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Nintendo DS Buying Guide for Older Kids

November 20th, 2009

So you’re looking to buy your older a child a Nintendo DS this holiday? Millions of children all around the world are already delighted with their Nintendo DS and I’m sure yours would be too.  If you are planning on purchasing a DS or even just some new games for your children then stick around because I have some shopping advice for you.

Nintendo DS is a great gaming system for kids aged 7 upwards all the way through to adulthood.  Not only is it simple and fun to use but it also has a very large software library that is jam packed full of all their favourite franchises.  It could be the latest TV show or Movie they’re into or even just one of their day to day hobbies.

Now before we go too far we should avoid any confusion by mentioning that there are two different Nintendo DS’ to choose from.  I recommend kids aged between 5 and 9 years old should preferably be given a Nintendo DS Lite because it has fewer features, this will be simpler for them to use.  Now for your older kiddies (10 years onwards) I recommend a Nintendo DSi which has more extensive features including two cameras for photo taking.  Luckily both models also play the same catalogue of games you’ll find on store shelves in the Nintendo DS section so they can trade games with DS Lite owning friends if they wanted without worry.  There is a fantastic range of colours of the DSi available to choose from including:

Whilst younger gamers are happy with just playing games, the older ones are going to love the new features of the Nintendo DSi.  So whilst they can continue to play almost every standard DS title on a new Nintendo DSi they can also explore their creative sides.  With two cameras, a microphone and an SD Card slot; the Nintendo DSi is like a portable studio in their pocket.  They’ll be able to take photographs of their surroundings and friends and edit them on the fly with a choice of cool special effects.  These can then be transferred to a PC for printing or sharing online.  Music and sound files can be played, recorded and remixed as it plays using the built in software too.  The Nintendo DSi is a perfect system for them because it will fill their thirst for gaming but could also spark some multimedia creativity.  If your kids are Internet Savvy then they’ll also jump at the chance to use the free Internet Browser, upload photos to Facebook on the Nintendo DSi and even buy pocket money priced games from the Nintendo online store which is similar to the way iTunes users can buy games for the iPhone.

Nintendo DS games for older children

Here are some gaming recommendations for your older boy and girl – your early teens Nintendo DS gamers:

  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is the latest in the Pokemon adventures.  This more mature adventure features a lot of exploring rather than just collecting and battling creatures.
  • Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games features both of history’s best loved Video Game mascots together in this sporting adventure title.  Mario and Sonic is packed with genuine winter Olympic events to play as well as an intriguing story mode. You can read our Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS review to find out more.
  • The World Ends With You is a side-scrolling adventure beat em up which fuses fast paced action and special moves with interesting music and graphical styles – read our The World Ends With You review for more on this music meets combat game for the Nintendo DS.
  • The Legendary Starfy is a popular Japanese Nintendo character who gets his first Western adventure on Nintendo DS.  A unique comic book style platformer that features the world’s most cool Starfish in a sprawling adventure with worlds both underwater and on land.
  • Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place is the game of the hit TV show that is popular with girls across America.  Fans can interact with the legendary Alex Russo by creating spells and other magical activities.
  • Lego Indiana Jones 2 continues the block building adventure with this great movie tie in.  Players will play through their favourite Indiana Jones movies with new and alternative retold storylines; they can even build and share levels and join in with a friend for some Coop play. If you’d like to see what the original game looks like we did a video review of Lego Indiana Jones back in June last year.
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was this year’s summer block buster movie and now kids can relive the fun by playing the blockbuster DS game.  They’ll love taking control of Harry and friends and using the DS touchscreen and stylus to cast spells and mix potions. For family buying for true Harry Potter fans we also suggest a look at our Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DS review.
  • The Nintendo Points Card is a great way to treat the kids instead of just giving them money for Christmas.  This way they can buy and download their own low priced games via WiFi through the Nintendo DSi instead of having to save up for weeks for a retail game in a store.

Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for Godaddy coupon codes codes – watch the GoDaddy promo codes video for more details, use the CSS free shipping coupon code ‘AFGAMEFS’ for orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Posted in DS, Russ G's Blog | No Comments »

Best PS3 games for Christmas 2009

November 20th, 2009

The essential PS3 party games for that perfect family Christmas 2009

PS3 games for ChristmasChristmas is an interesting time for most – it’s pretty-much the one point in the year when everyone insists on big family get-togethers, regardless of how well the family actually gets on. You might be the sort of person who literally yearns for Christmas so you can catch up with all your close family members, or you might be the type for whom the Christmas holiday is more or an ordeal, looked on with the kind of enthusiasm most reserve for visits to the dentist, or filling in a tax return. Whether you embrace the Festive period with the enthusiasm of Tiny Tim however, or feel that actually Scrooge had it spot on before the meddling ghosts showed up, one thing that’s always welcome when you’re ‘confined to quarters’ with all available family members, is some kind of family entertainment.

Now in the ‘olden days’ (back when telephones had wires attaching them to walls, and you could count the number of television channels on the fingers of one hand), family fun would generally have been limited to board games, card games and charades (note to younger readers – ask your parents about the last one).

Now though, with a spot of planning, and some careful purchase of pre-Christmas shopping, your versatile PS3 can actually provide you with myriad ways to amuse the family, be they young or old, and thus assure a stress-free Christmas for all. What follows is Gamesweasel’s recommendations for a fun-filled PlayStation 3 Christmas – get your PS3 Christmas deals in now, before they all sell out.

Singstar

Suitable for: Family members of all ages

Singstar MicrophonesOnce upon a time karaoke was something that people did in bars. Then in 2004 Sony came up with the idea of Singstar and suddenly those who were too nervous or too self-conscious to belt out their favourite pop hits in front of strangers could do so in the comfort of their own home. With the two Singstar microphones, and loads of Singstar titles now on the market, there’s something to suit just about everyone’s taste (well, except perhaps those who only really like opera music – but I’m sure Singstar: Opera is just around the corner).

Singstar started on the PS2, and is still going strong on the older platform, but next-gen PS3 owners benefit from a few extra tracks on each new release that PS2 owners miss out on. Should you be really into your Singstar, then it’s worth noting that the backwards compatibility of the PS3 also means that owners of the new console can still use the older Singstar games too.

The list of Singstar titles now available is literally too numerous to list all of them here, but particularly recommended would be the most recent release, Singstar: Take That, a compendium of the most popular hits from the well-known boy band; Singstar: Motown, also recently released, and featuring a range of tracks which will keep mum, dad and probably the grandparents happy too; Singstar: Queen, featuring, as the title suggests, the well-known hits of Queen; Singstar: ABBA, one for the ladies; Singstar: Boy Bands vs Girl Bands, something to keep the kids happy when they get bored with Take That; Singstar: Singalong with Disney, something to keep the younger kids amused (and all those ‘big kids’ who’ve watched too many Disney movies); and last but not least, Singstar: Anthems, which contains a selection of those songs that for one reason or another, everybody knows! With so many different styles of music available to keep everyone happy Singstar is one of the top PS3 games for Christmas 2009.

EyePet

Suitable for: Keeping the younger kids quiet while the older relatives are busy

EyePetI remember when I was at school, at one point all the kids went crazy for a ‘Virtual Pet’ called a Tamagotchi. Technology back then was fairly limited (at least when it came to toys) so this was simply a small egg-shaped piece of plastic with a monochrome LCD screen, on which a tiny ‘pet’ could be encouraged to grow, and it was the job of the pet’s owner to feed it and play with it via a very basic series of commands. It was ridiculously primitive, but everyone loved it. Quite what kids back then would make of the EyePet is anybody’s guess. Taking the same concept – of a ‘virtual pet’ – and then transforming it into something so far from the original idea as to be practically unrecognisable, Sony offers today’s kids something quite special.

Using the PS3’s EyeToy camera, the EyePet shows you a live image of your room, on TV, then inserts the pet into the room, where you can interact with it. It jumps around the floor, climbs onto your shoulder, lets you pet it, feed it and play with it, and kids are going to absolutely love it.

