Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Link's Crossbow Training


I can't think of a single negative thing to say about this game. For $25 you get the game and an attachment that turns your Wiimote and Nunchuck into a shotgun/crossbow. The price is unbeatable on the system.

As for the game, think Hogan's Alley, but modernized and more diverse. There are at least twenty different games that I've seen so far, and they're all incredibly fun. Some are downright impossibly hard, which means I'll be working on them for quite a long time to get good.

This is, honestly, a must have title for the Wii like Duck Hunt was for the NES. My girlfriend and I haven't been able to put this one away since I opened it!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Rayman: Raving Rabbids


Have you ever wanted to play a game with no story, no goal, and just pure fun? This is it. The bonus is that I've seen this as low as $20 lately.

The game is a large collection of mini games that involve Rayman and the rabbids (goofy, stupid, and prone to screaming rabbits). You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shave some cows.

My only complaint about this game is that it's not set up to be a party game out of the box. This game is so fun in groups, but you have to play through the "story mode*" to unlock each game. The first time I turn it on was in a group setting, so having no access to multiplayer wasn't ideal at the time.

All that said, if you want something fun to do that has no point, pick this one up!

*there isn't a realy story in the story mode. I don't know why they call it that.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Dementium: The Ward


Wow. Just wow.

This game is described as Doom meets Silent Hill. They're NOT kidding! This game is great!

Obviously this game is a first person survival/horror game. They did a great job of putting one on the DS with this title. The graphics aren't the greatest I've seen on the system, but they're not horrible, either. The sound is great, though. It really takes advantage of the surround sound speakers on the DS. The control scheme is simple and makes an appropriate use of the touch screen.

The game takes place in an insane asylum. You break out of your room one night, and the power is out. You can only see a bit when the lightning flashes outside. Thankfully, you find a flashlight pretty quickly. There's blood everyone, and no one can be found.

The enemies are few and far between, making them way more scary. The first I found was 15 minutes in and I almost wet my pants. A zombie burst out of a closet I opened. I had my flashlight in my hand and flipped it on and off rapidly in a vain attempt to hit the zombie. I finally switched to a nightstick I found and beat its head off. Just as it's about to collapse, the rib cage burst open and started trying to bite me. It was that moment that I realized that not only was this scary as hell, it's super creative.

If you like being scared, this is a great title to pick up. I've had trouble putting down, but I usually play right before bed. That's not the best idea with this title! ;)

Luminous Arc


For those that enjoy RPGs, but want a change, this is the game for you.

Luminous Arc is a really great RPG. There's lots of good story cut-aways with real dialog in most of them, and the game is very addictive. I has the standard RPG elements of leveling up, taking turns, equiping items, and learning spells. Unlike my nemesis, Final Fantasy, the game will wait on you if you have to look away for a moment.

There's a twist to Luminous Arc, though. If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics, for the GBA, you already have experienced it. The combat is grid based. You have to walk your characters around a grid on their turns, choose which way they face, and their attacks can go a certain distance (ie: sword is one square, lance is two, magic can be more). This adds a whole new layer of strategy to an already great genre.

This game is not for children. There are heavy religious overtones throughout the story. There is plenty of cursing. There's even some drug use. Bear that in mind if buying this as a gift for someone. That said, I think this is a very entertaining and challenging game for young adults and adults.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008


Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a huge fan of professional wrestling. I may not watch much WWE anymore, mostly in favor of the independents, but they are the ones who make the games.

As such, I was really looking forward to Raw vs Smackdown 2008. It stood to be (what I thought) the first good wrestling game to hit a portable console that I had (still waiting on a price drop for the PSP). Boy, did I get shafted, though.

The "geniuses" at THQ thought it would be a good idea to give this game full touch screen controls. That's right; The buttons do NOTHING! How do you play a wrestling game with the touch screen only? YOU DON'T! This "game" has been likened to flipping a coin for twenty minutes.

Here's a simple breakdown: The wrestler's circle each other (you don't get to pick where they go). Once they close in, you can quickly choose one of three attacks. Then, they require you to spin a circle over and over, or draw a line over and over. If you do it to the game's satisfaction, you'll hit the other guy. If not, they'll hit you. Then it repeats. THIS IS THE ENTIRE GAME!

This game was so poorly design, that I got a GameStop to accept it as a return for being defective. The manager agreed there was no game to play. This is from a company that's notoriously rude to their customers.

In the 22 years I've been playing video games, this is, far and above, the WORST VIDEO GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED. I don't say that lightly, either. At least the terrible ones had CONTROLS!

Seriously, don't buy this game for yourself, or anyone you really care about!

Excite Truck


Ya know, I wouldn't have ever played this game if it hadn't been given to me for free. I'm glad it was, though, because this is classic!

What a lot of racing games have tried to do and failed at, this one succeeds. The Wii-mote is your steering wheel. The game itself is really basic: drive around monster trucks, crash them up, and fly through the air. Simplicity works, though! This game is pure fun.

One of the best parts is that you can load MP3 files onto your memory card and race to songs you want to listen to. That takes away the monotony of the crappy racing game soundtracks that plague this genre.

All in all, it's not the best game in the world, but it's a hell of a lot of fun!

Picross DS


Puzzle games are either a hit (Tetris), or lost to time (Catrap). This game, I can say without a question, is even better than Tetris.

Picross takes the concept of Sudoku and adds are really great twist to it, opening it up to a larger crowd. You're met with a board of squares that has numbers around the outside. The boards vary in size, based on what level you're on (5x5, 10x10, 15x15, 20x20, and 25x20). The numbers are which blocks you need to fill in, and which ones you leave blank or put an X over. It's a bit hard to describe, but thankfully Nintendo put a demo on their download station at local stores. Three minutes of that demo had me sold.

One of the best parts of the game is the WiFi feature. You can download new puzzles made by other players, or send your puzzles across the web. That way, you'll never run out of new ones to play.

As if this game can't get any better, it has a retail price of only $19.99 which makes it a must buy.

This is simply a game that I cannot put down, and I've easily put over 100 hours into since I bought it. I cannot recommend this enough!

The Simpsons Game


On Thursday, I picked up a game that I wasn't expecting much from, The Simpsons Game. I'd heard a lot of negative things about the console version, but a little positive about this one. I was really hesitant since it was made by EA. They've yet to release anything good for a portable system. Either way, I gave it a shot.

To my great surprise and pleasure, this game is amazing! It's a total throwback to early 1990's platform action games. It also has great puzzle elements to it, as well. One level was even a remake of Frogger. Throughout all of this, there are insane amounts of dialog from the characters. Most of the humor is very adult oriented, also. I've never laughed so hard while playing a video game (other than Rayman Ravid Rabbids on my Wii).

My only complaint about this game is how short it is. I'm 25% of the way through it with just over an hour put in to it. That said, I'll happily play it again when I'm done.

If you have a DS, I whole-heartedly recommend picking this title up. Buy it used, though, so you can return it when you finish the game in less than a week. :)