Limp Bizkit keeps on rollin’ out ear candv
■The sometime punk band
branches out into Paul Simon
and Elliott Smith territory
Limp Bizkit ‘Chocolate
Starfish and the Hot Dog
Flavored Water’
★★★★☆
By Bryan Dixon
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the midst of all the recent releas
es from the pop industry and teenage
love ballads provided by Britney
Spears and 98 Degrees, a familiar
voice is breaking through the air
waves, swooping in and shoving fam
ily values and boy-band wholesome
ness into the back seat and knocking
them on their pubescent tushes.
Whenever there’s a need to get into
a brawl, tune out girlfriends, bosses
or the rest of society, tuning into Limp
Bizkit’s new release “Chocolate
Starfish and the Hot Dog-Flavored
Water” is your best bet.
Awkward title? Sure. 75 minutes
of tasty tracks? Guaranteed. If you’re
looking for sonic-speed ear candy
capable of blowing out your
eardrums, Bizkit serves up a heap
ing spoonful.
The band’s follow-up to 1999’s
“Significant Other” delivers an al
bum full of testosterone-driven,
purely adrenalized tracks. This
male machismo attitude is epito
mized in the track “Full Nelson”
(mirroring their earlier single
“Break Stuff”).
Bizkit’s song “Hot Dog” (which
deserves some type of award for the
most times the F-word appears in a
song) is indicative of what vocalist
Fred Durst has to say and sets the
tone for the rest of the album. Imme
diately following is Durst’s anthem
for teenage/20-something angst on
“My Generation.”
While there is little or no evolu
tion or departure from “Signifi
cant,” Bizkit is still able to deliver a
swarm of memorable and catchy
tunes that are sure to get your blood
pumping. As the saying goes, why
change horses midstream? Once
again, Durst tries to get deep on
some of the slower, I-attempted-a
ballad songs such as “The One” and
“Hold On.” While these tracks are
very thoughtful and personable,
they unfortunately do not stand out
as well as the other “love” songs.
However, Bizkit is able to in
tricately blend their styles of
extreme rock with their
you-pissed-me-off-and
now-I’m-leaving ballads
to produce “My Way”
and “Boiler.” “My
Way” shows great simi
larities to “No Sex,”
from “Significant,” and
is likely to be one of their
next singles.
Despite the album’s sat
uration with pent-up rage
finally getting released, it’s
also quite fun;
dumb fun,
fun nonethe
less. In his
lyrics, Durst
pokes fun at
critics and
what people
have to say
about him and
even ad
dresses
his al
1 ege d
rela
tionship with pop sensation Christi
na Aguilera in “Livin’ it Up.” The two
even performed a portion of the song
as a “duet” on the MTV 2000 Video
Music Awards. (Ms. Aguilera, bless
your heart for the cute attempt at try
ing to be more grunge oriented; it did
n’t go unnoticed, but please leave the
rocking-out to the professionals.)
If you’re the type who’s apprehen
sive to buy a CD without hearing
much of the content, then you’re in
luck. Although the LP was released
Oct. 17, the album already boasts
three successful
“Take a Look Around (Theme from
“My Generation,” and
“Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle).” So, in
stead of having to deal with the whole
awkward first-date scenario, it’s more
like starting off on the third of fourth
date. The one thing missing that
would help bring this album full-cir
cle, though, would have been to in
clude the song “Crushed,” which
was featured on the “End of Days”
soundtrack.
A key ingredient in making a
Limp Bizkit album is to throw in a
mixture of other artists. Stone Tem
ple Pilots’ Scott Weiland, Method
Man and Redman are all veterans of
making Bizkit cameos, and they re
turn in this brand new rock-meets
rap endeavor. Added to the guest
list this time around are rappers
DMX, contributing to “Rollin’ (Ur
ban Assault Vehicle),” and Xzibit,
providing lyrics on the hip-hop
track “Getcha Groove On.” And to
bring another familiar voice to the
album, lyrics from Nine Inch Nails’
“Closer” were borrowed for the
song “Hot Dog.”
Another element not to be ex
eluded in the success of this al
bum is the rest of the band. Gui
tarist Wes Borland provides
excellent riffs and creates
unique, atmospheric sounds that
mirror the emotional level of each
song. Drummer John Otto, bassist
Sam Rivers and former House of
Pain member D.J. Lethal round out
the quintet, providing excellent
craftsmanship in their blend of
subtle melodies with the spastic
fits that drive the choruses.