It worth pointing out that the EyePet isn’t perfect – it’s a little tricky to start with, getting used to trying to touch something that only exists on the TV screen, and the interaction is sometimes a little iffy as you find yourself putting your hand through your pet, but on the whole it’s extremely well-realised, and even adults will find themselves sucked into thinking of the little fellow as real as he bounces around on the screen, responding to ‘almost’ your every move.

EyePet is a reminder that long before Nintendo released a controller that you have to wave around, PlayStation owners were enjoying motion-sensitive, controller-free gameplay through the innovations of the EyeToy camera.

Buzz!

Suitable for: Family members of all ages


YouTube Buzz Quiz TV Review

Buzz! controllersAs they’d done with karaoke, Sony took the concept of gameshows and brought in into people’s homes. Under the beady eye of sharp-tongued virtual host ‘Buzz’ (voiced by Jason Donovan) between two and eight players compete in a variety of different rounds to show whose knowledge is best. The basic game usually comes with four buzzers, so those with big families might need to shell out for an extra set to play with up to eight, but it’s worth it when the whole family is clustered round the TV, buzzer in hand, trying to out-Buzz everyone else.

Again a Playstation game which started on PS2, Buzz really came into its own on Playstation 3 where the addition of wireless buzzers and better graphics and sound made things that much more fun. Most recently, Buzz! Quiz World was released for the Playstation 3, but also available is Buzz! Quiz TV and Buzz! Brain Of The UK. In addition to the quiz options there are a variety of games available aimed at younger gamers who perhaps aren’t quite coordinated enough yet to manage a proper controller. Buzz! Junior Monster Rumble was popular on PS2, and should now be available for download for PS3 from the PlayStation Store.

Guitar Hero, Band Hero and Rock Band

Suitable for: All but the youngest family members, and those with zero coordination


YouTube Beatles Rock Band

Guitar Hero GuitarAlways wanted to be in a rock band but haven’t got any musical talent? Well now you can be, with your PS3. A game series that started on PS2, Guitar Hero kicked things off with its unique ‘guitar controller’ which allowed musically untalented music fans everywhere to ‘rock out’ in the style of their favourite guitar heroes (hence the name) and then Rock Band took things to the next level by adding more instruments and a vocalist to the mix – cue many drunken post-pub ‘band sessions’ for those who could afford all the kit.

The concept is simple: you hold the dedicated controller, and use the fret buttons (or the drums in the case of the drum kit) to create the notes as they race towards you on the screen. Hit the buttons at the correct time and the tune continues, hit them at the wrong time, and that part of the track, be it lead guitar, bass guitar or drums, stops until the next note appears. A virtual crowd cheers or boos your efforts on the screen, and good performances are rewarded with new tracks to tackle and other bonuses while lousy performances earn you insults and leave you with your ‘Rock God’ reputation in tatters.

An idea that started with the awesome Guitar Hero, ‘Band Hero’ is the most recent release for the PS3, and one with a rocking track list which should offer something for most family members to try.

The Beatles: Rock Band, meanwhile, is a must-have for those fans of the Fab Four with the cash to afford the complete kit, and family get-togethers are probably one of the only times when you’re going to have enough people available for an entire band. If you can’t quite stretch to the newest games, then it’s well worth taking a look at some of the older Guitar Hero titles which are still available (Guitar Hero 5 has not been out long and for more tracks it’s worth checking out Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour). Even if your cash can’t stretch to enough instruments for an entire band, it’s well worth just trying a version of the game with the guitar only, as strumming along to your favourite rock tracks is great fun, and can be almost as much fun to watch – get your uncoordinated uncle to have a go at it on after lunch on Boxing Day and you’ll see what I mean.

Posted in PS3, Roy K's Blog | No Comments »

Hasbro Family Game Night review

November 19th, 2009

Yes I’m a video gamer but I’m not un-partial to the odd board game or two but I admit that my Scrabble board hasn’t seen the light of day since the official Scrabble app arrived on Facebook. As well as playing computer and video games since an early age I have always liked board games, some of my favourites include classics such as: Monopoly, Chess and the aforementioned Scrabble. So as you can imagine, when Hasbro Family Game Night for Nintendo DS arrived for review I wasn’t too displeased.

