked into a time portal that takes her back in time to the Middle Ages circa 600 A.D.  Crono follows her with his friend Lucca in order to rescue her. 

They eventually escape to the future where they learn than an alien being named Lavos has destroyed the world.  Along with these eras Crono and company go to some other time periods including the Prehistoric era where a race of dinosaurs plan on destroying the human race (or what they call "apes.")  As well as a period where there was a forgotten magical civilization.  

Besides the already mentioned characters there's a host of several others.  They include a badass medieval frog, a wild cavewoman that can kick some serious ass, a futuristic robot, and even one of the main bad guys joins you.  These characters all have different personalities that really add to the game. 

The battles use the ATB battle system.  It's the kind of battle system that several Final Fantasy games use.  You can also use Tech skills which consume MP.  These are special techniques that every character has, all of them are unique, however.  Within these tech moves there are magic moves.  But the really cool and totally different thing there is with these moves are the Dual and Triple techniques.  This is where multiple characters combine their tech moves do some really powerful and uber attacks. 

The music and sound effects are wonderfully composed, which you would expect from Squaresoft.  Chrono Trigger was ahead of its time when it was released.  The replay value is high especially during the end of the game.  Once you get near the end of the game, several side quests are opened up where you can choose to do them or not.  You can get your ultimate weapons from these side quests. 

Also when you complete the game, there is this feature called New Game+.  This is where you can start a new game, but you do it off of your completed file.  Here, you'll keep all your stats and techniques, and just replay the game.  Throughout the game, you can try to fight Lavos.  Defeating it at a certain point will trigger an alternate ending.  Fighting him in the very beginning of the game will allow you to get the best ending there is.

SplinterCell: Pandora Tommorow     Score: (8.5)

By: Mike Edgerton

 As the secret stealth agent, Sam Fisher returns to save the world again. The game has about 7 or 8 different locations. As Sam, you will visit Indochina and wreak havoc on terrorists. Also, you will have one or two missions in the good ol USA. You will invade embassies and even ride a train to get the mission done. There are many surprises in this game, many I did not see, which is good. The same cast is back from the first SC. The hardass Lambert to Sam’s lesbian assistant (you’ll have to play the game to figure this one out) are here to assist you in freeing the world from certain death.

As for the the graphics, what can i say badly about them? nothing. My only complaint is the cut scenes are kinda overdone. The people look plastic in them and are kinda stiff in the animation department. One of the few games, which the in game models, looks better than the cut scenes. On the plus side, the water animation is the best I have scene in a game and the weather effects are simply amazing. I would have to say the graphics are definitely a step up from the last SC game.

 Controls are on par with the game, easy to use and are similar to the first games setup. The camera angles are sometimes a pain but nothing that hinders the gameplay.

The game is awesome with a pair of headphones. Usually, when I get a game the first thing I do is turn off the background music. However, in this game it’s great, the music fits the levels like a glove. Depending on what type of trouble you’re in, the music is right there making the situation even more tense. As I said above, the sound of thunder and rain sounds great in this game. There was one situation, where I bumped into a drum set and the sound of the cymbal gave my position away. This is what paying attention detail means. Any developer who want to regain the stealth title from this game better do their homework.

 The same two weapons are back from the previous game, rifle and handgun. Sticky shockers, air coils and the likes are back also. Nothing much to talk about here, the targeting issue from the first game seems to be a little better this time.

 One of my major gripes about the game is that the enemy AI has not improved much this time around. The only difference is when detected they upgrade to flack vest and helmets( MGS 2 style). However, when detected they will search for you about once and then call off the search. I guess they assume you got scared and left. The biggest, I know this is nitpicking but it really got on my nerve was the fact that all the enemy looked the same. There are two types of enemy in SCPD, the first, the terrorist with a beard and the one with a mask. I mean come on, where ever I went in the game(location wise) there were the same two terrorists. Also, they all had the same voice. I am in Indochina and two guards (enemy) have a southern California accent. Although, I guess you could argue they were mercenaries. The reason this bothered me so much, in the game you are to link up with a friendly agent. Well, this friendly agent looked exactly like the terrorist with a beard and I kept shooting him by accident.

The missions are great and long. One thing Ubi did improve on, this game is not linear like the first. If you find yourself in a bind, look up, there is usually a different path by use of a pole or beam. Also, the missions increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Be warned, the last two missions require some thinking and patience.

Overall this is an awesome game, the non-linear game play and exotic locations make SCPD a fun and enjoyable game. Unlike the first, this game has plenty of replay value.This is a must buy on any system.

Game Tip: When confronting dogs in the game, hide in room and use your optic scope (and whistle) to draw the dog near the door. Due to glitch, the dogs nose will stick through the door just enough for you to put a bullet in it’s nose and kill it. Because you are hiding behind a door in another room, the guard will not see you and you wont get an alarm.

Need for Speed: Underground    Score (7.35)

By: Mike Edgerton

The Import Tuning scene seems to be getting bigger and bigger and Need For Speed underground maybe the ultimate Tuner game. This is a racing game for all you geniuses who haven’t figured that our. This is a racing game unlike any other.

This game is very, very deep. Like a hole to china deep. There are many modes: Drag Racing, Circuit, Drift, Sprint (race from point a to b) Lap Knockout ( The person last each lap is eliminated until only one remains)

But the granddaddy of modes is the underground mode. Basically you start out as a chump with no respect and a sorry excuse for a car. But you will earn respect and cash and turn that car into a pimpmobile by racing all the above kinds of races. Eventually your car will be fast enough to run with the big boys and look good enough to get on the cover of real magazines. Surprisingly, Customizing your car is just as fun as racing cars.

Thankfully the graphics on the cars are good so you can admire your pimpmobile. Unfortunately, the environments aren’t as good. They all have a muddled look to them. The ingame people are also laughable. But the cutscenes make up for that by being beautiful. The animations are great and makes your mouth water. You can almost smell the smoke from the burned rubber.

That burned rubber makes a sweet noise too. The squealing of tires are nice and so are the shifting of the gears. The voice acting is nice even though they will say the occasional retarded comment, but at least they sound nice when saying it. You like Lil Jon? Well learn to because you will hear his "get low" song every time you fire this game up. The selection of songs go from rap to rock and are all decent.

The Replay value will keep you playing this game for more than a while and so will the length of the underground mode. The multiplayer is decent (only two cars) and there are tons of modes. You might want to go through underground mode more than once to get all the "unique" parts. If you like fast things, the fast and furious movies, or cars or racing games, or video games in general – this is the game for you my lucky friend.