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Review: AMBL: Alien Monster Bowling League for Wii

Dale — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:26:45 -0500

Throw Bowling from Wii Sports, Mario Kart-style weapons, and a handful of aliens and monsters into a blender, and you get...No! WAIT! NOT LITERALLY! STOP! OH, THE HUMANITY!!!

Anyway, back to the game. Alien Monster Bowling League is actually exactly what you'd expect from the title. With what must be deliberateely the most campy storyline ever conceived, light and darkness in the universe must be kept in the balance while saving the earth from a world-devouring machine via a tournament of bowling! I know what you're thinking, and yes, I think it was deliberately intended to sound like a B-movie, given the characters included.

In campaign mode, you take on the persona of a choice of four human characters, trying to save the earth. Play first against the other humans, then against five monsters (zombie, cyclops, werewolf, Dracula, and yeti), then against a handful of aliens. Characters each have their own personalities and comic gestures (Werewolf is a British gentleman, and Yeti speaks only in '80's song titles, while one of the aliens has a Cajun accent). As players progress, the bowling lanes add new challenges (like a Ski Ball-like lane or swinging pedulums) inspired by miniature golf courses. Power-ups appear, allowing players both to improve their own balls, like one that splits in half to catch a split or a ghost ball that allows players to stop the ball and aim, or attack the opponent by twisting the screen perspective, shaking the lane with an earthquake, or zapping the ball out of existence. Players can also save energy to use a super ball, which causes an automatic strike or spare, as applicable.

Players can choose from three difficuly levels, which made very little difference from what I could tell, and a choice between standard and battle mode. Standard allows players to take turns like a normal game, but in Battle Mode, players race through the game to rack up the most points the fastest, which will add some serious challenge for those who master the standard game.

Players who lose a game in campaign mode get a chance to save themselves via a turkey shoot, using the Wiimotes to point and shoot. Sadly, this mode does not become available in multiplayer mode, but players can play as the turkey in Multiplayer mode, which we'll return to.

Besides the controls you'd expect, like swinging the Wiimote to roll the ball, the game also offers a "Couch Potato Mode" using the nunchuk, Players will also need to hone their shooting skills, since pins left wobbling can be shot down with a few well-placed hits during the "Tilt."

Players can play through the campaign mode in an afternoon, but in doing so, they unlock all the monsters and aliens as playable characters for the 2-player multiplayer mode. Since the difficulty levels have little effect on the game, we found setting the younger kids to easy and adults to hard didn't really help, but they considered it fun anyway. A 4-6 player alternating mode or online play would have been nice, but this is a budget title.

A few of the characters wear outfits that leave little to the imagination, but overall, this is a family-friendly game.

Intuitive controls, innovative characters and environments, and unique elements make this title worth buying if you enjoy bowling. The campaign's difficulty level will keep young kids without a good sense of timing from succeeding, but an older or more experienced family member can unlock those levels to allow custom choosing of characters and environments to match the child's skill level. Grab a spare and enjoy.

Review: Sky Crawlers - Innocent Aces for the Nintendo Wii

zach — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:23:41 -0500

Sky Crawlers - Innocent Aces is a pretty game. And parts of the music make me wish I had a better sound system at home to play it on. But some clunky design choices outside of the actual gameplay prevent me from giving it an enthusiastic recommendation.

Sky Crawlers is based on an anime movie that I saw last year, which is in turn based on a series of books which did pretty well in Japan, despite their being released in reverse chronological order. Confused? Don't worry about it. Yes, the world is at peace. Except for the staged wars put on by corporations apparently so that people can have something to talk about in the newspaper. Your job as a pilot is to shoot down the enemy in this ongoing conflict. And their job is to shoot you down. See? Classic plot. Oh, and there may or may not be clones.

Now that the plot is out of the way (? Y'know, every now and then a particularly incomprehensible property comes out of the anime industry, and I've found that it's much easier just to go with it), let's talk about gameplay. The normal controls have you holding the nunchuck in your right hand, and the Wiimote in your left. The nunchuck is then handled like the stick in an airplane, and the Wiimote becomes your throttle. Tilt the nunchuck to turn, climb and dive. Tilt the Wiimote up to go faster, down to go slower. It actually works pretty well once you're used to having a Wiimote in your left hand. Combat is interesting. You fly around shooting the other guys, and that's pretty straightforward in a WWII Prop-planes No Missiles game, as this has been so far. But the game also rewards you for style. If you can fly your plane close to your intended target, a meter starts rising. Once you've got it to level 1, you can hit a button, and the game takes over, performs a bunch of fancy maneuvers, and deposits you directly behind the target. Pull trigger. Boom. Next target. There are occasional bombing missions, I had a recon mission that became an escort mission (flying something that handled like an ice cream truck), so there's an interesting mix of mission types. Even if you have no idea what the heck is going on outside the cockpit. You also have the option of playing with the Wii Classic Controller or a Nintendo GameCube controller. (Oh, my beloved Wavebird. Come fly with me!) On second thought... I like the normal control structure better. Which is odd, because usually with this sort of thing I am All About The Wavebird.

I've enjoyed the gameplay. However, the menu system is clunky. Whenever you select that you want to continue the campaign, you're presented with an option to go back to the tutorial. This is after having been through the tutorial already. And after having flown missions. Lots of missions. It's a minor annoyance, but it's one that irked me, so it's worth mentioning.

Also, some plot elements take place in conversation while you're dogfighting, and it can be a little distracting to try picking up on what everyone's talking about (Kildren? Wha?) while you're in the middle of making sure you don't get your plane perforated.

Now, some people might play this game, and have their curiosity piqued about the anime film. I've seen it, and the film was pretty, but slow, and sort of depressing. But the game is not the movie, despite the fully animated cutscenes. The game is a halfway decent combat flight sim, aside from the clunky and annoying menu structure. I think it also suffers from a lack of true multiplayer. The box indicates that 2 Wiimotes can be used, but it's basically like the multiplayer in Super Mario Galaxy - You can point your Wiimote at the screen and fire at things as though you were a secondary gunner aboard the fighter plane.

So, who would enjoy this? WWII sim lovers who don't mind an impenetrable plot. Anime fans who don't mind a clunky menu system. And flight sim players in general. If you don't mind the issues I've mentioned above, and the lack of multiplayer, maybe this game could find its way Sky Crawling into your collection.

Review: Daniel X: The Ultimate Power for the Nintendo DS

zach — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:42:20 -0500

Licensed games typically have a well-earned reputation for being pretty bad. Normally, I would have looked at this, seen that it was based on a James Patterson book, and walked away, shaking my head. And to be honest, the budget price wouldn't have boosted my curiosity either. I'd have put it back on the shelf and walked away... and missed out on the most fun I've had on the DS in months. It's as though someone read my mind while I was asleep, and created a game targeted directly at all my sweet spots.

All right, it's a license game so a lot of people will be familiar with the back story, but it's one based on a book, so let's go over the plot quickly. Daniel X is an alien. He looks human, but he's not. His parents were killed when he was a little kid, and he took up their mantle as "Alien Hunters", protecting the galaxy from all kinds of baddies. Because he's an alien, he has some super powers, like the ability to shapeshift. And move things with his mind. And create things out of thin air.

And kick evil alien hindquarter all over the place.

That's all explained in a cutscene in the first couple minutes of the game, which then leads into Daniel laying the beatdown on a particular baddie he's been chasing. Their spaceship crashes into a planet, and Daniel spends the rest of the game exploring, powering up, and eventually triumphing over evil. It's like a Metroid game without the ability to shoot anything. (Daniel even shapeshifts into a soccer ball to get through tight areas).

Combat (and there is a lot of it in this game) is tough, but fair. I never found myself frustrated at the GAME when I got beat. I learned from it, used some of the powers that I tend not to use (like, say, the block button?), and went back for more. Baddies can shoot at you, though, and that can get a little frustrating when you can't return the favor. What you can do instead, though, is grab the bad guys telekinetically, and hold them up for a moment as a shield, then throw them at other bad guys, so it's a tradeoff I was more than willing to make.

As you move through the game, your powers grow (yes, it's the ol' "The Crash Somehow Removed Your Powers" scheme, but I didn't mind it at all), and you gain new abilities. And if you don't like the abilities you've "purchased" with experience points? Cash 'em in and switch things around. You can "Upgrade" Daniel at any save point, and that includes the ability to remove prior combat and powers upgrades and swap them until you have something that fits your own personal play style.

Now, Daniel's powers of creation are somewhat limited in the game. They're used to create terrain pieces that block security laser grids and things like that. To create them, there's a drawing mini-game that I also enjoyed. (Fill in all the lines without going over the same line space twice - I enjoy that). If you've got kids who are frustrated by it, though, they can skip it by changing the settings in the game.

There's one thing that had me a little... weirded out, though, and that's Daniel's friends. See, being an alien hunter is a tough and lonely existence, and Daniel's not that old. So he has some... imaginary friends. And of course, being able to create things with his mind, occasionally they become not so imaginary. Something about seeing kids poof in and out of existence makes me wrinkle my brow a little, but that was pretty much the only thing that did.

Other than that, it's an enjoyable romp.

There's one other feature that's specific to the DSi - the ability to take pictures of people around you and "scan" them to determine if they're aliens or not. Apparently, I'm some kind of scaly thing from beyond the stars under all this. Who knew?

Seriously, though. This is a fun romp, and I'm looking forward to laying the smack on the final baddie. (Which would have happened last night, had my DS not died. Darn battery.) It's got the "Defeat Wave after Wave of Baddies" element of a Bad Dudes, the exploration and upgrading of a Metroid, and the occasional brain teaser element of a Brain Training. It's like three great tastes that taste great together. And it's convinced me to buy the Daniel X book and read it. And that - that wanting to read the book this game is based off of - that may just be the Ultimate Power.

UPDATE: After beating the final boss, you get the opportunity to replay the game - maintaining all of your experience points and health / damage / defense upgrades you've found in a Chrono Trigger-esque "New Game +". Like I said, it's like they sat me down in a room and asked me what would constitute a really fun game for me.

Buy "Daniel X: The Ultimate Power" from Amazon!
Buy "The Dangerous Days of Daniel X" (the book) from Amazon!

