The first game I saw was Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii. This game is going to make use of the Wii specific features available on the Wii remote in a way I haven't seen in any other game. Because it is a fighting game, and there is a delay between when you swing your arm and when action happens, most of fighting games on the Wii currently have trouble translating player movement into on screen action. There is usually enough of a delay that the fighting has to be slowed down if the designers decided to try to translate player movement into character action, or the Wii remote is simply used as a normal controller, not taking advantage of how the Wii remote moves in space at all. The designers of Godzilla have gotten around this issue by using a trigger button to activate the action. The best way to explain this is really to see it for yourself, but I'll try anyway. Imagine you're moving your controller rapidly from left to right, as you reach your right side, you hit the “A” button on the controller. This translates to Godzilla swinging his body around and doing a giant tail slash as soon as you've hit the “A” button. In the mean time while you were swinging, though, you could be doing other attacks with the controls on the nunchuck so that Godzilla was still clawing at his enemy, or perhaps using his breath weapon while you set up for the big attack. Overall what this means is that there's much more action that is player controlled happening on the screen, action like you'd expect from a fighting game. The other nice thing about this system is that there's always something you can be doing in a fight. Often times in a fight game if you're getting pummeled by the enemy, there isn't much you can do but stand there and take the beating. Not so in Godzilla. And there's more to the game than just fighting other monsters. The Toho license requires that Godzilla not actually die, or kill anyone, and that the game be about defeating, not killing, the enemy. And, of course, there are buildings to destroy and objects to interact with, so it isn't just about beating on another giant lizard. In showing me the physics of the game, and how Godzilla can destroy buildings, Simon Strange put it like this: “destroying the environment has always been a huge part of being a giant radioactive lizard”. As Godzilla tore down buildings and caused general destruction in the area around him, I could see why. The game looked like one that I'll enjoy playing with my two sons, and I might even have a chance of winning.

The second game I had an opportunity to try is one from a series that I've been waiting to come to the DS for seemingly forever. Death Jr. is finally coming to the Nintendo DS in a new game called Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom. The basic storyline is that something has gone wrong with all the science fair projects and it's up to Death Jr. to try and figure out what, and reverse the problem. In the part of the game which I tried, Death Jr. was in the cafeteria battling toasters and food objects that even the most stereotypically bad cafeteria lady wouldn't serve. The game is more of a traditional platformer with 2D action, but because of how the maps were set up it had a very 3D feel to it. Those familiar with the Death Jr. series of games from the PSP will be happy to know that most of the characters and weapons available in earlier games will be a part of this new game, but there will also be a few surprises put in especially for the DS version. You'll be able to compete in two different mini games over local WiFi as well, though I didn't have a chance to try either with the time I had. The game is scheduled for release in late May/early June, and I, for one, will be keeping a close eye out for news on it around then.

The final game which I had a chance to try is one that I was rather skeptical about when I first picked it up. Brooktown High for the PSP. Brooktown High is a game about dating in high school. It is the first dating sim for the PSP and is trying hard to stick to a “T” rating, though I'm still not sure after having played it that I want my pre-teen or teen playing this particular game. The gameplay is basically a series of mini-games designed to help you increase your statistics so that you're more attractive to the opposite gender. And the more you play the mini-games outside of a “date”, the better you'll do at them when you're on one of these “dates”. The characters also attend high school, obviously, which is where they meet people of both genders and try to form friendship circles and meet up with potential dates. You also have to attend classes and study in the evenings to earn better grades, though beyond spending time studying, you really have no way to control how your character's grades are on a day to day basis.

The first mini-game I saw was called “21 Knickers”. Basically it is just what it sounds like... strip blackjack. Your goal is to try and win 4 hands of black jack before the other person does, causing them to strip one piece of clothing off per hand until they are in their underwear. Granted it's all cartoon artwork, not at all realistic, but this is one of the areas I have trouble with the game. I don't exactly want to be encouraging my kids to think that dating is about trying to see who can strip down the fastest, or that that's the goal. The second mini-game isn't much better. Called Tongue Twister, it is all about french kissing. In the game you spray bad breath, catch hearts, avoid distractions, all in hopes of making the tongues on the screen interact more and more until eventually you score. BoogieTron, the last game which I had a chance to try, wasn't bad at all. It was like Dance Dance Revolution for your fingers. The developer demonstrating the game said that they'll have “lots” of licensed music for the game, and that your character responds to how fast you can keep up with the moves, but as I'm not very good at regular DDR, DDR for my fingers on a system which I'd never played before simply wasn't happening.

Overall the game has some cute points to it. The humor is good, and you can develop your character to have one of a variety of personalities, and pick how to interact with different other characters in the game. The ultimate goal is to do well enough on a series of dates that by the time prom time rolls around, you have someone who will go with you. I'm just not real sure what market this game will appeal to and be acceptable for. I wouldn't suggest it at all for someone who is just starting dating, or learning what dating is about, because it seems to deliver all the messages that kids are bombarded with way too much already. And I doubt that it is going to appeal much to older teens or twenty year olds because there really isn't much to do in the game but repeat the same four mini-games over and over again. The game is scheduled to be released this spring, so I'll keep watch out there for reviews and see what happens, though. I didn't get to spend much time with it, so it is quite possible that I really did miss something.

Godzilla: Unleashed and Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom I have no problems what so ever saying I'll be waiting for and hopefully have time to do a full review of. And two out of three, with the third one a maybe, doesn't seem to bad to me.