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House MD Pre-Order Sale

KevinLeeC — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:59:22 -0400

Between now and the release date of September 13, 2010 the Legacy Interactive House MD game can be had for 15% off on pre-order. You can read our review of the game here. Details on the pre-order are available at http://www.housemdgame.com/.

As an added incentive, they're holding a contest to give away 100 copies of the season 6 DVD set of the series.

Review CM4 Catalyst Case for DSi

KevinLeeC — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:46:22 -0400

If James Bond owned a Nintendo DSi, he'd protect it with the Catalyst case from CM4. This machine-stamped aluminum beauty is covered with a fabric which gives the feel of soft leather. With this case wrapped around your portable console, you'll no longer feel self-conscious whipping out your DS when traveling business class.

The case comes in two parts which are perfectly molded to snap onto the DS. Ports and cut-outs provide access to the buttons, card sockets, camera, stylus and headphone jack. The rounded corners give the whole thing an elegant, well-designed look. The fabric cover offers an enhanced feel while giving the DSi a better grip.

It's true that the CM4 Catalyst case doesn't offer storage for cartridges or accessories, but that doesn't seem to matter. Having a DS wrapped in this seems to strike at the idea that the DS is just a kid's toy. Sure, you might be playing Lego Harry Potter on the sly, but from the front it almost looks like you're holding a serious business tool.

The $24.99 price tag might be off-putting to some gamers, but if you're looking for a way to upscale your DS, this is your best choice. Similarly, if you want a gift for your gamer-turned-executive you'll definitely want to look at the CM4 Catalyst or any of the other CM4 gaming accessories.

Review: Memorex Wireless Sensor Bar and Racing Wheel for Wii

KevinLeeC — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:19:45 -0400

Memorex offers a comprehensive line of Wii accessories including a wireless sensor bar and a racing wheel.

The wireless sensor bar sells for a modest $14.99 and offers a simple, battery-powered replacement for the standard Wii sensor bar. The Memorex bar is a mere twelve inches in length and has a curved shape which vaguely resembles a bat-a-rang. (An impression which is reinforced by the black-on-black color scheme.) The curved shape was intended to give the unit a wider operating range and our tests seem to bear that out. In actual use, we were able to successfully operate the Wii from a distance of approximately 25' at a variety of angles.

Despite a mention of a USB charging cable on the packaging, the sensor bar we tested (model # MWAD10MB) uses standard AA batteries and has no provision for charging. The only controls are an on/off slide switch on the back and a “sleep function” button on the top which activates the unit selects between the 1 and 2 hour sleep modes.

Using the bar is as simple as inserting batteries, sliding the switch the “on” position, setting the bar in place, and pressing the “sleep function” button. For added safety, there are two peel-and-stick pads on the bottom. (Although, since this would block access to the batter compartment, it is difficult see these as particularly functional.)

All-in-all, the Memorex Wireless Sensor Bar is a reasonable and modestly-priced replacement bar for the gamer who wants to dispense with the cable or increase the distance between themselves and the TV.

Another of the Memorex accessories is the Racing Wheel. Like other Wii wheels, this is merely a holder for your Wii remote. On the whole, though, it is easy to use with a slide-out latch to hold the remote in place and a compartment on the back which provides a place to plug in the “motion plus” accessory. A built in connector completes the circuit between the remote and the plus. Rubber grips and a conveniently-placed 'B' button complete the unit. The Racing Wheel is available with red, blue, green and purple rubber grips.

Like the Memorex Wireless Sensor Bar, the Racing Wheel is a modestly-priced accessory ($9.99) which makes a nice replacement for the original equipment or for Wii owners needing a second (or third or fourth) wheel.

Review: Guilty Party for Wii

Dale — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:10:07 -0400

Party games and the Wii go hand-in-hand (or Wiimote-in-hand, as the case may be), and Nintendo has dominated that market with its first-party Mario Party series. The secret to their success seems to have eluded most other game makers, so when Guilty Party arrived at our door, I was intrigued, but not optimistic. Would the genre again be murdered by another attempt? But then I saw the Disney logo on the box and wondered whether a little Disney magic could bring back innocence to a corrupted genre. Does Disney Interactive have a clue?

If you've ever played a point-and-click mystery game like Myst or CSI, you have a sense of the skeleton of the game, but while those games tend to frustrate or bore me, the added components of spoken animation, a clever story, and multiplayer provide a certain thrill.

The game includes four modes. Cooperative mode allows up to four players to work together to solve mysteries. Single player mode works like cooperative mode, but with no help from other people. In competitive mode, players split into teams to race to see who solves the mystery first. Finally, Game Room provides a collection of all unlocked minigames to be played and practiced. Gameplay in all story modes works effectively the same. Presented with a house full of clues and suspects, all marked for easy identification, players examine the evidence to determine the characteristics of the culprit based on four characteristics: height, weight, hair length, and gender. Then, by process of elimination, they make the accusation. A cutscene rewards a successful solution, followed by a new and more complicated mystery. To uncover the answers, players must play minigames to dust for fingerprints, stare down a suspect, or bribe an answer out of a suspect. Yes, some parents may feel uncomfortable teaching their children bribery. That and threatening to hit suspects in another minigame reveal our only parental warnings for this title.

Gameplay, thanks to a tutorial level, offers little problem. Occasionally, players will need to replay a minigame to get the hang of it, but while challenging, our kids all managed to succeed at them. While turn-based, players have a limited time per turn to accomplish their goals, which moves the game along. "Savvy Cards" offer additional capabilities like unlocking doors or bringing suspects nearby to save time or prevent them from running away. Once completed, players can replay with higher difficulty levels, with different endings each time, offering replay value.

Intended primarily for ages 8-12, our 9-year-old needed a little coaching but felt a sense of accomplishment when figuring out minigames and clues. She would have a hard time solving these mysteries herself. She and the 12-year-old both thoroughly enjoyed the game, as did my 15-year-old, although most teens would likely prefer more mature games over this one, unless they thoroughly enjoy mysteries.

Disney has cracked the case of the impossible party game with Guilty Party. Our family wouldn't mind getting locked up with this title for a while. We detect a winner.

Review: CASIO G'zOne Brigade Phone (for Verizon)

Dale — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:51:10 -0400

A few years back, a child in our home got his hands on one of our mobile phones. He knew he wasn't supposed to have it, so when he heard us coming, he got rid of it as quickly as possible...into the kitchen sink, where it landed in a pot full of water. Since we hadn't for the insurance, we had to find a used one to replace it (which was still cheaper than the insurance, by the way). But if we'd had Verizon's new CASIO G'zOne Brigade, this wouldn't have been a problem.

The Brigade looks like a cross between a submarine, a Sherman tank, and a Volvo. It just looks sturdy, like a military device. And it is. Designed to withstand the kind of torture a child is likely to throw at it, the Brigade can handle throwing, dropping, and immersion. We don't recommend using it for batting practice, but throwing it in the air as high as I could and watching it land on asphalt twice without a scratch was rather impressive.