Review: Guitar Hero: Van Halen

zach — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:53:30 -0500

What can I say about Guitar Hero: Van Halen? Hmmmm... Well, we didn't know we'd gotten a copy until we'd come back from visiting family over the holidays? Ummmm... it's Guitar Hero?

Tell you what - go read my review of Guitar Hero 5. Now pretend that I said all that stuff about a game that featured a lot of Van Halen songs, and skip the parts about DLC and the DS. Yay! Review done! Because this is basically a Van Halen-heavy track pack. So what do we have to talk about? The songs and their lyrics!

Okay, there are a few extra things to talk about. The character customization is pretty good. You play as Van Halen on their songs, and as your band for anything done by anyone else. HOWEVER: Van Halen's members do not change over the course of the game. Rather, you play as the band as it is currently constituted, and as they currently dress. That means David Lee Roth (vocals), Eddie Van Halen (guitar), Wolfgang Van Halen (bass), and Alex Van Halen (drums). Everyone's pretty much in shirts and jeans until the final venue, when they take everyone back to the eighties with the giant hair and the (joy?) spandex.

Also, there are NO songs on the game from the Sammy Hagar period. So if you're a fan of, say, "Why Can't This Be Love", "Dreams", or "Runaround", then sorry, pals. You're out of luck. On the plus side, however, you get Everybody Wants Some, and Unchained, so it's not like I was going to break the disc in a fit of rage at the lack of the Red Rocker.

Below is a list of all the songs in this release, and a rating on their lyrics. Note: the lyrics in the actual game are edited, so you can run the kids through Master Exploder by Tenacious D without adding to their vocabulary. However, if your kids are anything like mine, they've recently discovered that you can find these songs on YouTube and other sites. And those aren't edited.

So, as with the Great Guitar Hero 5 Lyrics Review, understand that this is highly subjective, that what I find offensive and what you find offensive may be very different, etc. (For instance, I'm open to an argument that puts the lyrics to Judas Priest's Painkiller at a 1) Songs are rated 1-5, with a 1 meaning I could play it around my mother-in-law, and a 5 meaning I'm wincing as I'm reaching for the fast forward button. But if you have any questions about any of these, look up the lyrics yourself. A search for the band name, song name, and "lyrics" will pull up anything with lyrics.

Here they are:
Guitar Hero Van Halen Song List
Alter Bridge - "Come to Life" - 2
Billy Idol - "White Wedding" - 2
Blink 182 - "First Date" - 1
Deep Purple - "Space Truckin'" - 1
Foo Fighters - "Best of You" - 3
Foreigner - "Double Vision" - 2
Fountains of Wayne - "Stacy's Mom" - 3 (Wife says it's a 2)
Jimmy Eat World - "Pain" - 3 (Drug Use)
Judas Priest - "Painkiller" - 3 (Open to Debate)
Killswitch Engage - "The End of Heartache" - 2 for lyrics, but it SOUNDS like a 4 (screamy)
Lenny Kravitz - "Rock and Roll is Dead" - 4
Queen - "I Want It All" - 1
Queens of the Stone Age - "Sick, Sick, Sick" - 5 (Wow!)
Tenacious D - "Master Exploder" - 4 (In game, it's like a 2)
The Clash - Safe European Home - 4
The Offspring - Pretty Fly (for a white guy) - 3
Third Eye Blind - "Semi Charmed Life" - 5 (I had no idea. They must have a radio edit of this.)
Van Halen - "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" - 4
Van Halen - "Atomic Punk" - 2
Van Halen - "Eruption" - Instrumental
Van Halen - "Feel Your Love Tonight" - 4
Van Halen - "Ice Cream Man" - 3
Van Halen - "I'm the One" - 2
Van Halen - "Jamie's Cryin'" - 2
Van Halen - "Runnin' With The Devil" - 3 (also open to debate)
Van Halen - "You Really Got Me" - 2
Van Halen - "Beautiful Girls" - 3
Van Halen - "Dance the Night Away" - 2
Van Halen - "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" - 3
Van Halen - "Spanish Fly" - Instrumental
Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock" - 2 (yes, open to debate)
Van Halen - "Everybody Wants Some" - 4 (But I love it)
Van Halen - "Loss of Control" - 2
Van Halen - "Romeo Delight" - 3
Van Halen - "Hear About It Later" - 3
Van Halen - "Mean Street" - 3
Van Halen - "So This Is Love?" - 3
Van Halen - "Unchained" - 3
Van Halen - "Cathedral" - Instrumental
Van Halen - "Hang 'Em High" - 2
Van Halen - "Intruder/Pretty Woman" - 2
Van Halen - "Little Guitars" - 2
Van Halen - "Hot for Teacher" - 3 (Yeah, open to debate)
Van Halen - "Jump" - 1
Van Halen - "Panama" - 4
Weezer - "Dope Nose" - 3
Yellowcard - "The Takedown" - 2

And there you go. Enjoy!

Buy Guitar Hero Van Halen from Amazon!

Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for Wii

Dale — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:48:19 -0500

Which is more important in a game, play mechanics or graphic quality? The Final Fantasy series has excelled since Final Fantasy VII in graphics that push each successive console's capabilities, especially in its cutscenes, but Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers breaks through the weakness of its predecessors by merging the beauty of its cutscenes with the game engine, creating a completely seamless game play experience.

The game begins with a typical Final Fantasy cutscene, with slightly effeminate men, flying ships, and giant attacking birds. Without warning, a Wiimote appears on the screen, instructing the player to shoot at the giant birds. That follows with more cutscene, after which the title screen finally appears. Yes, all that excitement and gaming occurs before the opening menu.

The entire games flows like this, moving seamlessly from cutscene to action, alerting players of the time to react and how to do so, but at no time in this game did I ever see a load screen or have to wait for the next phase to load. Seriously. Playing this game is like controlling an actor in a strange and beautiful movie that combines fantasy and steampunk elements. When moving through various areas, the local populace continues on with their lives, playing arguing with each other, and not just standing around like in many RPG's, using a communication system similar to that of The Sims, expressing themselves via floating symbols. Like an actor, players have little control over the plot or direction of the story and basically just follow orders, but each combat and travel sequence allows players to unlock secrets, discover plot twists, and participate in unique combat using telekinesis as the primary weapon and using the Wiimote as it was intended.

Certain recurring Final Fantasy elements return in Crystal Bearers, like the chocobos (giant chicken steeds) and mogs (think "Hello Kitty" with power and attitude), but at the same time, this title presents a completely unique chapter in the Final Fantasy series, offering a vast variety of locales, enemies, and NPC's.

The game includes an auto-save feature, so players won't have to go back far in case of a failed mission. That said, this game, while it increases in difficulty over time, isn't all that difficult.

The game also includes a limited multiplayer option, allowing a second player to use a separate telekinesis control simultaneously with the first player. While this will help the first player, the second cannot control a second character, so it's a very limited role, although a great option for a slightly younger child who wants to "help" a parent or older sibling. The game is beautiful enouigh that the second player may not mind just watching much of the time.

Parents will note that players must steal as part of the game, so this may be a good chance to talk to your kids about such issues. Clothing on some characters can be somewhat immodest for some parents' taste, but not bad for a fantasy video game.

Some players just don't like long cutscenes. If you don't, you'll hate this game. But if you appreciate digital art and a good story in your game and want something different from the standard RPG, you'll really enjoy this one, one of my favorite RPG's ever. I recommend it, based on difficulty and content, for ages 11 to adult.

Review: Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition

Dale — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:45:59 -0500

The video game industry has become huge, a multi-billion dollar industry, far from the early days of Pong and Pac-Man. As it has blossomed, it has developed its own trends and set its own records. To commemorate the industry's various accomplishments, the Guinness Book of World Records has published a specific volume just for video games, the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition.

Laid out in the style of most video game magazines, this full-color folio-size book features facts and records from the early days of gaming to the present. Its 216 pages offer a fun read for fans of video games and trivia. The illustrations help keep the attention of those used to short game levels. Some game facts include:

Longest delay between video game installments: 21 years, Bionic Commando
First tennis videogame: Tennis for Two, 1958
Best selling game on any platform: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Parents will note that this book covers all video games, including M-Rated ones. Some of the illustrations depict violent scenes or characters with less-than-modest costumes, but as still images, there's nothing extremely controversial that will get this book on banned book lists. Still, you might want to leaf through it a bit before buying.

If you want your child to read or are a fan of gaming yourself, this volume offers an interesting collection of facts. If it sounds interesting to you, you'll likely enjoy it and consider it worth your $15, if you can put the controller down long enough to read it!

Review: MX vs. ATV Reflex for DS

Dale — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:52:59 -0500

The MX vs. ATV series has been the series by which all other motocross games are judged, but each new rendition doesn't always step up from the previous rendition, so how does this version measure up?

Reflex's new addition to the series features its "Rider Reflex" capability, which allows players to control the position of the rider on the bike, allowing for a more immersive experience. That, and the DS version includes trucks, both sport and monster. But we'll get to those momentarily.

The game follows much like its predecessor (read for full description). The menu system is slightly different, but in the end, it's a collection of Supercross (arena racing), Nationals (outdoor tracks), and Freestyle (stunt tracks). The controls were already superb, and the new engine only makes them better. The new level of strategy may frustrate younger players, but it's no more complicated to understand than Mario Kart, yet at the same time, it offers complexity to those wishing to squeeze a few extra points out of the game.

Reflex's Freestyle mode leaves Untamed's mode in the dust, offering true stunt arenas and non-linear directions, allowing players to go any direction they want, as long as they stay in the arena. This mode is probably the most difficult, which may be prohibitive to younger players but a great challenge to older ones.

Reflex also includes Trucks, both sport and monster. The two handle nearly identically, and they're much simpler to control than motorcycles or ATV's, since the Rider Reflex and stunt controls are disabled. While on the one hand, truck controls are easier, these trucks that should be able to drive over other vehicles somehow can't handle the slightest bump or even a little grass on the tires. Anytime a truck bumps a cliff side or gets a couple tires off the track onto the grass, the game treats it as a crash and backs the vehicle up to start again. Even when trucks start rubbing against each other, before any even comes to a halt, the game, like a boxing referee, pulls them apart and sends them back to their corners, which makes any kind of aggressive driving nearly impossible and extremely frustrating. As easy as the controls are, this draconian judging strips the fun out of truck racing.

