All posts tagged 'Game Reviews'

Game Review: Super Monkey Ball 3D (3DS)

Sega’s banana-loving monkeys are back and rolling into the third dimension on your 3DS. AiAi, Meemee, Baby, GonGon, and even more simians are ready to hop in those hamster balls and roll around mazes, race cars, and knock each other silly in three game modes.

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Game Review: Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii)

Spring is here, and it’s a great time to get in shape for summer. Now you can dance your way to great shape with Zumba® Fitness: Join the Party for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Move, and Xbox 360 Kinect (Wii version reviewed here). The Zumba® Fitness Program is a popular workout regime that features vigorous dancing to Calypso, Salsa, Samba, and other Latin music and beats. Zumba encompasses DVD workouts, gym lessons, and now a video game!

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Game Review: Zhu Zhu Princess (DS)

Based on the popular toy line, the Zhu Zhu Princess hamsters are getting ready for a party at Prince Dashington’s castle. There are two parts to this game: Nurturing Mode and Adventure Mode. Aside from a regal pink makeover, it’s pretty much like just the other Zhu Zhu Pets games on DS.

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Game Review: Vertigo (PSP)

Rolling out onto your PSP is a downloadable PSN game called Vertigo. It’s your typical ‘guide a sphere through a maze’ game. But is it a ball or will it make you lose your marbles? Read on to find out.

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Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS and games hits stores on 3/27, but Nintendo sent mine today, which basically means I’ve got a fight on my hands when the rugrats get home. Ah well, at least I have something to do until school ends. Hey! It’s a 3DS plus a few games! This is what I do for a living. This is work!

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Game Review: Jikandia: The Timeless Land (PSP)

Have you ever sat down to enjoy a video game but didn’t have much time to play, only to find out the next thing you have to do is tromp through a really long dungeon or fight a really lengthy boss? Well, now you can choose how long your quests are with Jikandia: The Timeless Land for PSP.

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Game Review: Okamiden (DS)

Okami was my Best Game of the Year for 2006. It was originally on the PS2 and later ported to the Wii. In the Zelda-style game, you played as a white wolf deity and had to save ancient Japan from evil. It featured beautiful unique graphics that looked like a Japanese painting and clever gameplay gimmicks like the Celestial Brush, which allowed you to draw on the screen to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Now, finally, the sequel is here on the Nintendo DS. And it’s good. VERY GOOD.

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Kinect 1st Impressions

I think the Kinect is a terrific technology, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone, I was a huge Eye Toy for PS2 advocate and motion gaming has always loomed large in my career. Back then I called the Eye Toy “the Nintendo product Nintendo didn’t make.” The Wii proved Nintendo had ideas like this but now, I think, their thunder is stolen. Microsoft owns the “movement” genre and that might be bad news for Sony and Nintendo. I haven’t tried the PlayStation Move, so I might be off base, but what I see in Move is Wii 2. Wii 1 was great, but the motion controls never really felt vital outside of the major showcases like Wii Sports. Kinect, requiring no controller, isn’t limited to doing things the Wii way. That could be crucial moving forward.

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Dance Central

I can’t dance. Oh, I can keep a beat and I can move well. If choreographed, I can pull off everything but the athletic stuff. My problem is a lack of confidence coupled with an inability to remember current dance moves. If I’m at a wedding (or presumably, a club) I cannot do anything but flail around biting my upper lip. Since I’ve learned so much from gaming, I wondered if there could be a game solution. There was Dance Dance Revolution, and it was great, but it’s footwork and has nothing to do with arms, so it’s not actually dancing. The Wii maybe? Better, but still limited. The Kinect and Dance Central changes everything.

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Game Review: Bit.Trip Flux (WiiWare)

The downloadable Bit.Trip series on WiiWare has always been about a combination of old-school gameplay and visuals, steep challenge, and chiptune music. With Bit.Trip Flux, the series returns to its roots with a new take on the classic paddle and ball style gameplay.

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