Official U.S. Playstation Magazine Issue 57

Cover Story:

• Star Wars: Bounty Hunter - John Davison spends 8 pages explaining why this is the Star Wars game you'll want to play the Hutt out of this Fall.

Contributors:

• Zoe Flower
• Kirstina Grish
• Dave Gross
• Karen Jones

Regular Bits (aka Departments):

• Demo Disc: Crammed to the last megabyte, this DVD is, with playable demos, non-interactive videos, behind-the-scenes news, and memory card downloads:
  • Herdy Gerdy (playable)
  • Medal of Honor: Frontline (playable)
  • Fatal Frame (playable)
  • Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat (playable)
  • Mad Maestro! (playable)
  • Scooby-Doo! night of 100 Frights (video)
  • Stuntman (video)
  • Delta Force: Urban Warfare (video)
  • SCEA Motion Capture (video)
  • PlayStation Booth at E3 (video)
  • PC to PS2 - Half-Life (video)
  • Jonny Moseley Mad Trix (video)
  • Half-Life (video)
  • Extermination (video)
  • Okage: Shadow King (video)
  • Dark Summit (download)
  • James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire (download)
  • The Simpsons: Road Rage (download)
• Input: Reader letters, editorial responses
• Spin: Industry news, rumours, speculation, and miscellaneous trivia! Featuring an update on EverQuest on the PS2, five questions with Bernie Stolar, a year-by-year look at twenty years' worth of LucasArts games, a Penny Arcade cartoon, the Top 9 PS1 puzzle games of all time, OPM's favorite PS2 soundtracks, a cat-themed Japanese PS1 import title, Clish MacLaver's Gossip column, your latest PSAT (PlayStation Aptitude Test), John Scalzi's CD and movie reviews and news, and the monthly Top 10 sales charts.
• How To Score With Women: You've begged, you've pleaded, and still your girlfriend won't game with you? Our gaming girl offers 10 tips that'll have her reaching for the controller.
• Replay: Tips, tricks, and strategies galore!
  • All-Star Baseball 2003
  • Final Fantasy X
  • Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
  • Grand Theft Auto III
  • Knockout Kings 2002
  • Max Payne
  • Star Wars: Racer Revenge
  • Star Wars: Starfighter
  • Hot Shots Golf 3
  • NBA 2K2
  • SSX Tricky
  • Pac-Man World 2
  • State of Emergency
  • Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002
  • Bowling
  • NHL 2002
  • Driver 2
  • Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
  • Virtua Fighter 4
  • Gran Turismo 2
  • Grand Theft Auto
  • Grand Theft Auto 2
  • IHRA Drag Racing
  • Star Wars: Episode I Super Bombad Racing
  • Star Wars: Demolition
  • The Italian Job
  • SpongeBob SquarePants
  • Blood Omen 2
  • WWF Smackdown 2: Know Your Role
  • No One Can Stop Mr. Domino
  • Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo II
  • Roll Away
  • Devil Dice
  • Intelligent Qube
  • DVD Easter Eggs:
    • Zoolander
    • American Psycho
    • Joyride
    • Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    • Romeo + Juliet Special Edition
    • Evil Dead Limited Edition: Book of the Dead
    • The One
• P.S. - Lies, Damn Lies, & Stats: The editors look into their crystal balls to discern the future of baseball by using All-Star Baseball 2003, High Heat MLB 2003, and Triple Play 2002 to each simulate a complete 162-game season, and report the results. Also, a short piece about game developers and their strange obsession with strange punctuation, some amusing anagrams, the caption contest, and a look at official PlayStation brand thumb protectors to keep those digits in tip-top button-mashing shape.

Previews:

• Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
• Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
• Madden NFL 2003
• UFC Throwdown
• MX Superfly
• Aggressive Inline
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
• F1 2002
• FireBlade
• The Lost (canceled)
• Kingdom Hearts
• NBA 2K3
• Malice
• Suikoden III
• Terminator: Dawn of Fate
• Mark of Kri
• XIII
• Race of Champions (released as Rally Fusion: Race of Champions)
• .hack: Treasure Hunter (released as .hack//Infection Part 1)
• NFL 2K3
• Shinobi
• Wreckless: The Yakuza MIssions
• Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
• Final Fantasy XI
• Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
• Myst III: Exile
• Auto Modellista
• V-Rally 3
• Grandia Xtreme
• Medal of Honor: Frontline
• Mystic Heroes
• Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt.
• Black & Bruised
• Zapper
• Dynasty Tactics
• Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder
• NCAA Football 2003
• Dino Stalker
• RTX: Red Rock
• Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
• Wild Arms 3
• Gladius
• NCAA College Football 2003
• Taz: Wanted
• Legion: The Legend of Excalibur
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
• Robotech (released as Robotech: Battlecry)
• Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
• Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
• Agassi Tennis Generation 2002 (released as Agassi Tennis Generation)
• Minority Report
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
• X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge
• Tribes: Aerial Assault
• Ratchet & Clank
• Ecks vs. Sever
• Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3
• Gungrave
• Soul Calibur 2
• C-12: Final Resistance
• Pink Panther (released as Pink Panther: Pinkadelic Pursuit)
• Super Shot Soccer

Reviews:

• Spider-Man (4/5)
• Barbarian (2/5)
• Downforce (2/5)
• Dropship: United Peace Force (4/5)
• Headhunter (3/5)
• Blood Omen 2 (3.5/5)
• Rayman Arena (3.5/5)
• Red Card Soccer 20-03 (3/5)
• Shadow Man: 2econd Coming (2/5)
• Tetris Worlds (2/5)
• Top Angler (3.5/5)
• Transworld Surf (3.5/5)
• Wipeout Fusion (4.5/5)
• Woody Woodpecker: Escape From Buzz Buzzard Park (3/5)
• WRC: World Championship Rally (5/5)
• WTA Tour Tennis (1/5)
• Dance Dance Revolution: Konamix (4/5)
• Digimon World 3 (2.5/5)
• The Italian Job (5/5)
• Largo Winch .//Commando Sar (0.5/5)
• Rayman Rush (3/5)
• Yu-Gi-Oh: Forbidden Memories (1/5/5)

Ads (in order of appearance):

• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
• Spider-Man
• Fire Blade
• Commandos 2: Men of Courage
• Terminator: Dawn of Fate
• Freekstyle
• Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt.
• DC Shoe Co. apparel
• Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing
• Lethal Skies Elite Pilot: Team SW
• Star Wars Jedi Starfighter
• Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights
• Virtua Fighter 4
• David Beckham Soccer
• EBGames.com
• Turok: Evolution
• UFC Throwdown
• Britney's Dance Beat
• Digimon World 3
• Way of the Samurai
• Global Touring Challenge: Africa
• Endgame
• RS: Riding Spirits
• Sky Gunner
• Sled Storm "Race to Win!" Sweepstakes
• Delta Force: Urban Warfare
• Wipeout Fusion
• Gundam Battle Assault 2
• Intec products
• Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine back issue order form
• Ziff-Davis publications
• Pro Race Driver
• Onimusha: Warlords / Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny

Notable Stuff:

• Very light on the ads this issue. They're concentrated mainly towards the front of the magazine, so they don't interrupt the review or feature pages.
• John Davison uses his editorial to opine that the forthcoming "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" will be darker and more brooding than "The Phantom Menace". Well...yeah, about that...
• The "How To Score With Women" feature is a bit cringe now that women make up a healthy percentage of gamers world-wide. Your hearts might have been in the right place, but really, telling Konami that "Opening with a filthy urinal scene may alienate female players" of Silent Hill 2 is just...come on, seriously?!
• Devil Dice is OPM's #1 puzzle game for the PS1, while Rockstar dominates the Top 10 charts, with Grand Theft Auto III sitting at #1 on the PS2 side, and Grand Theft Auto 2 holding the top place in the PS1 column. 
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was supposed to be the first in a four-game series. Unfortunately, after being rushed out a year before its original due date by Eidos, who were looking to shore up their end-of-year financials, it wound up a critical and commercial flop. The end result: Core Design shut down, Eidos handed the property to Crystal Dynamics, and everybody pretty much agreed Angel of Darkness never happened.
• The history of LucasArts piece makes for great reading even today. Articles like this are timeless.
• Likewise, the 8-page feature on Star Wars: Bounty Hunter crosses all sorts of boundaries, giving not just a preview of the game, but also a look into Jango Fett's history from the screen and the actor portraying him to his appearances in the Dark Horse comic book series. Seriously wonderful stuff here.