As players play through the game, they unlock more and larger vehicles, including new costumes and vehicle colors (no form differences, just paint jobs). By playing Rival Races, players can unlock some names/costumes of famous drivers like Mike Alessi, Justin Brayton, Ryan Villopoto, and more, which may appeal to hardcore motocross fans. Overall, I found the selection limited and disappointing, but this is a minor aspect of the game, and more details wouldn't likely be noticeable during gameplay, anyway.

The game's sound offers decent effects, but the hardcore music may offend some parents/players, including some irreverent lyrics. The few included songs also get quickly repetitive. Thankfully, players can turn the music down or off, which most players will do after an hour or less of play.

Unlike its predecessor, Reflex for DS offers both single card and multi-card multiplayer, the latter offering more options, which is great for families who want to race together but not buy multiple copies of the same game, especially since the game offers 3 profile saves.

Overall, Reflex offers a nice step up from Untamed. It's still the best motocross game we've played, and this game gives a perfect example of the difficulty of improving excellence. Its polish outshines its flaws, so, though not perfect, it's a great game and is worth buying for about age 6 to adult.

Review: Crayola Crayon Maker

Dale — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:06:25 -0500

Broken crayons are ubiquitous in most households with children or grandchildren. Why throw them out when you can reuse them? That's the idea behind the Crayola Crayon Maker. Combine broken crayons into a tray, heat with a light bulb (Easy Bake Oven-style), and pour the melted wax into a mold. That's pretty much all there is to it.

The entire process takes about 30 minutes from beginning to end. Place crayons, lock shut for 20-24 minutes, watching the crayons melt and swirl together. After 10-12 minutes, the dial will point to a pouring symbol, which means it's time to pour the melted crayons into the molds. The pouring tray stays propped up to drip remaining wax. The lid unlocks after sufficient cooling so nobody gets burned, another 10 minutes. Crayons must sit in the mold for another 10 minutes to harden, but during that time, the melt tray can be cleaned. Quick application of a paper towel can get most of the residue out, scraping the rest with a plastic knife, followed by hot soapy water. A dishwasher can take care of the rest before storage. We found that a few remnants of wax left in the corners had no noticeable effect on future crayons, so if you're making a series of crayons, you won't need to wait for the dishwasher each time.

The resulting crayons are only half-size, but the maker includes two crayon holders to put crayons back-to-back. The tray allows for two color combinations to be made at once, each pouring into two molds, making a total of four half-crayons at a time.

The maker does require a 60-watt clear candelabra bulb (small base), not included, but it includes 8 crayons in case you have no broken crayons around.

While it includes nice safety features, this is definitely an "adult supervision" toy. Parents will need to help pour the wax and make sure the molds don't spill when removing from the maker to cool.

The maker recommends only using Crayola crayons to insure uniform melting, although most crayons should work, as long as users don't combine different brands. The melt timer can also be extended if crayons haven't fully melted in time, which may solve this issue. That said, we've always recommended Crayola crayons for their superior color over most other brands.

The timer lacks a bell to alert users to pouring time and the lid unlocking, which requires someone watching the timer or guessing (since the dial has no numbers) how long until it's done, and since the wax on the tray hardens quickly, parents will want to start cleaning it as quickly as possible. Hopefully, Crayola will add a bell or two to the next version, but while annoying, this lack is not a deal breaker.

My 8 and 11-year-old had a great time with this and look forward to making more specialized crayons. They're learning not only artistic creativity, but also color mixing. They've even started on a recipe book to keep track of their various color combinations.

Besides reducing waste, the Crayola Crayon Maker offers hours of creative expression, which creates more crayons for even more creative expression. If you have time to spend helping your kids with this, it's worth a buy.

Review: Playmobil Pirates for DS

KevinLeeC — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:42:52 -0500

Playmobil Pirates is a product that doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of what it wants to be. It’s based on the popular “imaginative play” figures that are aimed at younger children. The gameplay comes off as a simplified, linear version of Sid Meier’s Pirates. The content (which earned it an E10+ rating) veers into the adolescent periodically. I’m honestly not sure the designers had a clue about their intended audience.

The gameplay itself is decent, if occasionally frustrating. It opens with a cut scene of a mermaid princess being captured by the villainous soldiers. She hurls a scrap of map out the windows of a ship and that launches the player’s quest. Ultimately, players must complete 70 missions to gather all nine pieces of the map and rescue the mermaid.

Much of the game involves fetch quests of the type “go to point X to collect item Y and bring it to location Z.” All of the locations are islands, so the player will need to secure a ship. A convenient shipwright keeps a shop on some of the islands. Players can get gold in run-and-jump levels and then trade the gold for a ship. Better ships (of course) cost more gold, but even a simple raft is enough to get from one island to another. As players explore the map, they’ll find opportunities for trade which vastly increases their earning potential. As players progress through the missions, they’ll be asked to rescue shipwrecked pirates in a life-preserver-flinging mini-game, dive for sunken treasure in a jellyfish-dodging mini-game, battle soldier’s ships in a sea combat mini-game and vanquish sea serpents in a different sea combat mini-game. Most of these present little challenge, but occasionally the level of difficulty is ratcheted up to a level that would certainly frustrate most of the players who would be attracted to the game.

Most missions will involve a run-and-jump level on one (or more) of the islands. These involve sword-fighting with the soldiers while dodging crabs, scorpions, and coconut-throwing monkeys. The difficulty level increases as the game progresses and the final level is sure to frustrate pretty much all gamers with it’s blind jumps and complex timing.

Occasionally, the mission involves playing a betting game with Bony Bill the Cardsharp. These range from dice and card games to reasonably entertaining versions of air hockey and Battleship. Gambling is non-optional and these mini-quests must be completed before players are allowed to continue with the game.

More troubling is the content of some of the fetch quests. In one, the player has to secure a “Mango Milkshake” for a clearly inebriated pirate who is desperate for another drink. In another, the head pirate jokes that he enticed his crew aboard with the promise of beer.

Really?

Did somebody think that alcohol jokes were a good idea in a game based on a line of children’s toys?

Worse yet, there are a number of instances of language that parents are likely to find troubling.

A frustrated pirate demands that the player, “ask him where the d*mned wood is” (asterisk mine.) Another laments “If my wife finds out about this she'll give me h*ll!” (asterisk mine.) Yet another complains that a parrot “sh.. in my eye!” (dots included in game text.)

Really.

While it’s easy to see why the game was given an E10+ rating, it’s tough to understand why the designers thought it was necessary to include this kind of language.

For most players, the game will provide a very few hours of mild entertainment. Once the main game is completed, the only replay value comes from the single-card multi-player option which permits you to challenge another DS owner to the Battleship game.

Playmobil Pirates for DS should have been an entertaining product for the younger players. Instead, it’s a disappointing product that can’t seem to figure out what niche it wants to occupy.

Review: Dragon Ball Revenge of King Piccolo

PD Love — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:21:39 -0500

I never knew of Dragon Ball the anime series but was intrigued by the game Dragon Ball Revenge of the King Piccolo by Bandai Namco Games. My sons are fans of a lot of the anime series and games and this title seemed to have a different approach over the standard Pokemon, Bakugan and Chaotic types. This one seemed to be more of an adventure type game rather than just dueling.

To this point, we were not disappointed. Dragon Ball allows for a story mode where players take on the task of finding items, progressing through various challenges and fighting off adversaries. The tasks are challenging and require both timing, skill and problem solving. Use of the Wii Remote is fairly well done and required the numchuck unless using the old style adapter.

Story mode was fun but the interaction with other characters, the telling of the story and the setup seemed a bit long winded. For those who become a bit impatient, this setup may be a bit tough to sit through. It does lend to the story and the overall game play but seemingly it could be condensed a bit or at least offer options to shorten it without losing the important elements of the story.

There is also a head to head tournament mode that allows two players to square off against each other in battle. This area requires timing and use of special attacks based on the character you command. I found this area to be more fun than the story mode because we were able to play two player and aside from a little trash talking, enjoy a competitive round of battle.

Having not been one to watch the original series, I can't speak to accuracy with the story line or about special features involved in the game that series fans would notice. It does seem to me that some form of two player story mode should be available but it appears that is not an option. Game play overall is fun and I find it more enjoyable than some of the other anime titles, especially the tournament battle. The cast of characters are enjoyable and distinctive, which adds to the fun, even for a novice such as myself.

Review: My Virtual Tutor Reading K-1st

PD Love — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:44:14 -0500

Making learning fun is a magical combination. Mentor Interactive pulls it off with My Virtual Tutor Reading for the DS, in a big way. The demo we received was for K to 1st Grade but my 3rd grader had a lot of fun with the game. The game was fun, informative, challenging at times and will hopefully add to his reading comprehension, even at his level of reading.

The game is broken into the 4 areas: Books, Phonics, Quiz and Options. Through each area and level you are guided by a tutor, represented by a woman in glasses whose voice is kind and easy. Gentle music plays in the background creating a soothing environment in which to learn.

The Books section allows you to select from 7 different stories. Each story allows the player to listen to the story read to them, where the kind tutor reads the story audibly and the words light up on the screen for the reader to follow. Also, the player can explore the story which has the listener respond to questions about the story in an interactive manner throughout the story. Next the player can participate in the "I Can Read" section. In this section the reader responds to the tutor by reciting a sentence or phrase after it is read to them. Their audio response is then analyzed. Finally, there is a paint section that allows the listener to make a picture and color it while the story is read to them.

In the Phonics section, the player can participate in the Starts, Rhymes, Contains and Sound Out sections. These activities are broken into Tutor and Challenge activities that make learning fun and game like. For example, the Start section may ask the player to select words that Start with the "ch" sound as various words fly by. For Contains, it may ask the player to select words that contain a particular letter or sound. The activities are scored like a game and fun to play.

In the Quiz section, the game aspect comes alive. Players can select prizes to play for and to earn the prize, them must complete several activities to "uncover" the prize. These activities span all the learning areas and other activities and include creating words from a jumble of letters as well as some cognitive questions. This area feels much like a game where a player can get lost in learning.

