From Sci-Fi War Intrigue to Grinding Good Fun

By AARON CURTISS

June 1, 2000 12 AM PT

The notion behind “Mortyr” is about as terrifying as they come: The Nazis won World War II--taking over not only Europe, but the entire planet like some goose-stepping virus. It seems that in the bloody days of 1944, Nazi scientists invented a time machine, which they used to secure high-tech weapons from the future.

Nearly 150 years later, the world is falling apart. Nature doesn’t like disruptions in time and space. So a plan is hatched to send a young soldier back in time to wipe out the time machine and its creator to set history back on track.

As concepts go, they don’t get much cooler than that. But what begins as an awesome concept quickly devolves into a fairly standard first-person PC shooter with the same old set of goals and objectives.

Shoot Nazi soldiers, or SS officers or futuristic “biocyborgs.” Collect keys and passes to open levels. Jump from ledge to ledge. Swim through underwater tunnels. Save the world.

Ja, ja, ja--anyone who’s played a PC shooter in the last five years has seen all this before.

But rarely have they seen it executed so smoothly and beautifully. To say “Mortyr” drips with atmosphere would be a cliche--but it would also be accurate.

See, the mission that players find themselves on goes badly from the start. The soldier sent back in time--the guy players control--lands not in the workshop of the time machine’s inventor. That would be too easy. Nope, players begin in a Nazi stronghold and then find themselves skipping and hopping across time.

The locales are striking. On an early level, players wind through an old castle, complete with chapels. In one chapel, I initially thought my video card was screwed up because the screen displayed double images in a chapel. Turns out, the floor was so shiny that the stained-glass windows were reflected almost perfectly. It’s disorienting at first, but a true piece of digital artistry.

But few of us drop hard-earned cash on a game so we can ooh and aah at the pretty pictures. “Mortyr” delivers above-average play. The enemies move with relative intelligence, and it contains a few nice touches such as the ability to snatch fake IDs from dead officers and use them to pass checkpoints. It’s not a true innovation, but “Mortyr” cobbles together many of the best elements from other first-person shooters and creates an experience that’s better than most.

“Mortyr” requires a Pentium 200 with at least 32mb of RAM, 500mb of hard-drive space and a graphics accelerator with at least 4mb of RAM.

“Army Men World War”

Only in video games could the trip from the scary to the strange be so short. The conceit behind the “Army Men” series of video games is that the little green plastic soldiers nearly every boy played with at one time or another go into actual combat. The first PC game featuring the little guys was a kick in the pants that mixed real-time strategy with heavy-duty combat.

“Army Men World War” for Sony PlayStation is less fun. It’s basically a third-person shooter that happens to feature green and tan soldiers. In the first PC game, the soldiers still had the plastic tab attached to their feet, making them look like actual toy soldiers. In “World War,” the soldiers look like normal men--except they’re green.

The story is as simple as it gets: The Tan nation has its army at the Green nation’s borders, ready to invade. Come on! Any 4-year-old could make up a better scenario. But once play begins, it becomes apparent that the story is irrelevant. Players take on a series of missions that revolve around shooting, running over or blowing up Tan soldiers.

The environments in which players find themselves are nothing to write home about, and the control is downright skittish.

Not even the head-to-head mode--usually one of my favorites--can save “Army Men World War” from being what it is: a drag.

“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater”

What kid worth his smart mouth would rather pretend to skateboard on Game Boy Color than actually go outside and skateboard? It’s a question I asked myself as I prepared to play “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” on Game Boy Color. Not much of a fan of games that allow players to pretend to do mundane things, I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

And I was wrong.

“Pro Skater” is actually fun--even for a klutz like me who can barely stand up on a skateboard, let alone pull off a few tricks. “Pro Skater” offers nonviolent play that’s more sophisticated than just pretending to be on a skateboard.

Players can attempt tricks on the half-pipe or--my personal favorite--compete in a multi-stage tournament in which speed and the ability to jump and grind off everyday objects are key. The game is easy enough to get comfortable with quickly, but complex enough to offer long-term interest.

Aaron Curtiss is participating in a management training program, where he currently serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

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Essentials

Army Men World War

* Platform: Sony PlayStation

* Publisher: 3DO

* ESRB* rating: Teen

* Price: $40

* Bottom line: Clunky

Mortyr

* Platform: PC

* Publisher: Interplay

* ESRB rating: Mature