Sadly before my review of Family Game Night has hardly begun, I already have a complaint. It contains just four (yes 4) games. Battleship, Connect 4, Bob It and Operation are all digitally created here for your portable playing pleasure; so will the transfer from the real world to the virtual world suit these classic games? Whilst none of these games made my favourite list I have still enjoyed many a game of Connect 4 and Battleships during my youth; it must be said though that Operation and Bob It have never had the pleasure of my playtime, until now.

I’m sure most of you will have played some or all of these classic games in the past so I won’t spend too much time introducing them to you.

  • Battleship is a strategic two player naval war game. Both players secretly position 5 differently sized warships on a large grid which represents the sea. Players then take it in turns to fire a missile to one square in that grid. If they’re very lucky they’ll hit one of their opponent’s ships and can then plan a strategy to sink that ship. More often than not a player will miss and fire a missile ‘harmlessly’ into the sea.
  • Connect 4 is of course the simple game we all know and love where your job is to match four of your coloured Chips in a row before the other player. Players take it in turns to place their coin into a vertical grid either to build up a row themselves or try and block their foe.
  • Bob It is the most unusual addition to the game because it is in fact a toy as opposed to a board game. It’s a musical toy that asks the player to perform actions on the device (such as pushing a button or twisting a handle) at an ever increasing speed until the player mucks up and does the wrong thing.
  • Operation of course is the kids favourite title where players have to remove an awkwardly shaped piece from a game board with tweezers. What makes it fun is the game board is shaped in the form of a hospital patient. Once again players take it turns to remove a piece from his body without catching it on the side and setting off the buzzer, or killing him I suppose.

So how do the games transfer from the physical world to the DS? Well in my opinion it’s a bit 50/50 because I only like two of the games. Connect 4 and Battleship feel absolutely natural on the touchscreen; be it tapping on a grid coordinate to send your missile towards an enemy ship or placing your yellow chip right in the way of an upcoming row of 4 red chips. On the other hand Bob It feels a bit out of place with it getting you to pretend to twist a crank or shout into the DS microphone. Operation on the other hand has been revamped a bit from the original game and actually puts you inside the body with obstructions such as mobile phones stuck inside the guy’s body. The principle is still the same but it feels much more like a Wario Ware mini game that has been dragged out a bit too far.

Now even the craziest of board game fans may feel a little short changed by this display of contents; thankfully EA have out a bit more effort into the production with some neat extras. Firstly you can choose the difficulty of the cpu opponent (if you’re playing on your own) from Normal to Expert. Secondly each game has at least one extra play mode which can at times veer things away from the rules of the original. For example you can play Connect 4 with SuperChips; here you’ll have a much more exciting game against the clock as well as having special powered chips which can affect the gameplay in interesting ways. These include a bomb which will blow up the surrounding chips, a newton chip which pushes the bottom most chip in that column out of the board and a basic but lovely double score chip. Oh and not to forget in this mode you can connect more than 4 chips in a row with successive combos, great!

Aside from all this the most fun you’ll have in Family Game Night on DS is with another player, you can either take it turns on the same DS or if you have another you can share the game using Single Card Download Play or Experience the full game in multiplayer if you own two copies of the game.

Presentationally the game is pretty sweet, all of the games are pretty faithfully recreated in look and feel and the addition of Mr Potato Head of Toy Story fame as host rounds things off nicely. Whilst I didn’t like two of the games I know it’s all down to personal choice so there isn’t anything that negative to say about the game apart from the stingy offering of just four titles.

Hasbro Family Game Night does exactly what it says on the box. It’s a fun recreation of four of their most popular games on the DS and scores a decent 7 out of 10.