The last section is Options and besides the typical sound and other audio level adjustments, it includes the Parent Mode section. This section allows parents to review progress and stats for the book and phonics sections. This is a great feature to allow parents to identify any areas that they can work on with their student.

One of the amazing things about this game is the overall positive feel of play. Players are encouraged throughout the activities and encouraged based on what they are doing which creates a great learning experience. This aspect alone would make the game well worth it for your young student, but the truth is that they will have fun, they will learn and that is a combination that makes for a great success. My Virtual Tutor can tutor my sons anytime.

Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 for the Sony PSP

rmgreg — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:04:58 -0500

In the world of Tech Talk for Families’ Reviews, I’m the only one with a Sony PSP. So when a video game for that particular console comes down the line, I’m the one who gets to put it through its paces and serve up a review. Such was the case when fellow TTfF Reviewer PD Love emailed me to ask if I wouldn’t mind that he’s sending me a copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 for the Sony PSP from Konami. Yu-Gi-Oh!?!?!?! Isn’t that that anime television show that I’ve never really seen based on a card game that I’ve never played? Sure I can do a review, no sweat. I mean, how hard can it be? It’s based on a kid’s card game after all, right??? [sarcasm] Rrrriiighhhhht[/sarcasm]

Monster Mash

So I booted Tag Force 4 up on my PSP and gave it a go, and promptly got my butt whipped by the virtual equivalent of a 5-year-old. Ouch! In my defense, I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. I was involved in some sort of Duel, pushing buttons, and serving-up my monsters on silver platters, which were swiftly dispatched and devoured by said smiling virtual 5-year-old.

Two minutes later, I was on Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Wikipedia Page trying to understand the card game just enough to make a decent showing. And to quote a line from the movie Beetlejuice, the thing “read like stereo instructions.” Next, I emailed Digital Dale for advice and he basically suggested that I seek out a 5-year-old Yu-Gi-Oh! tutor. Unfortunately, neither my 5-year-old Caleb, nor my 8-year-old Nikolai had a clue as to how to play the game either. To quote Nikolai, “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

So I gave the game another try, figuring that if the creators of Yu-Gi-Oh! really wanted me to become engaged in their game, eventually purchasing the cards for myself and someday participating in Duels, then it would be in their best interest to include some sort of tutorial within the game. Well, first I found the Help Screen. I completely read through that, and though it was confusing because I really didn’t have a reference for the nuisances of the game, I was able to at least get the gist. In fact, after reading the help section, I won my first Duel, to both Nikolai (who was looking over my shoulder) and my surprise.

After that, I looked through the owner’s manual and found a reference to a Beginner’s Guide, which lead me to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Tutorial, complete with video and textual walk-through. Finally.

I Put A Spell On You

As for the video game itself, Tag Force 4 is made up of a Story Mode, where you move around New Domino City meeting characters, participating in Duels, and partnering up with other characters in order to participate in Tag-Team Duels. In the Free Duel mode, the player participates in immediate, random Duels. The player also has the option to edit their deck in the Deck Menu, check out the characters in the Database, or connect Ad Hoc to Duel and Trade with friends.

It’s A Trap

The video game’s visuals aren’t all that fancy, which kinda surprised me. In the bits and pieces I have caught of the Yu-Gi-Oh! television series, I recalled larger-than-life animation effects whenever a monster is summoned during a Duel. Well, there’s none of that here. Unfortunately, what is here is the over-the-top emoting of your Dueling partners and opponents. I can honestly say without a doubt that I have never seen a playing card turned over with such flair before.

Overall Impressions

Now there are those who are very familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! who might look at Tag Force 4 and think, “Yeah, what-ever!” But as a person who was very unfamiliar with the card game, I was impressed by this introduction to the game. Don’t flame me for this comment, but turn-down the extravagance of the Monsters, the Spells, and the Traps and Yu-Gi-Oh! becomes a strategic/luck-of-the-draw game somewhat akin to Risk or Hearts. In fact, I’d recommend the Tutorial and Play-By-Yourself aspects of this game to anyone who’s interested in learning how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! So with that in mind, I’m giving Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force 4 for the Sony PSP 6 out of 8 Dancing Elephants because, even though the game isn’t exactly my cup of tea, it was nice to play a battle-style video game without having to push buttons to use weapons in order to maim, kill or destroy.

Parting Thoughts

In the Tag Force 4’s Beginner’s Guide, it is recommended that the player Duel against weaker opponents, i.e. the Children Characters in order to learn strategies and build confidence… Remarkable how quickly that confidence is vanquished when one loses to a supposedly weaker opponent like a doe-eyed child.

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

Review: Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising for the Sony PSP

rmgreg — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:08:08 -0500

In the past, I’ve been rather critical of video games based on movies or books because, for the most part, the game is just a rehashing of the original’s storyline. The only difference is this time you, as the player, get to step into the shoes of the main character, saying their lines and going through their motions in a story plot that you are most likely already familiar with. So with that in mind, how can I be overly critical of a video game based on a manga franchise that I’ve never heard of before? Such is the case of Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising for the Sony PSP from Bandai Namco Games.

Katana

Okay, before I begin, I should admit that I did check out Wikipedia to get a little background on Naruto. Basically it’s a manga series that tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki growing up in the ninja village Konohagakure and his life goal of becoming the Hokage, or ninja leader for the village. Along the way he befriends two comrades, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno; together they form ninja team called Team 7 under the leadership of an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. The role of Team 7 is to go on missions for the villagers, such as traveling to collect items or acting as bodyguards.

In Akatsuki Rising, Naruto has just returned to Konohagakure after traveling abroad with Jiraiya. Once back Naruto begin a series of adventures culminating in an effort to rescue Sand Village Kazekage Gaara from the baddies, the Akatsuki.

Shuriken

When I first opened the case for Akatsuki Rising and pulled out the instruction manual, I was a little taken aback by the 39 pages of instructions needed to play the game. This is quite a departure from a lot of the video games I’ve reviewed in the past where the instructions are rather lacking. Anyway, with the 39 pages, I had a dreaded feeling that it was going to be a hopeless cause to try to play this game. I soon was surprised to learn that as far as fighting style video games go, this one is rather simple--almost too simple to play.

Basically, one uses the analog stick to move the character, the Square button to attack, X button to jump, Circle button to dodge, Triangle button to use a Ninja Tool, the L button to target a foe, and the R button to use the Ninjutsu moves. To rapidly attack an opponent, simply press the Square button… Wait for it… Rapidly. What could be easier? None of this hit the Square-Triangle-Square-Square-Circle-Circle buttons in order to execute a Double Salchow with an over-the-head Death-Strike. However, it soon becomes apparent that just rapidly striking the Square button does not a good video game make.

The game contains 4 playing modes including Scenario Mode, which is your basic story mode. Playing this mode is required to unlock aspects of the other modes. The other modes are Mission Mode, which allows the player to accept missions of various difficulty, Survival Mode, which allows the player to go into an arena-type battle as either a Leaf or Sand ninja,and finally, Battle Mode, which is your basic one-on-one battle.

Kusarigama

Because this game is based on a manga series, the story plot is a big part of the game. This means that once again, the characters play their part as characters in order to tell the story. I only wish that Akatsuki Rising took a cue from other video games and used computer generated video clips to tell the story rather than having one character speak, and then waiting for the player to press the X button so that the next character can say their brief line, and then waiting for the X button to get pressed again before continuing. I really don’t get the point of having to wait for the X button to get pressed just so we’ve acknowledged that something has been said and we heard or read it. Not to mention that after a while, it gets rather tiresome.

Overall Impression

As far a fighting-style video games go, in hand-to-hand combat for the most part, [please rewrite that part. Awkward] Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising for the Sony PSP is one of the easiest to get a grasp of. I think I could have gotten a little more into the game if I were just a touch more familiar with the overall story, however the fault there lies with me and not the game. So with that in mind, I’m giving Akatsuki Rising 6 out of 8 Dancing Elephants, because for the first time ever in a fighting video game, I didn’t feel like an absolute virtual ninja klutz.

Parting Thoughts

After seeing the character Naruto Uzumaki I’ve gotta ask, “Really, how many ninjas would be caught dead sporting spiky blond hair and wearing an bright orange jump suit… Oh yeah, all of them.”

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

Review: Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii

rmgreg — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:02:34 -0500

I recently reviewed THQ’s Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter video game for the Nintendo DS and I was left less than unimpressed. So in this review, my son Nikolai (age 8) got his hands on Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii. Based on the fact that he still cracked a smile after playing the game for the better part of a day, I’ll assume that he made out a lot better in his review than did I.

Pencil Sketches

Now the first thing to note is that Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii is nothing like Nintendo DS version. First and foremost, there is a lot less character jabbering. See my review on the DS version for my issues with character jabbering in that game. Another thing to note is that the overall story is different. Sure, both games take place in Raposa, where Mari is the Mayor of the village, Jowee is a supporting character, and Wilfre is the main baddy. It’s also similar in that the player takes on the role of the Creator, who helps the people of Roposa by creating a Hero to defend them. However, from this point on, the games begin to differ. In this version, items are being stolen from the village… Magical items… Magical items that can bring about the destruction of the Creator. While in the DS version, it was the colors that make up the Raposan world that were being stolen.

Ink and Paper

Drawn to Life for the Wii plays like a two dimensional Mario-type game where the character attempts to navigate obstacles and pitfalls while collecting bonus items and completing challenges. Only in this game, we discover that the Creator’s Pen can be somewhat mightier than the sword. During the game, the Hero will encounter Drawing Tools, where the Creator will be able to draw items that the Hero needs to complete a certain task in the game. In addition, there are required Action Drawings, marked by dashed lines in the game where the Creator may be required to draw a platform for the Hero to stand on, or a ball for the Hero to roll, or a block for the Hero to climb. Like I mentioned in my DS review for the game, think of it as something akin to Harold and the Purple Crayon.

White-Out

As I mentioned before, I had a real problem with the DS version of this game, so before I sat-down to watch Nikolai play this version of the game I asked him if he was having a problem with the Wii version, particularly in the storytelling. He seemed a bit confused by my question and it was only after I sat and watched him play the Wii version for a while that I realized that my assumption that the both versions of the game were the same was mistaken. It was just my dumb luck that I got the lousy version of the game.