Beyond its tough exterior, this QWERTY texting phone will not replace the iPhone, but it handles the basic functions of a modern mobile phone, complete with fold-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, face detection, autofocus, video and more, plus an html browser and document viewer. With Verizon's VZ Navigator service, its GPS function is enabled as well. Round it out with voice recognition, bluetooth, and a media player, and we find nothing significantly lacking. It even has an external time display, since more and more people use their phones instead of wristwatches for the time.

Our 9-year-old doesn't have her own phone, so we threw this one at her to see whether she could figure it out. (We didn't literally throw it at her--she would've been hurt, but the phone would've been unscathed.) Without any instruction, she was soon texting, calling, and snapping pictures. Since she's not used to mobile phones, that scores high for usability.

Setup was easy, but we found the charger to be unreliable. The phone snaps firmly into the charger, but even when snapped in, it sometimes would still lose its connection and not charge, dislodged literally by someone walking past it. The lack of a USB charging port will also turn some people off, although I imagine this was necessary due to the waterproofing.

Honestly, when I saw the phone, I wasn't expecting much. I figured they'd trimmed down the features to emphasize the sturdiness, but I was pleasantly surprised by a full feature set. If your child has a tendency to break phones or needs something that can handle a rough-and-tumble lifestyle, I heartily recommend the Brigade.

Review - Life360

John Wilkerson — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:58:54 -0400

Have you ever wondered where your kids are when they're wandering around the neighborhood? Ever wondered if that neighborhood they walk through on the way to and from school is a safe one? Life360 gives you the tools to know where your kids are and find out if they're safe.

Google and Facebook provide financial backing for Life360, a service that allows you to track your family members online or through apps available for the iPhone and Android-based phones using either the GPS in your device or a GPS locator device. Life360's website describes the service as follows:

If you have an Android phone or an iPhone, you can use it as a personal tracking device. Install our application on the phones that you want to track, have the app running on them, and the family members (and their phones) will show up on our real-time map. They have plans to add apps for Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

If you don't have an Android or iPhone, all Life360 full package members are eligible for a GPS tracking device that lets you locate people, pets and pretty much anything else. Just put our small GPS device in your child's backpack or on the collar of your dog, and track your loved ones.

The service is free to try for 7 days and thereafter costs $19.99 for a family membership (up to 6 people). They offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you're not satisfied with the service.

There are a number of features to this service but I'm going to focus on the app which I used on my iPhone. Like any other app, it's easy to install and it only takes minutes to register online at Life360.com to get things going.

The interface is intuitive and simple to use. The built-in GPS automatically displays your location on a map. Naturally, your location is only as accurate as the GPS on your device. Also included on the map is the last-known addresses of any sex-offenders. You can zoom in or out on the map using your fingers as well as pan in all directions. Tapping on a family member's icon brings up their profile information and last location at which they checked in. Tapping on the sex-offender icon brings up the information about that person. You can even share that information with family members via email, Facebook or Twitter.

As far as the usefulness of this app goes, I have mixed feelings. It relies on GPS for getting your location. That means location services have to be turned on. If you or your child doesn't want to be found it's simple to turn off the location services on the device. In addition, despite the huge, red warning screen that comes up when you press the panic button it's still possible to send out a false alarm especially if the "Don't remind me" box is selected. I do, however, like having the sex offender information available to me at the touch of a button. It could be useful for planning any walking or biking routes for my wife or children.

All in all, I'd say that this app combined with the benefits offered by a full membership could be worth the money if you're one of those parents who needs to know where your children are every waking minute.

Review: Nancy Drew -- Secrets Can Kill for PC and Mac

KevinLeeC — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:36:07 -0400

As part of the on-going celebration of the 80th anniversary of Nancy Drew, Her Interactive is releasing an updated version of the very first Nancy Drew computer game; Secrets Can Kill. Based on the 1986 novel in the Nancy Drew Files series, the game begins with the death of a high school student named Jake Rogers. The detective assigned to the case asks Nancy (by way of her librarian aunt) to go undercover to investigate.

The “remastered” version runs on both the Mac and PC platforms and has been updated with new animated 3D characters, enhanced graphics, two new puzzles, and a brand new ending. The net effect of all this is a game which will satisfy faithful followers of the series and entertain new fans.

Game play consists mostly of clicking around pre-rendered locations including Aunt Eloise's house, Maxine's diner, and Paseo Del Mar high school. The visuals are rich and convincing and, as a bonus for Nancy Drew fans, there are frequent visual references to the famous detective. Nicely atmospheric music accompanies the scenery and it's not too difficult for players to find their way around the various environments.

A handful of characters/suspects are available for questioning including student body president Daryl Gray, exchange student Hal Tanaka, tough girl Connie Watson and star athlete “Hulk” Sanchez. Players interview the characters by way of the usual dialogue-trees. The voice acting is solid and convincing and helps to give this limited-freedom first-person game a pleasant you-are-there feel. (Although, with such a small cast, the high school feels chillingly abandoned most of the time.)

As an aid to desktop detectives, the game features some handy sleuthing tools. A task list points players in the right direction without giving away solutions. For example, one of the many tasks at the school is “Search the library.” Try to check that off the list before you've found everything and Nancy says, “Haven't done that yet.” With the list, even neophyte detectives will find themselves on the right trail while still retaining the satisfaction of having solved the mystery themselves.

Additionally, the game includes a detective's notebook which automatically records the salient points of each conversation completed and clue uncovered. This makes certain that players never miss an important point.

Finally, the game allows players to select one of two difficulty levels, ensuring that the challenge is just right no matter the player's skill level.

One of the most useful of the game's tools is Nancy's cell phone. Players can expect to make several calls including opportunities to get hints from Bess and George. Parents should be aware that the game earned an E10+ rating for references to drug use as well as limited violence. Certainly, these are no worse in the game than in the book, but the game is definitely geared for players old enough to comprehend and process these story elements.

The real satisfaction in any adventure/puzzle game is that ah-ha! moment when the pieces slide into place and the answer is suddenly obvious. Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill provides plenty of those moments and a even a few moments of genuine tension as Nancy works her way closer to uncovering the killer.

The $19.95 price tag is reasonable for the game and the relatively new Mac-compatibility is a nice bonus for Apple-owning Nancy Drew fans who haven't been able to play the game before.

Criminal Minds

KevinLeeC — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:39:45 -0400

I always enjoy reading Developer's Blog posts. (Maybe because, as a critic, I get to deconstruct games so it's fun to see them constructed.) Legacy started a new series of posts from the developers of the forthcoming "Criminal Minds" tie-in game. You can find the first post here.