Even though “Starfish” may be
a carbon copy of “Significant Oth
er,” it’s a cool album, just like its
predecessor, and is worthy of being
a permanent fixture in your CD
changer. As actor/comedian Ben
Stiller says on the final track,
“Outro,” “When you’re
limpin’ with the Bizk
it, you’re talkin’
about the major
grooves in rock
and roll. Who
else could take
rap, hip-hop,
thrash-punk metal,
... throw it in a can,
spin it around and
come out with some
thing that wasn’t fertil
izer?”
Latest Bond game delivers thrills but lacks in some key areas
■The new 007 is sure to leave
players mostly satisfied but
could improve on multiplayer
‘The World is Not Enough’
Nintendo 64
By Josh Ryneal
Oregon Daily Emerald
Electronic Arts, developer of the
newest video game in the Bond
franchise, “The World is Not
Enough,” had its hands full trying
to build the perfect Bond game.
Rare, the developer behind the
smash hits “GoldenEye” and the
non-Bond-related “Perfect Dark,”
pioneered the Nintendo 64 first-per
son shooters and created the multi
player option that hooked gamers
throughout the nation.
Rare gave away the license to the
James Bond franchise, disappointing
those who were awaiting a bang-up
Bond sequel from the acknowledged
leader in shooters. Electronic Arts,
the developer that had put out a dis
mal “Tomorrow Never Dies” adapta
tion for the Sony Playstation, took
control of the franchise, and specula
tion was that Rare had passed by a
perfect opportunity to develop “The
World is Not Enough.”
Electronic Arts was determined
to prove the doubters wrong and
surpass the original success of
“GoldenEye.” The question on
gamers’ minds was: Can it match
Rare’s efforts and put out a game
worthy of “GoldenEye’s” mantle?
Well, Electronic Arts certainly had a
lot to live up to. With “The World Is
Not Enough,” it faced the almost-in
surmountable task of beating Rare at
its own game. And it almost pulls it off.
“The World Is Not Enough” takes
everything from “GoldenEye” and
expands it thoroughly. Graphics are
improved, the artificial intelligence
of the enemies is better, and the mis
sions are more satisfying. Even
more so than “Perfect Dark,” which
was basically all about blowing stuff
up and calling it a “mission.”
Granted, “The World is Not
Enough” has plenty of bullets and
explosions too, but players will find
that the missions are much more de
tailed and fun to play. Blowing stuff
up is still a major part of the game
play here (you are James Bond, after
all), but it also involves elements of
stealth, subterfuge and rescue.
As the difficulty level increases,
more mission objectives appear to
give this game a lot of replay value.
Electronic Arts and its partner, Euro
com Software, made a huge effort to
make this game satisfying to “Gold
enEye” fans. It features 40-odd gadg
ets and weapons, all of which are ex
tremely enjoyable to use, and the
graphics, while a little grainy, are ex
cellent and help the game follow the
plot of the movie faithfully.
Bond must complete a number of
levels that range from average to just
plain eye-popping. In one level, Bond
must evade helicopters equipped
with huge chainsaws while blasting
enemies. Bond also must chase terror
ists through the streets of Istanbul,
neutralize enemies in the depths of
the London subway system and swim
through a sunken submarine to stop a
nuclear explosion (which could have
easily been terribly botched, but Elec
tronic Arts pulls it off). Electronic Arts
did an excellent job with the level de
sign, even surpassing “Perfect Dark”
in certain respects.
Electronic Arts also had to come
up with an entirely new game en
gine, and it did a bang-up job. Level
textures and physics are dead on,
and enemies react differently to gun
shots in different areas. Shoot one
in the leg, and he’ll hop on one foot,
but shoot him in the chest with a
shotgun and he’ll fly backward as if
he were hit with a cannonball.
Killing enemies, the bread and
butter of games like this, is so satis
tying and life-like that you may start
considering yourself mentally un
balanced.
But what about the real issue that
concerns die-hard shooter fans: the
multiplayer game? This is the fea
ture that will make or break this
game for Rare fans, and “The World
is Not Enough” just can’t stand up
to Rare’s mastery of it.
This is not to say that the game’s
multiplayer is bad; it’s just not up to
the impossibly high standards of
“Perfect Dark.” The computer-con
trolled enemies are not as smart, the
game doesn't save your ranking or
Courtesy of Nintendo
statistics as does “Perfect Dark” and
the pace is not as fast. Aside from that,
playing this with a few friends will
make you forget “GoldenEye” but
make you long for Rare’s masterpiece.
Electronic Arts has done a great job
with the Bond license. The single
player missions are a blast, better than
“Perfect Dark,” and will keep gamers
engrossed for weeks. The multiplayer
leaves a little to be desired, but not
everyone can hit a home run the first
time at bat. “The World is Not
Enough” doesn’t surpass the incredi
bly high standard set by Rare, but it’s a
great purchase for fans of their games.