Overall Impressions

So as I alluded to earlier, Nik spent the better part of a day playing this game. Actually, it was more like a couple of days, and it was I who spent the better part of a day watching him play. Nik only stopped playing when he asked me if I had seen enough and could he quit the game and move onto something else. In other words, Nik sacrificed the better part of a day playing this game for our review… What a little trooper. So with that in mind, Nikolai has decided to give Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii 99 Thumbs Up out of 100, stating that the game got easily boring after awhile.

Parting Thoughts

All right, show of hands; who thinks they could solve a lot of their problems with Harold’s Purple Crayon??? Yeah, thought so.

In the Interest of Full Disclosure: We received a free copy of this game for review purposes and a box of sidewalk chalk.

Review: Half-Minute Hero for the Sony PSP

rmgreg — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:53:07 -0500

So there’s 12 months in a year, ~30 days in a month, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. And in Half-Minute Hero for the Sony PSP from XSeed Games, you’ve only got 30 of those seconds to complete a level. I’ve got to admit that the idea of a video game where you only had 30 seconds to complete the level sounded rather intriguing, I mean how tough can a game be if it only takes half a minute to complete a mission? Yeah right. I’ve also come to the realization that this game’s programmers subscribe to the notion that Rome was built in a day.

Analog Clock

In Half-Minute Hero, there are four different gaming modes in which to watch the timer count down your 30 seconds for the level:

There’s Hero 30 Mode, in which you have 30 seconds to help the Hero gather tools, solve problems, and defeat the Evil Lord. Basically this game involves running… A lot of running. To help save time, the monster/enemy engagements that occur in this game are performed automatically. That’s right, why bother yourself with actually having to play the game? In fact, it is somewhat encouraged to avoid these engagements altogether, I mean you only have 30 seconds after all. And speaking of those 30 seconds, there is a way to replenish time on the clock, and that is to pray-to/pay-off the Time Goddess. So in a sense, your 30 seconds can last minutes depending on your religious devotion to time, and more importantly, the amount of cash you’ve got in your purse.

In Evil Lord 30 Mode, you have 30 seconds in which to strategize and summon your monsters, which consist of Brutes, Nimbles, and Shooters, to battle and defeat the enemy hordes, which also consists of Brutes, Nimbles, and Shooters. The game describes this mode as a bit like Rock-Paper-Scissors in that one type of monster is better at defeating a second type of monster while losing to the third type of monster. The strategy is to quickly figure out which monster to use for a given enemy in order to quickly dispatch them and finish the level in the allotted 30 seconds. This mode can be rather frustrating, because of course you won’t be facing just one type of monster per level, so you’ll have to think fast and make sure the right type of monster is engaging a particular enemy. Oh, and if you need more time to finish the level, once again there is a Time Goddess Statue. If you touch it, the clock resets to 30 seconds, but it’s gonna cost you money.

Princess 30 Mode is a shooting game in which you have 30 seconds to leave the castle, carried by your soldiers, shoot your way through the enemy hordes, collect a particular item and return to the castle before curfew (30 seconds) at which time the drawbridge is raised. The interesting aspect of this game is that the Princess is carried by her troops, who besides carrying her, also help protect her. During battle, as troops are injured or killed as they take hits from the enemy, their ability to move the Princess quickly begins to fade, making it more difficult to get back to the castle before curfew. The more enemies that the Princess vanquishes with her trusty crossbow, the more the morale of her soldiers increases, allowing them to move her faster. And once again, there is a way of increasing time on the clock at the cost of money by walking across the Time Goddess Carpet.

Finally, there is Knight 30 Mode in which you play the Knight who is protecting a Sage from the enemy hordes. The Sage is in the process of casting a spell and it’s gonna take him, you guessed it, 30 seconds in which to perform the spell. As the Knight, you can pick up rocks and stick to fight back the enemy hordes or use items that the Knight has made during his off time. The Knight also has the ability to move the Sage around in order to place him in areas of better defense. If the Knight should die during battle, his spirit can go to the Sage and be revived. One last thing: unlike the previous three modes, there is no paying off the Time Goddess to increase the time on the clock, which makes sense because why would you want to increase the time it takes for the Sage to cast his spell?

Digital Clock

So as I started playing the game, I was enjoying the opening graphics when all of a sudden, they went all pixilated on me… For some reason, the designers of this game decided to go old school and use 8-bit graphics for the characters and environments. Why? I don’t know. But the result can be somewhat annoying. There are times when it’s hard enough to see what’s happening on the small Sony PSP screen playing a regular video game let alone one that has gone all pixilated in 8-bit graphics. Other than that, the game captures the movements of the old Adventure style games of the past. So if you’re looking for that old school look, then this might just be your game.

Hour Glass

According to the back of the box, Half-Minute Hero consists of over 100 levels totaling more than 20 hours of game play, 30 seconds at a time. Okay, so let’s do the math. For the moment, let’s say that you don’t complete the mission the first time and you have to start over, or that you’re beginning to run out of time and you have to pay off the Time Goddess to reset the clock. And let’s say that you have to do either of these thing about 10 times per level meaning that rather taking 30 seconds to complete a level, it actually takes you 30 times 10, or 300 seconds, to complete a level. With 100 levels, that calculates out to 30,000 seconds to complete most of the game play. Since there are 3,600 seconds in an hour, dividing 30,000 by 3,600 gives us 8.33 hours. So what’s up with the remaining 11.67 hours of the game time that is claimed on the back of the box? Well as far as I can figure, it is taken up by the endless prattle (in the form of printed text) between the 8-bit characters before, after, and during the challenges. Trust me when I say that some of the conversations took more than half-a-minute just to get through. And most them were as pointless as discussions on the weather. Yeah, as a game player, I could have done without those conversations.

Overall Impressions

Okay I’ll admit it, the idea of a video game where you have to think fast and act fast to solve the level in 30 seconds really intrigues me. However, Half-Minute Hero for the Sony PSP with its 8-bit graphics and the character’s endless blah, blah, blah left me rather flat. So with that in mind, I’m giving it 4 out of 8 Dancing Elephants. Better luck next time.

Parting Thoughts

What’s with my luck lately? This is the second game where I’ve had to deal with the endless discussion on the color of the sky between characters in a video game. The first was Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo DS. Gee, I really hope this isn’t an emerging trend. I hope, I hope, I hope.

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

Review: World of Zoo fro the Nintendo Wii

rmgreg — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:14:26 -0500

Many, many moons ago, I tried adopting a virtual pet in the form of a fish in an aquarium on a PC. My fish, which I named Sushi, lasted about a day--not because it died on me mind you, but because I was afraid it was going to die on me. So I practiced a touch of virtual preemptive euthanasia and saved everyone involved a bit of depressing aggravation.

These days, virtual animals have taken on a life of their own, so to speak. Case in point is World of Zoo for the Nintendo Wii by THQ. However, in this game you're not responsible for just one animal but for a whole menagerie with eleven habitats, which can house multiple animals of both the adult and infant variety.

Kibble

The animals that find themselves under your charge include antelopes, bears, big cats, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, horses, koalas, small monkeys, pandas, and penguins. As their handler, it is up to you to keep them healthy and happy. When the animals are happy, you earn hearts. As you earn more hearts you get promoted, which unlocks more features in the game. The senior animal position earned is known as the Whisperer for that particular animal, eg. you can become a giraffe Whisperer.

Another feature of the game is collecting Star Tokens for completing certain tasks or challenges concerning the upkeep of your animals. Earning Star Tokens allows you to do additional things like purchase more animals or add new features to the animals’ habitat.

Squeaky Toy

Interacting with the animals is pretty straightforward. Basically, you use the Wii Remote to control a gloved hand icon on the screen. With the gloved hand icon, you can pet the animals or interact with their environment. You also use the gloved hand to access your caregiver inventory, which includes various foods for the different types of animal species. A bit of a side-note, as strange as it may seem, there appears to be a consistent item on the dietary menu for most of animals: spicy sushi, go figure. Anyway, also in the caregiver’s inventory are playthings like different types of balls or balloon animals for your animals to interact with. Sometimes the animals will let you know what type of ball they want to play with by projecting a thought balloon over their head with an image of the sought-after plaything. Rounding out the caretaker inventory are the tools needed to keep the animals healthy (one standard animal medical scanner), clean (one standard animal brush and one standard animal hose), and poop-free (one standard animal poop vac).

Pooper Scooper

The thing about virtual pets is that they're interesting in the beginning, however after a while you quickly discover how much they lack in appeal when compared to the real thing. Soon, you end up ignoring the virtual animal, and in cases where the virtual animal needs daily attention, the virtual animal dies. However, this is not the case with this game; thank heaven for small favors. Rather, you soon discover that you try to find ways to annoy the virtual animal just to do something different and to see how the virtual animal responds. I suppose this was how Nikolai (age 8) discovered this item in his caregiver’s inventory, an air horn one can use to wake-up/startle the Big Cats ... Oh my, the things we do to amuse ourselves.

Overall Impressions

For this review, Nikolai took the animal reins, as it were, and I watched him play. He did pretty well achieving the level of Big Cat Whisperer despite often startling the Big Cats with the air horn. So he was seriously engaged in the game. With that said, he's decided to give World of Zoo for the Nintendo Wii 99 Thumbs Up out of 100 because after awhile he felt that the game got boring… And once again, I cite as evidence, the air horn.

Parting Thought

As I mentioned before, many, many moons have past since the passing of Sushi and I have come to the realization: who needs a virtual pet when one has kids?

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

Review: Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo DS

rmgreg — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:58:32 -0500

Sequels are an interesting breed of creature, in that you pretty much know what to expect, but you can never really guarantee what you’re gonna get. Take Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo DS from THQ as an example. About a year ago, I wrote a review for Drawn to Life: SpongeBob Squarepants Edition (which was a spin-off of the original Drawn to Life) and found its game play to be very unique and interesting… Too bad the novelty has worn off.