Review: The Wheels on the Bus with Mango and Papaya for iPad

KevinLeeC — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:57:50 -0400

I suppose it a sign of the times that the rebellious rock stars of the sixties are now so completely mainstream that they appear on children's television. Who would have guessed that Roger Daltry, lead vocalist and founder of The Who, would wind up giving voice to a friendly dragon named Argon in the award-winning DVD series The Wheels on the Bus?

The four-and-under crowd can't get enough of this friendly puppet and his fuzzy traveling companions as they motor around town on various quests. The DVD series is built around simple, repetitive songs which appeal to younger viewers coupled with simple, bright visuals.

The Wheels on the Bus iPad app brings that some combination of sound and color into the twenty-first century by adding interactivity. This ninety-nine cent app offers three play modes – Continuous Song, Progress Choice, and Puzzle. All are easy to use and well suited to the young audience. Continuous Song plays The Wheels on the Bus through from the beginning coupled with simple, colorful images. Progress Choice plays the song, but allows players to tap a green 'Go' sign to advance to the next verse. Puzzle – the most challenging of the three modes – repeats each verse until the player taps the appropriate on-screen object. In other words, when the characters sing about the wheels on the bus, the player must tap the wheels to get the story to continue.

Additionally, the app includes a brief movie called The Mouse on the Bus. An additional pack of three movies is available as an in-app purchase for $0.99.

The music and video are well-produced and perfectly suited to the target audience. For the price and value, this is a hard app for the iPad-owning parent of toddlers to pass up.

Review: Emergency Room Heroic Measures for PC

KevinLeeC — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:47:08 -0400

Legacy Interactive has a lot to offer fans of medical TV shows. On the side of drama, they're offering the soon-to-be-released House MD. If your tastes run more to the realistic shows like Trauma: Life in the ER, you might be a good candidate for Emergency Room: Heroic Measures.

This fourth title in the RealLife® Emergency Room series gives players a taste of what it's like to work in cardiothoracic medicine. The patients are presented as 3D animations in settings which include the CICU, the ER, the back of an ambulance, and various field locations. Surrounding the main screen you have a convenient array of tools, a PDA-like screen which provides hints, definitions and feedback on the various tests and assessments you perform, and an EKG monitor.

Saving a patient is simple; figure out what's wrong with them and provide the correct treatment. Only, it's not ever as simple as it looks on TV.

Emergency Room: Heroic Measures provides guidance in the way of hints. With the game set on “Easy” it will use highlights and audio cues to tell you what you should do next. At the more difficult levels, you can get feedback from the PDA and from other members of the medical staff. Unfortunately, most of this feedback comes after the fact in the form of statements like “I wouldn't do that doctor” and “Are you sure you know what you're doing.”

The soundtrack and ambient sounds contribute to the sense of urgency and, with all the audio on, the game can take on an almost claustrophobic feel as you race to save another patient. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the ominous whine of a flat-lined EKG can feel like a slap in the face.

Evaluating a patient and providing treatment is surprisingly flexible. Asking a question is a simple matter of picking from an on-screen list. Selecting a tool involves picking the correct tab from the tools area, clicking on the tool, and then clicking on the appropriate part of the patient. Sort of like Photoshop, but with life or death consequences. After each case you are debriefed and given some advice for your next case. Careful attention to the debriefing will help improve your performance on the next case.

Emergency Room: Heroic Measures feels surprisingly open-ended for a game of this type. When considered with the sense of urgency, this gives the game a you-are-there-feel that's hard to beat for people who want a taste of the medical life.

It's a limited, taste, though. The game offers more than twenty different life-threating cardiothoracic conditions to experience. Just like in a real ER, success is defined as stabilizing the patient and there's no real follow-up. In the end, you'll learn a lot about the cases in the game, but not much else about medicine.

Ultimately, Emergency Room: Heroic Measures is a strong addition to the game series that will appeal to players with a strong interest in medicine. It might even be a good way to encourage your budding healthcare professional. On the other hand, casual gamers and those with only a passing interest in the topic are likely to find it too intense for their tastes.

Emergency Room: Heroic Measures is available for purchase on the Legacy Interactive website for $19.95.

Review: Monkey Madness Island Escape for DS

KevinLeeC — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:03:22 -0400

Storm City Games has been an aggressive player in the DS market over the past year bringing out some engaging games (Jewel Master Egypt), some innovative games (System Flaw), some ambitious, but ultimately flawed games (T.A.C. Heroes). While not all of these games have lived up to their potential, neither have any of them been a serious disappointment. Unfortunately, this changes with Monkey Madness: Island Escape.

The game's set up is explained in a series of static screen which depict our two plucky heroes flying happily over the ocean. Something goes wrong with the aircraft, one of our heroes swears a bit, and the plane fetches up on Monkey Island. At that point, the upper DS screen turns into a 3D representation of a bit of the island while the touchscreen becomes a targeting device. Using the stylus to move a targeting reticule around the top screen, players target monkeys and use … well, pretty much any button really … to fire a variety of weapons at the rampaging monkeys. The monkeys fight back by throwing cocoanuts at the screen to cause damage to the player. After an area is clear, the camera shifts to a new area. Along the way there are various power-ups and bonuses, but the essential game play remains the same. This repeats through ten levels which makes the game feel more like a second-tier 80's arcade offering than a fully realized DS game.

In addition to the story mode, the game offers three additional variations on the core game play; Survival, Time Attack and VS. Survival is just like story mode, except that there are no between-level autosaves and the object is simply to avoid death as long as possible. Time Attack puts players back through the levels they've unlocked in Story or Survival Modes and challenges them to complete each level as quickly as possible. VS allows players to share the experience with a friend who also owns a copy of Monkey Madness: Island Escape. None of these modes adds enough to the game to enhance its appeal.

There is little else to say about this too-short, too-simple cartridge. It feels as if it was slapped together in an afternoon and isn't worth the $19.95 cover price.

Review: Immortal Lovers for PC

KevinLeeC — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:15:09 -0400

I am not the core demographic of Immortal Lovers from Legacy Interactive. In fact, I'm so far outside the core demographic I need to use the Hubble Telescope if I want to see them. Yet, I found the game strangely compelling.

Clearly positioned to take advantage of the teen vampire fan base, the Immortal Lovers story is built out of stock characters acting out familiar roles in familiar settings. Valerie, the disaffected heroine, is totally bored out of her mind by the thought of spending summer vacation trapped with her family. Her whining turns to whimpering when she finds herself face-to-face with a wolf. A mysterious, unseen stranger rescues her and she gradually comes to learn the truth about Vincent, the exotic young man living in the old mansion on the far side of the forest.

All of the usual elements are called into play; the mirror that refuses to reflect Vincent, the impossibly old painting of a surprisingly young-looking Vincent, the mysterious sibling, the magical first kiss...

Yet, the story exerted a surprising pull on me.

