Having had some uncertain experiences with some of Nintendo's long-lived franchises as of late, my one constant was the thrill of a new Mario Kart. I've been with the series for some 15 years now, and that kind of longevity is hard to shake. While I was lucky enough always to have a new console, whichever one I ended up owning, my friend had its rival. In this way during the 16-bit era, I never found the kind of split-screen chaos that resonated with me on the Sega Genesis (though there were a few games that came close) as on my friends Super Nintendo with Super Mario Kart. One after another, Mario Kart's come, and it's added to my repertoire of boomerang game experiences that always make me come right on back no matter how many other video games may distance me. So the time has finally arrived: did Mario Kart survive the ringer to come out clean and recognizable?
I traded a review copy of Orcs and Elves for Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon. "Right after Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl?" My editor told me I was crazy. I probably was, but the combination of RPG dragon slaying and the object – time management aspect of Sim-Farming was too heady a lure. I wanted to see how well it would be achieved. The verdict? Very well, indeed. Natsume have done a bang-up job of delivering a fantasy Harvest Moon.
The only slime character I've ever been acquainted with is the hot dog eating ghost that repeatedly attacked Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. I think it had a Saturday morning cartoon at one point? With that in mind, I was skeptical of any game entitled, Mr. Slime.
I've been on a shooter streak, lately. First, there was Contra IV, and now Nanostray 2, and Ophelea has a few more waiting for me. When I hit a streak of similar-genre games like these, it often makes me stop and consider what the hook is for each. Why play THIS shooter and not the others? In this case, the hook isn't fancy: Nanostray 2 is really hard!
Best of Tests is another member of the "exercise your brain with video games" club. It is, according to the game box, designed to test your logic, observation, memory, speed of perception and analysis. The box also claims that the little cartridge contained within will actually allow you to improve these areas of your intelligence.
Crayola Treasure Adventures is a digital coloring game with a non-violent puzzle-solving adventure portion. If your little one is always begging to play with your DS, but you don't want little Suzie learning about shooters or crime scenes just yet, this can be a good entry point for your pint-sized gamer.
Deep down (deep deep down), I think we all secretly feel that meteorologists are messing with us. Those meteorologists out there reading this - they know it's true. In Elements of Destruction you play Marty, the crazed meteorologist. His boss, Miss Burns, has just fired him for too accurately predicting bad weather. Drew McCoy, who sees nothing but sunny days ahead, is his saccharine replacement. Marty does what any self-respecting meteorologist with a hobby in mad science would do in that situation: he uses his evil machine to control the weather and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world.
My editor hadn't told me what games I'd be seeing at EIEIO's 2008 game preview event, so several of the titles were new to me. One of these was Mushroom Men, a title I'd hear little about but I definitely liked what I saw.
Suppose you're the developer who created Puzzle Crack Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, and can say with confidence that you are responsible for 1000s of hours of lost sleep and an increase in caffeine consumption in the year 2007. Would you simply sit back and rest on your ... laurels? Not if you're Infinite Interactive. No, you'd buy stock in Starbucks then make a sequel - and put it in space.
How exactly do you write a preview of a Treasure title? I have to confess, I didn't know them by name before I did a little research but I know their titles quite well. When told they had a following - well, I get it. Gunstar Heroes, Yu Yu Hakusho (I don't know why *I* know this one), Silpheed, Ikaruga ... solid, unique games. And the list goes on. Bangai-O Spiritsis solid, it is unique, and it is probably the most frenetic shooter I have ever seen. This is coming from someone who is 36-years old and has been playing shooters for 29 years.
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a chirpy little rhythm game for the Nintendo DS that brings those crazy Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) into the homes of a new generation of young (very young) Chipmunks fans.
Not even Bram Stoker could have dreamed up the Uncanny Valley. Four (4!) scientists, mad with power, creating unspeakable monsters - a recipe for disaster found in even the most basic cookbook. One scientist had to become rather... unbalanced... and upset the delicate nature of the alliance. Of course the Mad Scientist Alliance was going to call on you to apprentice, become the fourth, clear the village of the evil Baron Mharti and set things to rights again. These are the stories the best RPGs are... uh, pieced together from... yeah.
Portable consoles, to me, always seemed to be an ideal platform for turn based strategy games. After all, you can take them with you and play them for a few minutes while you have the time, then put it away and come back to it later. You're not locked to one location or time to play.
There are some genres I'm just too old to "get" when they translate to 1s and 0s - pinball is one of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it can't be done well; I'm just saying that for me pinball will always be a time of feathered hair, hot pants, your beer on the machine precariously balanced as you slammed your hips to try and nudge the ball - and there was none of these bleepy bloopy sounds either. I was out of the pinball scene long before The Addams Family or Terminator 2 became hot commodities. (Ugh, I even know which ones were big in electronic pinball.) That being said, Dream Pinball 3D for the Wii is the best of the pinball simulations I've seen to date and it almost made me nostalgic.
EA has finally done it: They've turned me into a Sims fan. Well, sorta. I mean, I liked the Urbz — for DS. And I love MySims, which isn't a Sims game at all. But, as the producer intimated when he demonstrated Sims 2 — Castaway for DS at EA's holiday event last year, I do love the game because it is all about taking care of a single Sim, not micromanaging a complex world of them. And someday, I just may let her off of the island.