Sketch Pencil

In Drawn to Life the player takes on the role of the Creator, who basically has the ability to draw things to life. The game follows the adventures of Mari, the Mayor of the village, Jowee, an adventurous guy, and the Hero, which you, as the Creator, create. The baddie of the story is Wilfre, who is stealing the color from the Ropasas’ world in which the game takes place. In an attempt to avoid disappearing as the color vanished from the village, some of the villagers, including Mari and Jowee, escaped on a turtle ship, which appears as a small village on the back of a large seafaring turtle. From there, they travel to other islands, which are also experiencing a loss of color in attempt to stop Wilfre and return color to the Ropasas’ world. To succeed, they’re gonna need your help as the Creator and the Hero that you’ve created.

Ink and Pen

Drawn to Life for the DS basically plays like the old Mario video games: the player controls the Hero, moving him/her from left to right over a two-dimensional action area in which the Hero jumps, climbs, flies, runs, and swims over, under, and through obstacles while battling all sorts of bad dudes. What makes Drawn to Life unique is that along the way you, as the Creator, may be called upon to help the Hero by using the DS stylus to draw a platform for him to jump upon or a surfboard for her to ride upon or a weapon for him to battle with. Think of it as something akin to Harold and the Purple Crayon, only that the drawing doesn’t so much tell the story as it helps to move it along.

Eraser

As I started playing, the first thing I discovered is that you really have to be in the right frame of mind to play this game. For me, most video games are a form of escape: a distraction from what I’m really supposed to be doing at that particular moment. In other words, a video game is a legalized form of responsibility avoidance. Within three minutes of playing Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter, I discovered that I had to be in a drawing mood and a reading mood. Not to mention that I had to be willing to put up with the overly cute, happily smiling characters that make up the Ropasas people.

With regards to all of the drawing required to play the game, I quickly found out that the game does come with templates to help the Creator design and draw the required item. With the tap of the stylus, the Creator can fill in the template, thus creating the needed item without having to draw a single line. Trust me when I say that this hidden gem of a function helps save time in playing this game. And trust me again when I say that after awhile, you’ll be searching for little shortcuts in playing this game, because another annoying feature is that there is a lot of storytelling by the characters in the form of texted speech. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind reading a good story… A GOOD story!!! Unfortunately, that is not the case with this video game. Reading the long-winded conversations between the characters got to be a bit much. Basically, the game boiled down to read all of the talk, talk, talk between the characters followed by the Hero’s Mario-esque challenge level followed by more talking, and then another challenge level, more talking, challenge, and so on. I don’t mind having to read in a video game in order to understand the story behind the game, but really, must it be a tome?

Overall Impressions

As I recall, I liked Drawn to Life: SpongeBob Squarepants Edition for its unique playing style. I tried to like Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter, but it just seriously lacked any appeal. Therefore, I’m giving it 3 Dancing Elephants out of 8 because I can see the potential for a game like this, but boy did THQ miss the mark.

Parting Thoughts

So, my job was to play Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo DS and Nikolai’s (age 8) job was to play Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo Wii… Here’s to hoping that he had more fun.

In the Interest of Full Disclosure: We received a free copy of this game for review purposes and a box of sidewalk chalk.

Review: Dragon Ball: Raging Blast for Xbox 360, PS3

Dale — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:14:21 -0500

Are you an alien who lost your tail in battle a long time ago? What about an insect-like android? If you know what I'm talking about, you probably own this game already. If you don't, go buy it. You'll like it. It's good.

For everyone else, you're probably heard of the Dragon Ball franchise. The story revolves around a man in various stages in life, Goku, who finds out the source of his phenomenal cosmic power. No, he's not a genie. He's an alien, and his brother wants him to help take over the earth, but he's partial to these weak humans.

This game is, in many ways, the ultimate game for the franchise. It includes a story mode allowing players to play as both hero and villain through all of the most important events in the series. If the player gets stuck on an event, just skip to the next part of the story. Eventually, these fights will need to be won to unlock other stories and later events, but this option at least prevent frustration. For those unfamiliar, a short text back story gets players up to speed, so even someone with no knowledge whatsoever can get up to speed on what's going on. Not knowing much about the series myself, I had no problem figuring it out.

This game is, in essence, a one-on-one fighting game, but don't compare it with Street Fighter-style games. While it has many different attack combinations, the similarities pretty much end there. The main focus is on managing "Ki" power, which players can charge up to unleash tremendous special attacks, but while charging, characters leave themselves vulnerable, unable to block attacks.

The game's arenas cover what appears to be about 1/8 of a cubic mile or more, allowing players to slam opponents into mountains (and watch the cliffs crumble in the massively destructible environments) or to the bottom of a lake, then fly down, and continue the battle underwater (but I'm not sure how they talk clearly underwater).

The game uses every button on the controller, including all three direction sticks and pads, so those who have trouble keeping buttons straight will need some time to get used to the mix, although I'm one of those, and I got used to the controls quickly. Just make sure to read the instructions, and use the Dojo, a practice mode, to practice the moves and learn strategy tricks. Hardcore players will spend time learning all the various combos and special moves available, many of which need to be unlocked. Others, including additional characters and character forms, can be downloaded via Xbox LIVE Marketplace or Playstation Network. Here's a schedule of free downloadable content (note: packs will be available on same days for both platforms, except holidays as noted):

Nov. 24, 2009 (PlayStation Network): Warriors on Earth Pack – Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu
Nov. 26, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace): Warriors on Earth Pack – Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu
Dec. 10, 2009: Alien Warriors Pack – Vegeta (Scouter), Raditz, Nappa, Zarbon and Dodoria
Dec. 22, 2009 (PlayStation Network): Ginyu Force Pack – Captain Ginyu, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Guldo
Dec. 24, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace): Ginyu Force Pack – Captain Ginyu, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Guldo
Jan. 7, 2010: Androids Pack – Android #16, Android #17, Android #18, Android #19 and Dr. Gero
Jan. 21, 2010: Warriors of Justice Pack – Kid Gohan, Gohan, Kid Trunks, Goten and Videl
Feb. 4, 2010: Revived Warriors Pack – Majin Buu, Kid Buu, Broly, Super Gogeta and Super Saiyan 3 Broly
Feb. 18, 2010: Saiyans Pack – Majin Vegeta, Trunks (Fighting Teen), Vegito, Bardock and Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta
March 4, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 1 – Goku, Teen Gohan, Piccolo, Bardock and Super Gogeta
March 18, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 2 – Majin Vegeta, Frieza, Android #17, Android #18 and Cell
April 1, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 3 – Vegeta (Scouter), Vegeta, Trunks (Sword), Vegito and Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta
April 15, 2010: Ultimate Warriors Pack 4 – Majin Buu, Super Buu, Kid Buu, Broly and Super Saiyan 3 Broly

The game also includes several other modes like Super Battle Trial, where players battle with different sets of rules, like timed battles, or infinite life and power but a time limit. Add in a tournament mode, Xbox LIVE battles (with multiple options), standard Versus mode, and a customize mode that allows players to mix and match characters with various moves, allowing each to create the ultimate character and save those settings, up to three "decks" per character. As a little extra that makes a big difference, the load screens have a built-in minigame allowing players to pass the time and get a few extra points at the same time. This vast collection insures replay value for months or years to come, a major selling point.

That said, the game is not without its drawbacks. Even though it has a manual camera control, that control doesn't work well, so not only can finding your opponent be difficult at times, but you can also actually lose yourself from the camera, making targeting rather difficult. Also, the "attack, charge, attack," combat system will not appeal to those looking for a more constant combat system, but this is more a matter of preference than a flaw.

Rated "T" (for violence, mostly) and probably, due to the complexity of the controls, best for age 13+, if you're a fan of the series, why are you still reading? Go buy it. If not, this is still a decent game. Because of the unique fighting system that takes some getting used to, you may want to rent before buying to see what you think of it. Once you get your hands on it, give it some time before you dismiss it. It took me an hour or two before I really liked the combat system, but I could do basic fighting before reading the instructions.

Review: Hands On! Tangrams for DS

KevinLeeC — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:12:54 -0500

If you’re looking for a last minute stocking stuffer for a DS-owning friend (or just a pleasant little diversion so you can relax after you’ve done all of your shopping) you could do far worse than to pick up a copy of Storm City Games’ Hands On! Tangrams.

The game is based on the ancient Chinese puzzle game which challenges players to arrange seven standard pieces into a predefined shape. The pieces can be rotated or flipped, but must perfectly match the target shape.

In the real world, this usually involves arranging (and re-arranging) wooden pieces on top of a picture. The DS version provides a nice analog to the real-world version. Using the stylus on the touch screen, players drag the pieces onto the picture and flip and turn them using the buttons. Gameplay is smooth and very nearly intuitive.

A timer tracks how long it takes to complete each puzzle, but there’s no actual time limit. Complete the puzzle quickly enough and you’ll be awarded a medal -- gold, silver or bronze -- that gives you bragging rights, but nothing else. Once the puzzle is complete, players are rewarded with a two-frame animation based on the completed puzzle. The puzzle is also unlocked in free-play mode for players who want to improve their time.

Hands On! Tangrams consists of 100 puzzles arranged into ten levels. Each is themed around a different setting -- space, fantasy, the zoo, etc. As players complete puzzles, the resulting objects appear in the top screen to complete the scene.

This isn’t an especially deep game and most players will complete it in a few hours. However, the low price ($14.99) and low-stress approach make it an attractive diversion for players who enjoy slower, more thoughtful puzzle games.

Review: The Beatles: Rock Band Rubber Soul

Dale — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:16:06 -0500

The Beatles: Rock Band continues its list of available complete albums, complete with dreamscapes in some as with previous albums. We were given a chance to check out the latest, Rubber Soul, so of the 11 new songs, here's our family-friendly list:

“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (Alcohol reference, innuendo)
“You Won’t See Me”
“Nowhere Man”
“Think For Yourself”
“The Word”
“Michelle”
“What Goes On”
“Girl”
“In My Life”
“Wait”

That's only one song dropped from the list, and that for violent threats (“Run for Your Life”). Overall, this is a solid add-on with some great songs that left me wondering why they weren't included in the original game, but then again, the Beatles had so many hits, the line had to be drawn somewhere. I'm just glad that these other albums keep coming.