The pieces of the story are doled out as rewards for solving various kinds of puzzles such as the frequent find-the-hidden-objects challenges. Various routine items (a cell phone, a hairbrush, a backpack, etc.) are superimposed on attractive pre-drawn backgrounds and the player is challenged to find them all. What marks Immortal Lovers above some similar games, is that the task usually makes some sense in the context of the game. The first such challenge involves helping Valerie clean her room.

To aid players who might be stymied by finding the cleverly-hidden objects, the game provides a rose which can be clicked for a hint which is delivered in the form of a circle of rose petals somewhere on the screen. The rose can be reused, but must be allowed to regenerate after each use. This nicely balances the temptation to over-ask for hints against the frustration of being “stuck” looking for that last elusive object.

Other games include spot-the-difference puzzles (including a tricky variant in which the two scenes are mirrored), jig-saw puzzles (torn maps, broken mirrors, etc.), sliding-tile puzzles, and shape matching. My personal favorites were the mechanical puzzles such as reassembling the gears in a broken pocket watch or matching the connectors on the wires in a flashlight. The clever integration of the puzzle types and artwork into the story give the game a pleasant narrative feel.

It's worth pausing for a moment for a brief word about the soundtrack. The background music is pleasant, often relying on straightforward piano melodies with sparse orchestration, and nicely supports the mood of the game. Although it repeats, it doesn't feel repetitive.

The story is delivered via text without any recorded dialogue. Still, there is little enough dialogue so that the modest amount of required reading doesn't feel tedious.

Parents should be aware that Immortal Lovers deals with magic and supernatural themes which some may find objectionable. If those elements aren't a problem for you, Immortal Lovers is a pleasantly surprising title for the budget-conscious gamer. With a download price of $9.95, Immortal Lovers offers gorgeous graphics, puzzles which entertain without frustrating, an enjoyable soundtrack and salted-peanuts-just-one-more-puzzle game play that will keep you behind the keyboard.

Review: The Lost Cases of 221B Baker Street for iPhone/iPod Touch

KevinLeeC — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:54:56 -0400

The danger in writing a review of anything Sherlock Holmes related -- book, movie, DVD, video game, board game, card game, con game, action figures, play sets, makeup kits, mobile phones, meerschaum pipes, drain snakes or home chemistry sets -- is the temptation to lapse into cliched references to the great detective. Fortunately, for a writer of my talents, succumbing to this temptation is elementary.

As I sat in our lonely flat at 221B Baker Street listening to our housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, noisily breaking the crockery downstairs, I contemplated the iPhone game which had lately arrived in our mail slot via the morning post. The title said The Lost Cases of 221B Baker Street and the illustration showed a too-familiar deerstalker hat and smoking pipe.

“I think I shall leave this one to your deductive powers,” Holmes said. “The clues are evident for anyone who cares to look for them.”

“By jove, Holmes, you’re right!” I exclaimed. For there, on the press release tucked neatly inside the mail was a list of the game’s feature.

As I examined the game itself, those features -- 20 wily suspects, 11 different motives, 20 unique weapons, and 10 locations -- made themselves evident. Also evident was the fact that the game had two distinct phases.

After a brief text-based introduction to the case -- a murder at the estate of a wealthy man -- the game becomes a straight-forward exercise in finding the hidden object. Players are shown a diagram of the estate with four rooms highlighted. Tapping on a room gives an illustration of the space and a list of three hidden objects. Finding and tapping on an object brings up a passable illustration of Holmes along with a comment about the role the object played (or did not play) in the murder.

The illustrations are of good quality, but finding objects can be difficult on the small screen of an iPod or iPhone. Those who are getting on in years and are hard-of-seeing may wish they had one of the newfangled iPads on which to play the game at double-size.

After all of the objects have been found, the game moves to the second phase, deduction. The four suspects, weapons and motives are laid out on the screen and the player is challenged to make the correct choice from each list. Those who paid attention to Holmes’ comments should have no trouble making the correct choices. Those who did not ... well, the game makers have thoughtfully provided an on-screen notebook which automatically records all of Holmes’ comments so solving the murder is a simple matter of referring to the book before making the final selections.

“It all seems very straight-forward, Holmes,” I said when I had finished my examination.

“Indeed Watson,” agreed my companion. “It is indeed. A simple game which provides little challenge to an intellect of any power, yet a pleasant enough diversion to while away the time on a long ride in a carriage or on the train.”

As always, I must agree with Holmes’ analysis. Although The Lost Cases of 221B Baker Street isn’t particularly difficult, at a price of $1.99 in the App Store it offers a reasonably-priced diversion with enough possible combinations of suspect, weapon and motive to keep the cases interesting.

Review: Nancy Drew: Trail of the Twister for PC and Mac

KevinLeeC — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:29:27 -0400

After 80 years in the detective biz, you’d think that Nancy Drew was ready to hang up her magnifying glass. But if Her Interactive’s newest game is any indication, Nancy is firmly committed to living on the edge.

In Nancy Drew: Trail of the Twister, the world-famous detective goes undercover with a team of storm-chasing researchers. Nancy’s new friends are competing for a $100,000,000 prize that will be awarded to whomever can work out a foolproof way to predict tornadoes. This meteorological equivalent of the X-Prize is driving somebody to crime. The team is plagued by mysterious equipment failures so Nancy is sent in as a ringer to try to clear away the fog and get the real data. Loosely based on The Mystery of Tornado Alley (Nancy Drew #155), Trail of the Twister presents players with interesting puzzles, intriguing characters and a compelling environment.

Like most of the twenty-one previous entries in the Nancy Drew game series, Trail of the Twister uses 3D pre-rendered backgrounds and animated characters to give life to the story. From the moment Nancy arrives at the farmhouse/base-station players will get to explore a rich and convincing environment while meeting interesting characters and solving challenging puzzles. The first-person view puts the player (literally) in the story and aids in making the action immersive.

For example, as part of her assignment working on the team, Nancy has to file papers according to strange, symbol-based filing system. The instructions are presented in the form of a classic logic puzzle which players solve by manipulating file folders and labels. Although the puzzle isn’t terribly difficult, it serves as a warm-up for the challenges to come. The file folder metaphor gives the puzzle a reason to exist and feels holistically integrated into the storytelling rather than bolted-on. Similarly, another early puzzle challenges players to work out optimal coverage for a storm-warning siren system. Again, the clever us of theme serves to reinforce the game rather than detract from it.

On a larger scale, Nancy also has to solve the mystery and this involves meeting and interacting with a wide variety of interesting characters. The voice acting is surprisingly strong, which serves to punch up the emotional appeal of the game.

Nancy will also learn about tornadoes and get a chance to experience some of the most frightening weather anyone can face. The compelling setting serves as a strong backdrop to the main action of the story.

In a nod to being “player friendly” Trail of the Twister also offers two different difficulty settings -- Junior or Senior Detective -- to make the action accessible to a wider audience. It also has a “safety net” which will return players to a point before their fatal mistake.