I would find it difficult to find a gamer over the age of 25 who did not at least attempt to play Myst. *raises hand at the attempt part* If I were to search for someone who did not list it among their top five "defining games" for electronic entertainment, I am not confident I would find many takers. I have absolute confidence in my ability to find agreement that Myst is THE original graphical adventure game — and nothing else comes close.
About two years ago, at Disneyland, I entered my first Build-a-Bear factory. The place was packed! It also was very cool. I can't say who enjoyed it more, the adults or the kids. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to make my own bear. When Game Factory first showed me the game in development at E3 last year, I was struck by what a novel idea! A lot has changed since I first played with Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Boogie for the Wii is one of my favorite titles of 2007. It's not perfect (what game is?), but damn, is it fun. When my kids and I aren't falling over laughing at how the aliens are jiggling on the screen, then they (my boys) are laughing at how *I* jiggle when I dance. Porting a get-up-and-MOVE title to mini-screen of the DS left me with no expectation of the same type of fun. But, the songs from the console are great — and rhythm comes in many flavors. How could I not give it a whirl (so to speak)?
Some of you may be familiar with a Pogo.com, a website for playing online games. Usually, you play in chat rooms with other people, while you earn tokens. Pogo Island is a compilation on the DS of five popular games from Pogo.com. With Pogo Island you have fun on the run playing Poppit!, Tri-Peaks Solitaire, Word Whomp, Squelchies and Phlinx.
Left Brain Right Brain is really not what I expected this game to be. The back of the box asks, "Are you right-brained or left-brained?" Then they talk about "right-brain" people supposedly thinking more creatively and "left-brain" people thinking more logically. From this they jump to the actual purpose of the game — testing your ambidexterity and supposedly giving you a game to improve it.
I approached Lifesigns expecting a surgical game that would challenge my reflexes. Instead, I appear to have been dropped into the middle of a Japanese soap opera. Much like the TV show "ER," it's a wonder the doctor has time to see any patients what with all the gossip and intrigue.
Upon looking at the cover of the Hamsterz Life box, my first instinct is to smack that hamster silly. It's knitting and apparently doing a better job than I. There's nothing worse than an uppity rodent.
I like theme parks. Growing up, we travelled a lot during the summers and would try to frequent the theme parks we passed. During my last couple years of high school, we lived within 20 minutes of a decent-sized park, and instead of hanging out in the local mall (not that there was one there), my friends and I spent our time hanging out in the park, and most of them ultimately worked there during the season. I've seen some good parks and have been to a few very bad ones, so on first playing Theme Park on the DS, I figured I had a good understanding of how to create a virtual park.
There are times when you get the impression that the designer of a game is not very good at his or her job. Perhaps he's played his own game so much that he's got it memorized, and therefore, things that don't make sense to a new player make perfect sense to him. Or perhaps she thinks that by designing certain instances a certain way, the challenge will make the game more fun for a player, when instead, all it does is enrage and frustrate the player.
I cut my teeth on turn-based strategy games back on the PC. I wasn't necessarily that good at them — though I did rock me some Warlords 2 — but I always had fun with them and their board-game equivalents.
It is a strength of GI.net that we strive not to compare games to other games - each title must stand or fall on its own merit. One of the few exceptions to that rule regards sequels; fans of a franchise will want to know if the latest iteration lives up to, exceeds, or falls short of the standards to which they are accustomed. Allow me, therefore, to lead with this: Contra 4 is an excellent presentation of all things Contra. It is a fast-paced, well designed side-scrolling shooter with fun, distinct weapons and impressive, deadly boss confrontations. The game is refreshingly challenging, and will provide good value for those who wish to beat it "fairly."
Ahh, the joys of tycooning. From business empires beginning with the lowly lemonade stand to the otherworldly - even imaginary - heights of the lunar colony and shilling potions. What do we find at this tycoon stop? Fish! Not deep-sea trophy fishing, or anything like that ... but rather the brightly colored little darters that fill our hearts with joy and our fish tanks with, well, fish.
If I had my way, this review would consist of just one line: 'Stop reading reviews and buy this game'.
Something tells me, however, that if I tried that Ophelea would appear next to my desk in a huff and a cloud of smoke. "That is not a review", she would thunder. "That's cheap dramatic hyperbole with no meaningful content for our readers!" She'd be right, of course, but that's still my reaction to Nancy Drew: Deadly Secret of Olde World Park.
Glory Days 2 opens with a wonderful soundtrack. I mean, truly fantastic for something with as small a footprint as the Nintendo DS. There is a war somewhere. It is unnamed, although you're an American pilot. The enemy is not described and neither is the time period, but it echoes World War II — from the "radio" announcer to the propeller planes, leather aviator helmet and goggles found throughout the game. The game provides instructions in English, Spanish and French and suggests headphones for the best sound effects. I cranked up the sound.
I remember long, long ago in my youth (you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) having a Holly Hobbie rag doll. I seem to remember her being dressed like a little prairie girl with a sunbonnet, long dress and apron. My, how times have changed. I guess this modern young Holly Hobbie is like the great (or great-great-great) granddaughter of the original Holly Hobbie I grew up with.