Review: Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked for Wii

Dale — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:54:47 -0500

Food, wonderful food. In a video game. Yup, it's been done before, but now the Food Network has picked up the spatula and entered into the fray, but is it a bit too raw, completely overdone, or a culinary masterpiece?

The game includes three modes, single player, "Hot Potato" (Cooperative alternating multiplayer), and Cook-Off (Head-to-Head competitive). In the first two modes, judges Mory Thomas and Susie Fogelson offer advice and verbally walk players through the recipe, offering lots of tips and explanations, like, "Put foil on the cookie sheet for easy clean-up." Since players in the cook-off mode will be at different points in the recipe at any given point, the judges remain silent during the competition.

These tips really make the game shine as an edutainment title instead of just a collection of minigames. Almost every step gets the advice treatment, offering a steady stream of suggestions that apply not only to this particular recipe, but food handling in general. ("Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator.") As someone who enjoys putting spatula to pan, I thoroughly enjoyed these tips and found them immediately practical, just like watching a Food Network show. In addition, most of the recipes use ingredients found at most supermarkets, whereas many previous cooking titles (e.g. Cooking Mama) use obscure ingredients that Americans can only find in specialty ethnic grocery stores. This helps the player identify with the game and lends to a more immersive experience. In addition, all 29 recipes used in the game (The box says "30+ recipes," but the only way that adds up is by combining the components into a meal and calling that another recipe.) are included in the instruction book, so once you've practiced in the game, you can try them out in real life.

The judges and on-screen instructions walk players through every step, but even without those instructions and hints, controls work exactly as expected, using the Wiimote and nunchuk as utensils and pot handles. Players can speed up time so they don't have to wait for an item to cook for 30 minutes, since the game otherwise progresses in real time, requiring players to prepare multiple dishes at once (and getting score bonuses for effective multitasking).

Players will need to complete meals successfully in single-player mode to unlock additional meals, totaling 12 different challenges. So if players want this game for its multiplayer capabilities, caveat emptor. Also, with only 12 meals, players can complete the game within a few hours. Yes, you can go back to get higher scores and better medals, but I often got gold medals the first time through, so there's not a lot of replay value here, unless you count the recipe book itself in a real kitchen.

The multitasking requirement leaves this game at a slightly higher difficulty than most cooking games, so while it's rated "E", based on its difficulty, I recommend it for ages 11 to adult.

Edutainment titles don't get much more fun than this. It's not just a game--its a full-on simulator. The tips alone make it worth its cost to anyone trying to improve the quality of their menus, but the dozen actual meals left me hungry for more. Rent this one, not just to try out, but because you'll really enjoy and benefit from it. You'll have a lot of fun, but after a weekend with it, you'll be done with it. It's a wonderful appetizer that could've been the ultimate entrée if it had twice as many meals.

Review: Cars Race-O-Rama for the Nintendo Wii

rmgreg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:10:29 -0500

Okay, I’ll admit it. I have this secret little place in my heart for ‘racing video games’. I don’t know if it’s because of my need for speed or the fact that when it comes down to it, the closest thing I have in my life to an action-packed video game is driving the family car. I mean I don’t regularly find myself fighting an alien armada bent on destroying the world or hunting down spies bent on destroying the world or trading magic lightening bolts with evil wizards bent on destroying the world. However, for 5 days a week, I commute to work in a Honda Odyssey, which my sons have christened the Magic Minivan, so that’s my ‘special ability’. Besides, isn’t the daily commute the crux of the granddaddy of all races, which we often refer to as the ‘rat race’?

Anyway, the reason we’re here is because we were recently given the chance to review the new Cars Race-O-Rama video game for the Nintendo Wii from THQ. With my secret love of racing video games, I couldn’t help but hear the call, “Racers, start your engines.”

Rust-eze

In this racing video game you play the part of Lightning McQueen, who has opened the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy in Radiator Springs. Lightning is also participating in the Race-O-Rama on a quest to win the Race-O-Rama Trophy. Playing the part of nail in the tire (sorry, thorn in the side just didn’t seem to fit) is Chick Hicks, who has started his own racing school, which has one educational philosophy--beat Lightning McQueen any way they can.

Now in most racing games, when you take one of the top 3 spots in a race, you unlock newer, faster cars and more difficult racetracks to race them on. After that, you race those vehicles on the new racetracks to unlock even faster cars and harder racetracks to race them on, and so on, and so on. In Cars Race-O-Rama, the basic premise is still there, but between races you get to explore the cities in which the various racetracks reside because after all, this is Cars, and in Cars the cars are alive. While exploring, the player gets the chance to try taking the wheel of other cars like Mater or Guido, or different versions of Lightning such as a Monster Truck or Off Road Vehicle. In other words, this game has variety and the variety is not merely an upgrade in speed and handling one’s racing vehicle. In fact, one of the more entertaining ‘racing events’ involved doing an insane daredevil jump as Mater, who was sporting an outfit akin to Evel Knievel’s jumpsuit.

Dinoco

The video game has a Story Mode, in which you compete in the Race-O-Rama race circuits in order to capture the Race-O-Rama Trophy, and an Arcade Mode, which allows the player to race against their friends in the races that they have unlocked in the Story Mode.

The game starts out at the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy. After winning the required 3 Golden Star Races, the player is loaded into Mack and moves on to other cities like Santa Carburera, Motoropolis City, and Autovia. As the racer wins races, and collects sparkplugs and lightning bolts, they unlock paint jobs and kit pieces for Lightning McQueen and his friends.

As far as controlling interactions with the game, there are two ways one can go. Either using the Wii Remote with or without the Wii Wheel, or the Wii Remote in conjunction with the Nunchuck. We opted to go with the Wii Remote in the Wii Wheel for that realistic driving feel.

During the races, the vehicles handle more-or-less like the vehicles found in other racing video games; you’ve got your accelerator, brake, and turbo boost. Included in Race-O-Rama is Drifting, which was an instrumental part of the movie. In fact, a few of the races require the player to use the Drift maneuver in order to ‘win’ the race. Another feature of the game involves wiggling the Wii Remote when hit a jump to capture some Big Air, which gets you points… Though I wasn’t really sure what the points were for.

Lightyear

As Nikolai and I played the game, one thing became surprisingly apparent. As we raced the races, we often found ourselves falling behind, usually 6 or 7th place in a field of 8 racecars. Then in the final lap, the other racers always seemed to slow down, or we some how sped up and in the final few turns we overcame the leaders to win the race. Now me noticing this weird happenstance is one thing, call it a belief in my expert driving skills, but the fact that an eight year old also clued in on our racing luck just screams that something hinky is going on. So be aware that older drivers just may question whether the chips are stacked in their favor.

As mentioned above, one feature of the game involves driving around to explore the ‘race cities.’ Unfortunately, the Lightning McQueen doesn’t seem to sport a GPS unit, and there were a few times that we got lost exploring and had to pause the game to look at the Map to see if we were heading in the right direction. Then, we discovered while looking at the Map that we could ‘teleport’ ourselves to any of the labeled locations by selecting them. Okay, so this defeated the ‘exploring’ feature of the game, but it did help to sped things up a bit.

Overall Impression

In the end, Cars Race-O-Rama is a fun game that’s not so much a racing-type video game as it is a chance to drive around the world of Cars. In that aspect, this game succeeds, even if the race results do feel a little like they’re in the bag. So with that in mind, Nikolai has decided to give Cars Race-O-Rama for the Nintendo Wii, 100 Thumbs Up out of 100, stating that he really enjoyed the chance to explore. As for me, well it’s not the best racing video game I’ve played, but what it lacks in pedal to the metal speed and driving it does make it up for it in entertainment, so I’m giving it 6 out of 8 Dancing Elephants.

Parting Thoughts

Cars Race-O-Rama the video game wouldn’t be a Pixar property if it didn’t feature characters from other Pixar films. Nikolai got a kick out of spotting the racing versions of Mike and Sully.

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

Review: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time for the Sony PS3

rmgreg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:21:09 -0500

When we got our Sony PS3, the first family game we bought for it was Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and Nikolai (age 8) and I discovered just how much fun video games can be. So when presented with the opportunity to review the latest Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time for the Sony PS3, Nikolai and I responded, ”Oh, do we really have to?"… One blurry-eyed weekend later and I can’t wipe the smile off of Nikolai’s face.

Plasma Striker

Now when we started playing A Crack in Time, I just assumed that it fell on the heels of what I thought to be the previous Ratchet & Clank video game, Tools of Destruction because Ratchet and Clank had been separated at the end of Tools and they weren’t together at the beginning of Crack. I have since come to find that there was an in-between game called Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty… I can see that a trip to GameStop is in my future. That said, we didn’t have a problem getting into the action of Crack, even though we missed some of the lead-up that was contained in Quest. The only knowledge from Quest that might have helped was the re-introduction of Doctor Nefarious, who originally appeared as the villain in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Doctor Nefarious continues as the baddy in Crack and, with the help of his butler, Lawrence, he is trying to gain access to the Great Clock, which helps maintain time for the Universe. Meanwhile, Ratchet has teamed up with the "Space Hero", Captain Qwark and the two of them are trying to find and rescue Clank. In the process, they meet General Alister Azimuth, another Lombax like Ratchet who was left behind when the Lombaxes left this universe. He believes that by finding the Great Clock, he can bring the Lombaxes back. Throw in some muscle-headed henchmen, wise-cracking aliens, and clueless robots and you’ve got yourself a fun, adventure-style, 3D video game.

Buzz Blades

The appeal of the Ratchet & Clank series for Nikolai and me is the great story telling and fun game play. The story is complex, but kept very loose, meaning that there is a beginning and an end, but there’s no great rush to get there. In flying around the galaxy to different planets with Ratchet and exploring different rooms of the Great Clock with Clank, the player is faced with battling enemies, solving puzzles, and collecting artifacts. However, the player will soon discover that not every thing may be possible to accomplish in Ratchet or Clank’s current state resulting in their having to move on without completely ‘solving’ a planet or room in the Great Clock. And then as Ratchet and Clank move through the game, they are introduced to new abilities, weapons, and armor, which allow them to go back and revisit a planet or room to complete a particular mission. So the game doesn’t exactly move from point A to point B to point C to point D, rather it’s more like point A to point B to point C to point B to point C to point A to point C to point D… Anyway, I think you get my point.