Get Hasbro Family Game Night now
New: Buy Hasbro Family Game Night from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Hasbro Family Game Night – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our December 2009 Godaddy.com promo code to save money on web hosting and domains – watch the godaddy discount coupon video for more details, using the CCS discount code valid for December 2009 ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping with any order over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ will get you 15% off any order over $75, using the December 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Hasbro Family Game Night review pics

Related: Rubiks World Review for Wii, Rubiks Puzzle World for DS

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Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS review

November 19th, 2009

I know it’s still 2009 and the Olympics are ages away yet but that isn’t going to stop Sega from sending out their new Mario and Sonic at the Olympics game and it certainly isn’t going to stop me from reviewing it. Now if you’ve already seen our video review of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games then you’ll know it scored fairly well. Can Sega take that same magic juice and bless the Nintendo DS version with a similar level of goodness? Let’s find out in that aforementioned Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Game review for DS.

First up instead of family party based like its Wii relative, Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics on DS is more of a story single player based affair. I suppose the fact that most people take their DS consoles all around the show and play on the go (unlike me) it makes sense for it to be a more solo experience. That isn’t to say there is no multiplayer fun; there is. It is just more of an addition rather than the whole premise and I’ll come to it later on. Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic games is split into three distinct modes; adventure, single player and multiplayer. Adventure is the bulk of the game so let’s start there.

As you’d expect from the title you take control of Mario and Sonic; however it’s not all about Speed Skating and gold medals here. If you’d have thought something as giant and complex as the Winter Olympic Games could go without a hitch then you’re a dummy because if you think about it just for a moment then you’d realise that there is just so much that can go wrong. In this instance though what goes wrong isn’t quite what you or I would have expected. Rather than the typical type of things like Olympic Athletes being struck down by food poisoning or being suspected of drug misuse, in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games things are much worse. Who else but the evil Dr Eggman and Bowser have decided to cause trouble. Instead of kidnapping Princesses or Stealing Chaos Emeralds; this time the nasty duo have concocted a more devious plan. They have kidnapped the special Snow Spirits that create the snow for the Olympic Villages; without them here almost all of the events will be impossible. After all you can’t Ski on grass can you?

So Mario and Sonic jump at the opportunity to save the day and are more than ready to take on the challenge. From here you take control of the two heroes as you explore a series of over world maps taking part in Mission Challenges (Olympic Events) against friends and foes. Every time you win a challenge against a friend such as: Tails, Peach, Knuckles and Donkey Kong. They join your roster and they then become available to compete in the next missions. Each character has differing attributes which may or may not make them suitable for a particular sport. Also every completed event sees you win a magic crystal that the Snow Spirits require to create snow and melt ice; you require five such crystals to unlock the next area. Whilst for the most part you’ll just be walking around looking for the next mission there are a couple of other things to do.

Hidden around if you search well enough are some little extra goodies; firstly you can find extra lives which will come in handy for the harder events, secondly there are scrolls that give you background information on the game characters, and thirdly, you will come across maple leaves which provide insight into actual true facts about the Olympics. As you can probably tell this is a just a fairly loose story mode aimed to make playing through each of the events a little more interesting than just picking one from a list. In a similar fashion to the Nintendo Wii version there are eight Dream Events which are a fun addition; these are similar to the traditional Olympic Games but spice things up with things like Rockets attached to your Skis. Whilst I’d agree all this makes things a bit more exciting I was however a bit disappointed by the quite awfully written dialogue. All of the characters you encounter along the way speak like cartoon characters aimed at Nursery school children, and as a semi-mature 27 year old I was a bit grumped out by being made to feel like a kid in what should be a universal feeling game.

So if you’re tired of adventure you can head into playing the games in a more linear single player experience aimed primarily at beating your best scores or into a triad of party games:-

  • Bingo Bash is a basic mini game that gets you to match symbols on a card that correspond to those drawn from a random ball machine, of course on its own that would be dull but surprise balls await which can see you having to take part in a quick Olympic Event against the other players.
  • Lucky Spin is another randomizer game which puts the four players up against an Event chosen by starting and stopping a wheel with each of the playable events painted on it. There are some items which switch things up a little but it’s still just a random game machine.
  • Wild Card sees you compete in random events once more but this time you collect trading cards. The idea is simple; be the first to get 4 matching cards. What makes this exciting is you need to trade your cards with another player to get a full set; this of course gives them the opportunity to beat you to the punch.