In short, Trail of the Twister is a worthy successor to the previous twenty-one adventures which have sold a total of more than eight million copies. But, in the best tradition of detective stories, Her Interactive has one more trick up its sleeve. Trail of the Twister is the first Nancy Drew game to support the Mac OS.

So, if you’re a Nancy Drew fan, a mystery fan, or just a fan of a good adventure Trail of the Twister is well worth the $19.99 price tag.

Review: FitBit

PD Love — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:11:12 -0400

So I am a gadget guy. I like my toys. When I got into running, one of the things that made it more interesting was the tools and toys to track my progress. I bought a Garmin running watch to track me and map my run, I loaded my runs to sites like MapMyRun.com and DailyMile.com. I bought the Nike+ system for my iPod and compared distance and time between them all. Yes, I am a gadget guy.

When I heard about the FitBit (Fitbit.com) on This Week in Tech, I knew that I had to check it out. I was intrigued enough to spend the $99 to see if this was the next toy that I could use in tracking overall fitness and log my activities. I was getting good at logging my activities on the various sites and formats but to have something do it automagically, now that had promise. Plus the sleep monitor and other benefits of the apparatus sucked me in.

The Fitbit is a small, light clip that can be worn on the waist of your shorts, a pocket, belt loop and of course a belt, although it does come with a belt clip holder that allows you to clip it on a belt without stretching out the Fitbot itself. The unit has one button on it and you can use it to view the digit readout that is embedded in its matte finish casing. Information like steps taken, miles traveled and calories burned show up as you toggle through them on the button. The read out is fairly amazing although a little hard to read in direct sunlight. With the unit being about 2 inches long, it can typically be worn without much awareness although if you are doing a fair amount of bending, you may feel it poking you a bit at your waistline.

I put the fit bit through its paces over he course of 10 days. The first day was light activity, a pretty normal day at the office, but subsequent days opened up a true test of the unit. In the days that followed I walked with the boys, ran a 10k, played 2 hours of volleyball and attended a Tae Kwon Do class. I found the recording of activity to be fairly accurate as far as what time and type of activity I was participating in and it was interesting to track days where there was not a distinct activity but instances of higher activity were registered.

The FitBit web site is where you go to see your results and track your progress. The dashboard is easy to use and reminds me a bit of the DailyMile.com dashboard. From the dashboard you can see what your FitBit fed back to the site and enter things like your caloric intake (the list of food available to pick from is fairly extensive), log your mood (similar to DailyMile) and even log allergies in your journal. The graphs are a nice way to see daily activity and the historical view shows things like calories burned, steps taken and your active score over the course of the past month.

Although I didn't count my actual steps to see how accurate the pedometer is, I tend to believe it is not 100% accurate. After all, it is detecting motion. I wore it while riding my bike and it placed that time as "fairly active" - tell that to my burning legs. But the steps and other scoring are a good way to track one day against another, to see if you are remaining active and how much so compared to a previous day. You can certainly tell when you are at a high rate of activity and how that impacts the day.

As for tracking sleep, aside from being able to tell when I rolled over in bed, there is not a lot of info for sleep. And I wouldn't expect a pedometer worn on my wrist at night to tell me anything more. It is good to track when I fell asleep (or went completely still laying in bed watching TV) and when I woke up but otherwise, no a lot of info here and again, aside from hooking up electrodes, I wouldn't expect much.

Overall the unit is pretty cool for tracking activity. The batter life is good, the wireless sync works well and the site is designed to be easy to use. And you can get as much out of it as you want. I lose interest pretty fast logging the food I eat and my daily weight. But, perhaps that is something that motivates others and would be helpful- I can see it, I just have trouble finding the time to do it. But again, the unit is helpful to get me interested in increasing and tracking my activity. So that is worth the price, even if it fades after a while. And then I can pass it on to the kids as it has already gotten their attention.

Review: GSN Presents Family Game Show

KevinLeeC — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:27:36 -0400

Game Show Network presents Family Game Show from Storm City Games is what you might get if Wink Martindale, Alex Trebek, Richard Dawson and Bob Barker became game designers. From the relentlessly cheerful (and occasionally condescending) hosts to the uptempo music and the studio audience, Family Game Show is a pretty decent simulator of the game show experience.

Within the game, players can participate in one of three different shows. Control Freak with Larry Lightfoot is a quiz show/strategy game in which players try to retain control of the board by answering trivia questions. Alternatively, players can force their opponent to answer a question that seems too difficult. The questions are multiple choice and timed, so the game comes off as a multi-player variation on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Control Freak (like all of the games in Family Game Show can be played by up to four players using four Wii remotes or sharing a single remote. Setup includes the option to have the game consider the players’ ages when selecting questions. This helps to even out the play between adults and children. On the downside, the host is frequently rude to players when they miss questions. Younger players might be upset by his comments and older players are likely to be insulted.

The final round is a modified “sudden death” round which gives the leading player a chance to take the game or lose it. This is a consistent design feature of all of the game shows and (like their real-life counterparts) makes the first rounds feel a little pointless.

p>If trivia isn’t your bag, you can play Puzzle Addict with Tom Wordsworth. This “show” is built around a crossword puzzle interspersed with other puzzle-style games like word search, sudoku and a type of word jumble. Between rounds of the crossword, players alternate playing the puzzle mini-games. Watching someone else unscramble mixed-up words or hunting through a word search doesn’t make for a compelling game experience.

For the Mensa set, Family Game Show offers up Brain Strain with Professor Plank. This game offers the largest selection of mini-games (15), all based on logic and problem-solving. If offers the same in-the-studio experience as the other games, but the variety of mini-games makes it a little more interesting.

The graphics and audio are adequate to the task of conveying a game show “feel” and other than the occasional snarky comments from the hosts, there’s nothing particularly objectionable in the game content. Nor is there anything especially compelling. Hardcore game show fanatics might enjoy the opportunity to play never-before-seen games, but casual players are likely to find the games slow and only marginally interesting.

Review: 2010 FIFA World Cup by EA Sports for the PS3

PD Love — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:06:31 -0400

When EA Sports sent a copy of 2010 FIFA World Cup for a review, I was excited. I can't claim to be a soccer fanatic but I have followed the sport in various ways for most of my life. Furthermore, with my youngest son actively playing recreation league soccer, I thought he too would get a kick (pardon the pun) out of it.

2010 FIFA World Cup is an extraordinary game. I was worried that it might be too complicated, that the controls would be tough to learn (ala my first time with Madden Football) but I found it easy to get started and fun from the beginning. You don't have to know all of the moves immediately to start playing and the training sessions are great for getting used to how the game plays. It took me a while to learn how to shoot without powering one over the goal each time (simply tap the shoot button, don't hold it down) but once I got a few of the kinks worked out, I was ready to take on the qualifying rounds for the World Cup.