What we found unique to this game, having not played Quest yet, is the flipping back and forth between flying around the galaxy with Ratchet and exploring the Great Clock with Clank. In Tools, we were pretty use to Ratchet & Clank being joined at the hip… or back to back as the case were. This frequent switching between the action in Crack was not a distraction as one might expect; in fact it helped pace the game very well, almost like a built in breather.

Rift Inducer 5000

The only downside to A Crack in Time was facing the occasional difficult video game action or task that can be a little frustrating, be it facing a rather difficult Level Boss or having to guide Ratchet or Clank through a precise set of actions or steps to complete a level. But this sort of thing is to be expected in a video game. However, this fact doesn’t stop one from arguing with or yelling at the television screen or swearing to all within earshot that, “This stupid video game is out to get me!”

Overall Impression

If I had to pick one video game that Nikolai and I had a blast playing together this year, it would have to be this one. The only drawback was that we had to share the controller and take turns. Unfortunately, I heard a nasty rumor that Crack in Time will be the last title in the Ratchet & Clank Future series. For Nikolai and my long, blurry-eyed weekends, I hope that’s not true. And with that possible downer, Nikolai has decided to give Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time 100 Thumbs Up out of 100 because it’s an awesome game. As for me, well I’d have to agree with him, so I’m giving it 8 Dancing Elephants out of 8… Impressive.

Parting Thoughts

As proof that Ratchet & Clank appeals to kids of all ages, an actual quote from an from an alien in A Crack in Time, “Before you attempt to manhandle me, I’ll have you know I am a Level 60 wizard with melee abilities!”

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

Review: Marvel Super Hero Squad for the Nintendo Wii

rmgreg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:04:57 -0500

Okay, so as I understand it, the Marvel Comics Universe was created in 1939. Over the years, new Heroes and Villains were created and destroyed in an ever-lasting battle between Good and Evil. Then in 2006 Marvel, with the help of Hasbro Toys, released the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figures. These 3-inch high, cartoon-ish-style action figures were intended for ages 3 and up with the ‘up’ making-up a large percentage of the market-share. And then just this past September (2009), the Marvel Super Hero Squad show premiered on the Cartoon Network. On its heels comes the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game for the Nintendo Wii from THQ.

A Mighty Hammer

Now I’ve not actually watched an entire episode of the Marvel Super Hero Squad Show, only catching a brief snippit of it as I surfed past the Cartoon Network during a commercial break from the show I was actually watching. But from what I’ve been able to gather, the video game storyline follows closely with the one presented in the television series. The evil Doctor Doom has transported the all-powerful Infinity Sword to Earth, where he engaged in a massive battle with Iron Man. During the battle, the blade of the Infinity Sword was shattered, scattering dozens of Infinity Fractals all over Super Hero City.

Each Infinity Fractal holds great power, so the Super Hero Squad, which consists of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Falcon, Silver Surfer, and Wolverine, under the direction of Ms. Marvel of S.H.I.E.L.D., battle forth to seek out and collect the missing shards. Facing them in an attempt to collect the wayward shards for their own nefarious goals are the Lethal Legion, which consist of M.O.D.O.K., Magneto, Mole Man, Abomination, Juggernaut, Loki, and Sabretooth, all under the leadership of Doctor Doom.

Adamantium Claws

Game play for Marvel Super Hero Squad is broken down into two modes, Adventure Mode and Battle Mode.

In Adventure Mode, you play through the story. The action is broken down into 8 chapters, which includes the Opening Battle, 6 Infinity Fractal-seeking chapters, and then a Final Battle against Doctor Doom. During the 6 Infinity Fractal-seeking chapters, you get to play one of the members of the Super Hero Squad and battle against a member of the Lethal Legion while trying to find one of the elusive Infinity Fractals. During this time, you can have a friend help you in your quest by playing another ”surprise” Marvel Hero like Nightcrawler, The Thing, Storm, Invisible Girl, or Captain America, just to name a few.

During Battle Mode, you, with up to 3 other friends, get to battle Hero against Villain,Hero against Hero, or Villain against Villain in a one-on-one melee or team match. By playing the Adventure Mode and finding Collector Tokens you can unlock some of the ”surprise” Marvel Heroes.

Silver Surfboard

From what I’ve seen of the Marvel Super Hero Squad television series, the look and sound of the game is very much modeled after the show, including the goofy remarks by some of the characters. The Heroes use basic hand-to-hand combat (called Melee Attack) to fight their enemies as well as using their superpower for distant attacks (called the Reach ‘Power’ Attack). The game also takes advantage of the physical attributes of the Wii remote helping Falcon to fly or Wolverine to climb using his claws.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the game, one of which has become a pet peeve of mine: this game lacks the ability to have two Heroes share the screen without one of them falling off the side when the main Hero moves too far stage left or right. I think the Lego video games are the only ones that I’ve played that have handled this problem satisfactorily. Another downfall for this game is that the Adventure Mode story plays through rather quickly and has very little replay value. I suspect that is why THQ included the Battle Mode.

Overall Impression

The best way to sum this game up is: as Marvel Super Hero Squad is a kinder, gentler, kid-friendly version of the Marvel Comic Universe, the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game is a kinder, gentler, kid-friendly version of the ultra-violent comic book hero video games. So with that in mind, Nikolai (age 8) has decided to give the Marvel Super Hero Squad video game 99 Thumbs Up out of 100, because “it got boring after a while.” As for me, well sometimes I’m not into the kinder, gentler thing, so I’m giving it 5 Dancing Elephants out of 8.

Parting Thought

Given a choice between Marvel Comics and D.C. Comics, I’d have to give the nod to Marvel… Yeah, definitely Marvel.

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

Review: SpongeBob's Truth or Square for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360

rmgreg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:52:49 -0500

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret; I just don’t get SpongeBob SquarePants. Am I alone in this? My son, Nikolai (age 8), however, seems to like him. He even has an umbrella with his image on it, which makes me chuckle at the irony of the idea… Imagine using a sponge as an umbrella. Anyway, when we were given a chance to review the new video game from THQ SpongeBob’s Truth or Square for the Nintendo Wii, I decided to let Nikolai take the reins as I felt he had a ‘connection’ that I was severely lacking.

Bikini Bottom

In the game you get to play SpongeBob SquarePants who is helping to celebrate the Eleventy Seventh Anniversary of the Krusty Krab by hosting a party at his home. Unfortunately Mr. Krab had entrusted SpongeBob with the secret Krabby Patty formula and surprise, surprise, SpongeBob has managed to misplace it. This has made SpongeBob very sad and he figures that the only way he can remember where he left the secret formula is to become happy again. So with his friends’ help, SpongeBob sets out to remember his 10 happiest moments in the hopes that that will help him to turn his frown upside down and hence remember the location of the secret formula.

Helping SpongeBob to remember, with the use of his Memory Machine, is Plankton… Yep, Plankton, SpongeBob’s nemesis and who actually has alternative motives, which are his intentions of getting his hands on the secret Krabby Patty formula.

The Krusty Krab

SpongeBob’s Truth or Square plays like an adventure game, requiring the player to move through levels collecting items, solving simple puzzles, and fighting off various enemies. To help SpongeBob fight off the intruders to his happiness, the game creators gave him special morphing abilities that take advantage of the Wii Remote’s physical responses. Swinging the Nunchuk up and down results in the Spatula Slam. Moving the Wii Remote back and forth results in the Propeller Spin. SpongeBob can also sponge up water and spew it forth when required… This last characteristic had me a little confused. I thought SpongeBob lived under the sea; I mean, that’s what his theme song lyrics have led me to believe. So as a sponge living under the sea, isn’t he constantly soaking up water? This didn’t make any sense… Well at least I think he was under the sea. There were fish walking around like humans and I know fish can’t walk on land, except for the mudskipper. I’m pretty sure these walking fish in the video game weren’t mudskippers. But then, there were also some fish riding around in a submarine, A SUBMARINE! Fish don’t ride around in a submarine, they’re fish! Then again, this submarine was cruising around on a river… A river under the sea. Then there was the part where SpongeBob went to find Santa in the Arctic, where it is very, very cold. Freezing in fact. Excuse me, but as a sponge, living under the sea and as such full of water, shouldn’t SpongeBob have frozen solid? But, wait, it gets weirder… Next there was a… OH GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY! I can’t believe I’m trying to make logical sense out of a video game based on a children’s cartoon.

So as I mentioned before, Plankton is helping SpongeBob, which opens the game to allow the player to play with a friend who takes control of Plankton. Plankton hovers above SpongeBob’s shoulder, helping him to fight off intruders by shaking them, slaming them, or blasting them.

Rocky Bottom

Love or hate the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon, SpongeBob’s Truth or Square does a good job of capturing the zany world of SpongeBob SquarePants. So consider yourself warned.

If I were to find fault in the game, that would be the ‘play with a friend’ role of Plankton. Like I said, Plankton hovers above SpongeBob’s shoulder. He doesn’t move from this spot. This basically make him SpongeBob’s wingman, which after a while can get kind of boring since Plankton can’t venture off on his own. I’ll have to admit that this solves my pet peeve of adventure games that don’t scale the screen/playing field so that two players can venture off in opposite directions without one of them falling off the screen. Still, as the one who spent the entire time controlling Plankton while we reviewed the game, well… Yawn. It was especially frustrating whenever Nikolai went into berserker mode while I was trying to target enemies with the Wii Remote before he Spatula Slammed them.

Overall Impressions

As far as adventure style games go, SpongeBob’s Truth or Square served well as a distraction, unfortunately that’s about all it did. When tasked with doing something else for a while, Nikolai and I had no trouble putting our Wii-motes down and shutting the game off. So with that in mind, Nikolai has decided to give SpongeBob’s Truth or Square 99 out of 100 Thumbs Up because according to him, the game got kinda boring. As for me, I’m giving the game 5 out of 8 Dancing Elephants because I found the underlying adventure game to be rather challenging, however the SpongeBob skin left me kinda flat.

Parting Thoughts

Though I don’t remember seeing The Hoff, I swear I heard his name mentioned during the game.

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