The game allows you to control teams throughout the rounds of the World Cup. Game play is easy, especially if you pick the more powerful teams (they are rated so you don't have to be an expert), and the field view is shown from a view that makes it easy to see everything. You can even allow the game to automatically switch you from player to player although that can get confusing and I often found myself running in the wrong direction while trying to play defense. Switching on your own is the best way to go. Also, once you learn how to aim your long passes and short passes effectively, you can manuever the ball fairly effectively. The sprint option helps to as it allows you to blow past a defender or catch up to an attacker when on defense.

My oldest son and I tried the two player mode with both of us playing on the same team. It was fun to work together but also a bit confusing at times. We played on a 50 inch plasma but even with that size and clarity it was hard to tell the difference between red and black on the little arrows above our players. I found myself at times wondering why the player would not respond only to see that is was my son's participant. Guess old eyes take their toll on game play.

For the soccer fanatic, they will get a kick out of the player names, stats and all the other information that I am sure is up to date and accurate. EA Sports knows how to put together a game for the fans. And unlike other games, the action for soccer is constant. So far we have only played short games- playing a full game might require some stretching and a warm up. There is also online play to add even more fun to the mix. With play online you can get up to 8 players playing at once.

Overall I am a big fan of 2010 FIFA World Cup. I haven't played other soccer games on the PS3 and only have Mario's Strikers Charge on the Wii to compare it to. This is a game of a different species and I can't imagine how another experience could be that much better. With the attention to detail, the training and ability to build set plays, and the overall action of the game, I can only say that EA Sports scored a GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL with this one!

Review: House MD for PC

KevinLeeC — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:22:43 -0400

On September 13, Legacy Interactive is releasing a licensed game based on the series House MD. Like the series' perpetually cranky protagonist, the game is a mixed bag. But, perhaps it would be best to let the characters themselves give you the low down.

So, you’re the new resident Cuddy has forced on me. I knew she’d find a way to get back at me for slipping in an extra team member. I’m going to call you forty-one because that will be easier to forget when you find out your talents are better suited for the butcher shop than a hospital. If you do everything I say and study my methods there is a one-in-a-thousand chance you’ll actually turn out to be a competent doctor. Try to take that chance. A hospital salary will come in really handy when it’s time to repay your student loans.

Umm...House? Why don’t you let me handle this. It might be a little less frightening for the candidate.

Right. We wouldn’t want to scare good ol’ forty-one. We’ll let the sick people do that.

House, give it a rest while I tell the candidate about the new Legacy Interactive game called House MD.

A game about me?

Among others. All of the usual suspects from Princeton-Plainsboro are in the game; Cuddy, Foreman, Cameron, Chase, Taub and Thirteen.

And don’t forget the longsuffering Dr. Wilson.

I wanted to be modest.

A condition with which I am not afflicted. Besides, you just don’t want to be associated with the game.

Actually, I do. House MD is an odd mix of sometimes frustrating mini-games and very compelling story-lines. The five cases represent five “episodes” from the show. The writing for each is spot on and mimics the structure of the show exactly. The patient of the week is introduced and House and his team scramble to save them.

The storyline is delivered exclusively via text. It would have been nice to have had voice-overs from the principal cast, but that probably would have pushed the cost of the game away from the affordable $19.95. The graphics, on the other hand, are detailed drawings from the series. Combined with the infrequent use of motion, they give the game a charming “graphic novel” feel.

Along the way, the player will be asked to complete mini-games like the patient exam -- a “hunt-the-pixel” style game using different medical instruments including gloves (for touch), a penlight, a magnifying glass (for visual inspection) and a stethoscope. While conducting the exam, the player will also conduct a patient interview by selecting the most promising lines of inquiry.

As on the show, the action frequently moves to House’s office where the team will bat around potential diagnoses. This plays out as a clickable version of hangman. Then it’s time to perform a procedure or analyze some kind of lab test.

Gee, you make it sound so inviting.

Some of the mini-games are a little frustrating, but others manage to make it feel like you’re actually practicing medicine. For example, to test a patient’s blood, you’ll first have to draw it. The regular tools of phlebotomy are available to you and you have to perform the steps in the right order and efficiently.

Once you get the blood, it’s another story. Spinning it down in the centrifuge involves using the mouse to keep the centrifuge spinning at the optimum speed. Similarly, analyzing the blood involves opening and closing valves on a blood analyzer and spinning motors just right to keep the sample moving along. Take too much time and the sample is ruined.

All of this medical talk is boring me. Tell me something interesting.

Well, in true House fashion, players will have to look for clues in and around the patient’s home and workplace. This plays out as a click-and-find exercise, but the game is good enough to tell you how many objects you have to find and how many you have found.

Completing the mini-games moves the story along without actually changing anything. In essence, finishing a mini-games grants you the right to see more the story. And the story is so compelling that it will keep you coming back to even the most frustrating mini-game.

Your performance will be analyzed, though. If you have a low tolerance for Foreman yelling at you while you’re trying to find the one object you missed in an elderly patient’s back yard or for House telling you that you “must have been the top of your class at Special Ed’s Discount Medical School,” this isn’t the game for you.

It’s also not a game for younger players. Just like on the TV series, the characters have frank discussions about adult topics ... for both medical and non-medical reasons. The game doesn’t show a rating on the Legacy Interactive site at the time of this writing, but my guess it will be “Teen” or higher.

At least I don’t have to pull clinic duty.

Ha! You’d be wrong about that. When I said the game has all of the elements of the show, I meant all of the elements. That includes a clinic-duty sub-plot.

It’s getting so a genius can’t think around here.

Speaking of thinking, one of the stranger games involves the usual “House contemplates” sequence. I won’t describe it except to say it was very ... unusual.

Any sign of thinking around here would be unusual.

In the end, House MD offers up a compelling story that is propelled forward by a strange mix of frustrating and fascinating mini-games. If you’re a fan of the series and take the challenge, you’ll be rewarded with five new episodes featuring your favorite curmudgeonly physician.

And if you pay attention you might just learn something that will save your patient’s life and your career.

---------

House MD will be available for download on September 13, 2010 and via Amazon.com and on the DS sometime soon.

A Geek and His Books -- A Tale of Obsession and Databases

KevinLeeC — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:33:04 -0400

I like books. A lot. I mean I really, really like books. I’ve spent a lifetime building a library with more than 3,000 volumes. It’s not the Library of Alexandria, but it’s important to me.

A large library can create storage problems, though. Lots of books need lots of space. Added to that are the worries about damage by insects or other pests or even water. After a collection hits a certain size, finding a particular volume can be a problem as well.

Three years ago my library was taking over the basement and retrieving a particular volume often involved a frustrating book-by-book hunt. Once or twice I’d made a half-hearted attempt to alphabetize by author, but my enthusiasm for that project never lasted more than a day or two. I realized I needed to do something to manage my library and simplify my life.

Taking a cue from the library at Utah State University, I decided to catalog my books and store them randomly.

Each of the ten-gallon bins on the left side of the picture can hold around 75 paperback books. I deconstructed my library, cataloging the books as I went and tagging them against a particular bin.

Although it has take three years to work through my library, it’s been a fairly simple process.

After looking at the available book cataloging programs, I settled on Readerware. Like most cataloging programs, it works well when you feed it a list of ISBN numbers. Enter a list and Readerware chunks away, chewing through the list and trolling the internet to match the ISBN number to the usual bibliographic information -- author, title, publication date and so on. By pulling from bookselling websites like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble it can extract summaries, keywords, and cover pictures as well.

Each list I entered represented one bin. Once Readerware had finished processing the list, I did a batch update on the “location” field to record the number of the bin. Finding a book is a matter of searching for it in Readerware (by Author, Title, Keyword, etc.) and looking at the record to see which bin has the book.

Readerware also integrates with a number of handheld scanners which can read the bar codes and create the list automatically -- in theory. In practice, I have too many pre-bar code books in my library to make this a viable option.

Just about any book cataloging program will perform these functions, but Readerware distinguished itself because it will “screen scrape” data on books which don’t have ISBN numbers. My personal collection includes a fair number of late-sixties science fiction novels. Rather than hand entering them, I just had to find them in Amazon and then drag-and-drop the URL onto Readerware. It read the web page and sorted the data into fields. While this was less efficient than entering an ISBN it was a lot faster than filling out the form one field at a time.

Additionally, Readerware is a multi-platform program which will run on Windows, OS X, Linux, and Palm. I store my actual database on my NAS so it's accessible from multiple machines running multiple operations systems. I'm hopeful (but haven't heard) that they'll eventually release and iPhone/iPad app.

So, after three years and 3,000+ plus volumes, what have I learned?

Firstly ... man I have a lot of books.

Secondly ... an awful lot of them feature the word “star” in the title (i.e. STAR Trek, STAR Wars.)

Thirdly ... man I have a LOT of books.

Fourthly ... for some reason I’ve purchased three copies of Yesterday’s Son over the years.

Fifthly ... MAN I HAVE A LOT OF BOOKS!

Finally ... with the end of the project in sight (I have about five more bins to go) it’s good to know my books are safely tucked away and I can access any of them almost instantly.

How do you keep track of your books? Do you have a favorite cataloging program? Tell us in the comments space below.

Everybody Lies -- But At Least You Can Win Stuff!

KevinLeeC — Sat, 01 May 2010 09:15:48 -0400

I can only imagine the pitch meeting for the series House MD

"Well it's about this doctor who is brilliant but he's also a total narcissistic jerk. He's rude to patients, rude to the staff, rude to random strangers in the street."

"It sounds perfect for the eighteen-to-twenty-four demographic. Let's give it the green light!"

Well, maybe it didn't quite go down that way, but whoever decided to run the show must have known what a goldmine it would be. With a run of six seasons (to date) House MD has become an international hit.

Part of the appeal is that Gregory House is brilliant and gets to say things that most of us wouldn't dare. Part of the appeal is trying to anticipate the end of the episode. (Which is utterly impossible for me since the sum total of my medical knowledge is that blood is red and band-aids relieve the pain of scraped knees.) Mostly, it's just that House MD is a stylish, well-written drama.

Later this month Legacy Interactive is releasing a PC game that will let you step into the world of Princeton?Plainsboro Teaching Hospital to solve cases of your own. If all goes as planned, TechTalkForFamilies.com will be releasing a review of the game. To celebrate the release, Legacy Interactive is giving away some cool House MD memorabilia including autographed DVDs, scripts and clothing.

To find out more (and to enter) go to:

http://legacygames.typepad.com/gamesforgrownups/2010/04/win-house-md-autographed-giveaways.html

And, if you want a little House-style fun, check out my homage/review of Pet Pals: Animal Doctor for Wii.

Review: T.A.C. Heroes Big Red One

KevinLeeC — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:25:45 -0400

T.A.C. Heroes: Big Red One is an ambitious, unique offering for the DS platform. Using the World War II as a background, it casts the player as the commander of a squad of soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. The “Big Red One” saw action in many of the most significant battles of the war and Storm City’s offering seeks to give players the chance to get in touch with their own inner squad leader while directing combat soldiers.

The core of the game is hexagon-based, squad-level, tactical combat. After selecting either of the two available campaigns or the one-off scenario game, players are given a chance to select and equip their squad. Each soldier has a unique mix of stats which represent their speed, firing accuracy and so on. A limited number of points can be spent on equipment and players can fiddle around in the setup screens as long as they wish.

Which is a good thing because the small DS screens make selecting and equipping soldiers an exercise in eye-strain. The situation doesn’t improve much during the actual battles.

Once players are satisfied with their squad and give the go-ahead, the game positions the squad and the action starts. The action, in this case, is turn based which places the emphasis on thoughtful tactics instead of frantic button-mashing. Players tap on the hex beneath a soldier and then select an action from a pop-up menu. Actions range from commands for movement to changes of stance, attacks, or even calling in air support. Each soldier has a set number of “command points” which govern the number of actions they can take during a given turn. Once all of the command points are expended (or if the player decides they’re done) the computer takes its turn.

The lower DS screen shows a close-up three-quarter view of the battlefield and all of the commands are issued by way of the touch-screen. The upper screen gives a mini-map view of the entire battlefield. The mini-map is functional, the battlefield view less so. As units begin to occupy adjacent hexes it gets increasingly difficult to see exactly what’s happening during combat. More helpfully, when players select an action such as ‘move’ the available hexes are shaded to show where the soldier can go. Even so, even the simplest of actions feels tedious on the tiny DS screen.

The graphics aren’t particularly graphic. The tiny soldiers advance, crouch, crawl, shoot, toss grenades and die very cleanly. The deceased (after an appropriately Hollywood-esque “Arrgh!”) are replaced by tiny tombstones. So, although this is a game which deals with violent action taken in violent times, parents need not be concerned about what their young players will see.

They might be concerned about the audio, though. Every order to a soldier is met with a response such as “Yes sir” or “I’ll see what I can do.” Since every soldier has multiple command points and is given multiple orders, players will have heard all of the possible responses very quickly and will (just as quickly) get tired of them.

Those who stick it out, can play through two campaigns -- one set in 1942 and the other in 1944. Between these there are more than 35 missions. Additionally, the one-off scenarios allow players to pick their battles (so to speak), choose which side they want to fight for, and even take on another human in a hot-seat version of the game.

T.A.C. Heroes: Big Red One tries hard to bring traditional squad-level wargaming to the DS, but in the end it misses the mark due to the limitations of the hardware and the game’s own interface. Hardcore wargamers or history buffs might enjoy this, but most players will be happier giving it a pass.

Review: Fueltank DUO

Dale — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:53:44 -0400
You're out, away from a power outlet, and your mobile phone's battery dies. It'll be hours before you can charge it, and meanwhile, your kid is trying to get ahold of you after school. If you had a Fueltank DUO, you wouldn't be in this pickle.

Callpod's mobile battery charger uses their interchangeable adapter system to allow charging of around 3,000 different mobile devices from iPods to GPS's to Bluetooth headsets to handheld gaming systems. Simply charge the Fueltank DUO, and take it with you in the included case, which will also store all your adapters. When a device needs a charge, just connect, and in about the same time as charging from the wall, your device will be charged up. The DUO gets its name due to its ability to charge two devices at once, and we found that it can fully charge an iPod or similar device roughly four times before needing a recharge. An LED indicator lets you know how much charge the Fueltank DUO has remaining.

I was pleasantly surprised by the capacity of this handy little device. I expected one or two charges out of it, but this will enable you to listen to music all day long, also great for taking the family in the car, especially since it will bail out even two children's failure to plan.

If I have one complaint, it's that it's a bit bulky for a pocket. Weighing in at over 6 ounces, you'll be carrying this in a purse, backpack, briefcase, or glove box, not your pocket. That said, this is a battery, and given its capacity, the size doesn't surprise me, and given that its predecessor, the Fueltank UNO, weighs in about the same, this is a definite step up.

Typical families have a lot of mobile devices. If you find yourself away from power outlets regularly, this would be a worthwhile purchase.

Review: Let's Draw!

thehowlingwolves — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:21:38 -0400

Let's Draw!

Let's Draw!

Flex your creative muscles. This game is based on a Japanese book series that teaches kids to draw by combining basic shapes. The game has more then 100 objects that kids can draw with step by step instructions, taking your children on a drawing adventure. Once your child creates a drawing, he/she can select from a palate of colors and brush shapes to color it in and see their drawing do a little animation once completed. You can store up to 12 of the drawings you have created.

There is kid friendly voice instructions to help small children play the game. Each menu item is called out as you click on them. It also includes 10 fun-filled mini games that you can play. For example "Car Racing", "Whack-a-Mole", or "Air hockey". In the mini-games you can use your own creations to play the games.

Let's Draw is appropriate for kids 4 thru 7 yeas of age. My 5 year old loved the game and could not put it down. There is not a way to save your scores on the mini-games but maybe that's because they do not want the kids to be so competitive at that age.

In the Interest of Full Disclosure: We received a free copy of this for review purposes.

More Screenshots

Review: ATV Quad Kings for DS

KevinLeeC — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:35:30 -0400

As I write this, my neighbors are loading their ATVs on a trailer for a weekend trip into the Utah mountains. Storm City’s new game ATV Quad Kings for the DS would be the perfect way for them to pass some time on the road. This delivers-what-it-promises title is just the ticket for the ATV enthusiast who wants a quick fix.

All of the action in ATV Quad Kings centers on competitive racing. The first option is ‘World Tour’ which pits you against a variety of computer-controlled opponents on tracks in different locations around the world. A straightforward control scheme uses the ‘A’ button to accelerate, the ‘B’ to brake, the control pad for directional control (including nose-up and nose-down when jumping) and the right shoulder button to ‘power slide.’ Occasionally, if you run over the ‘turbo boost’ icon on the track you can use the left shoulder button to zoom ahead on the track. Half the fun of riding an ATV is performing stunts of one kind or another and ATV Quad Kings offers that part of the experience as well. A quick tap of the ‘X’ button while in the air will deliver a crowd-pleasing in-air student. The game feels responsive, but presents enough challenge to keep things interesting. The user-selectable difficulty level makes the game accessible to players of just about any age.

The graphics are good given the limitations of the DS. The ATVs move as you would expect, with riders standing, sitting and leaning. The tracks are convincing as they whiz past during the race. The track map (featuring real time flags to indicate the positions of the various competitors) on the lower screen adds little to the game.

A win on the circuit will yield cash which can be used to purchase a better ATV. A more powerful ride will help you hold your lead in the standings. If you prefer the jump-in-and-race school of gameplay, you can select ‘arcade’ mode. As a bonus, you can win extra money that you and put toward better rides in the main game.

If practice is your thing, you can participate in the ‘time trial’ to familiarize yourself with the various tracks and try to improve your performance during races.

ATV Quad Kings is a single-player only game and is a standard race game themed with ATVs. That said, for the enthusiast, it’s a decent title for the $19.99 price tag.

Review: Final Fantasy XIII for Xbox 360

Dale — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:57:10 -0400
For years, the Final Fantasy series has exemplified cutting-edge graphics and amazing cutscenes. Final Fantasy XIII continues this trend with breathtaking landscapes, amazing creatures, cataclysmic action, and a vast variety of settings, along with an orchestral score. Players take control of a variety of characters with unique weapons, and every word of dialog is voiced (although the game also includes the option of subtitles, which come in handy to avoid waking sleeping children). But this game once again begs the question: is this a game or just a movie with some interactive elements? (If you don't like a cutscene-heavy game, just walk away now. Nothing to see here.)

When I opened the case and found three discs, I knew I was in for a lot of cinematics, and if you like engaging cutscenes, this game does not disappoint. Three main characters' stories intertwine with a supporting cast to flesh out the story, a story so strange, it could only come from Japan. But if players get confused, the game also keeps a running written plot synopsis available. Players can also pause or skip cutscenes (many games can only skip, not pause), and save points are plentiful.

But enough about the pretty. What's the gameplay like? Movement and exploration work very well. While characters have little choice where to go, the camera works perfectly. Players know where to go and how to get there but can explore to find a few hidden bonuses along the way as well.In-game graphics look just like the cutscenes, so besides short load screens, the experience is fluid.

Combat uses a real-time turn-based system similar to previous Final Fantasy games. Players have a limited time to choose actions from a menu but don't actually control the movement of characters during combat. That said, as the game continues, the strategy gets more intense as players shift between offensive and defensive roles mid-combat, like a quarterback switching plays after the snap. When failing a combat, players can retry even before the combat ends, not needing to go back to the last save point. And even though the combat gets more complex, frequent in-game tutorials (which can be skipped) make the changes so gradually, players should have no problem understanding and controlling the depth of play.

For a turn-based game, the combat gets pretty frantic and requires quite a bit of concentration, dividing the attention between stats and combat options (frantic, but not unmanageable), so I wouldn't recommend it, for that reason, to anyone younger than 13. You'll also spend as much time watching cutscenes as actually playing the game, which some players will love, and some will despise. That said, those who like RPG's or have enjoyed previous Final Fantasy titles won't be disappointed (except in the acting, which is lousy). With amazing graphics, a challenging-but-not-insurmountable combat system, and a creative and unique game world, this one's a keeper.