Of course a game like this wouldn’t be much fun on your own and luckily there are some multiplayer options; what I’m sad to report is that you will require two or more Nintendo DS consoles to use the Wireless Single Card or Multi Card download play modes. There is no way to play together on one DS unless you count taking turns in the single player games. If you’ve got a friend with a DS you will no doubt have some fun because playing with a friend is always much more fun than playing with CPU bots.

Overall I did enjoy Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter games for DS; it’s a nice looking title and actually pushes the graphical capabilities of the system more than its bigger Wii brother does. All of the games are very fun to play and you can control most of them via the stylus very easily; a few do require DPad and Button controls and they’re fine too. Because this version seems aimed at younger gamers for no real apparent reason, it does mean that it is much easier than I’d like; having a selectable difficulty mode for advanced players would have been a nice option. But in the end it’s still fun to play through regardless of its simplicity.

A title from Sega and Nintendo combined isn’t likely to ever be of poor quality and once again they come up trumps with a quality title. By no means is it perfect but in a world of very rushed shovelware it’s nice to see that a game like this isn’t just rushed out to earn a quick buck when so many other license games are. A solid but slightly lacking 6 out of 10.

Get Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS now
New: Buy Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our December 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our GoDaddy coupon code video for more details, using the December 2009 CCS coupon code valid for December 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use our December 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL’ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS review pics

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS review screenshots

Related: video review of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Wii version review

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Gamesweasel podcast episode 124

November 18th, 2009

Episode 124
This week on Gamesweasel we play Tekken 6 and Motorstorm Arctic Edge, look at the news about Playstation 3, Modern Warfare 2 and Bioshock 2, plus you get the chance to win 5 copies of World of Goo for the PC. On the blog this week we have the latest Grand Theft Auto 4 cheat codes, how to get free Microsoft points codes, a list of the most popular Nintendo Wii games for Christmas and a guide to using the Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band.

Buy
To buy any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Motorstorm Arctic Edge Amazon and Tekken 6 Amazon pages.

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Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, using the Squarespace discount code valid for December 2009 ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

We are also brought to you in association with CCS.com, use the CCS coupon ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30.

Win
There are 5 copies of World of Goo for the PC up for grabs, if you’d like to win then see our competitions page by 7 December 2009.

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Playstation 3 Bioshock 2 Tekken 6 Tekken 6 review Motorstorm Arctic Edge Motorstorm Arctic Edge review

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Tekken 6 review

November 18th, 2009


YouTube Tekken 6 review

Tekken and Soul Calibur have always been my fighting games of choice. I even liked Mortal Kombat over Street Fighter in the past so go figure what that says about me. Anyway, Tekken 6 has hit the next-gen systems so does it deliver all that you’d expect?

Well, if you want a fighting game which you can pick up and play but also master if you put the effort in with a massive roster of characters to play as then I guess that’s a yes. If you want a fantastic campaign mode to play through as well then forget it because it’s rather bad.

In the story mode you play as a character called Lars who’s so tough he can punch people from the other side of a wall. You break into a corporation and then rescue a girl called Alisa who’s actually a robot. It’s more confusing than an episode of Lost and unfortunately the Tekken controls don’t translate to a run around and hit things mechanic. Combat feels clunky in this mode and it’s just no fun – however you may feel compelled to trudge through it as it’s the quickest way to earn currency for tarting up your characters and for unlocking new characters and locations.

The main modes you’ll be playing are the online and offline modes. Online modes can pair you up with anyone in the world for a quick scrap online and offline modes comprise of arcade mode, ghost battles, time trials, survival and my favourite, team battle. You can play these against the CPU or against a friend in the same room.

When it comes to looks, the pre-rendered animations are gorgeous as you’d expect but the graphics don’t quite beat those of the recent Soul Calibur. They’ve also been clever by keeping the Japanese voices in the campaign mode and using subtitles to stop things sounding silly.

When it comes to characters there are all the ones you’d expect plus new ones in there, including a massive dragon-type thing called Azazel. This thing is massive and it’s really tough to see what’s going on when you fight it as it almost fills the whole screen!

I’ve been playing Tekken 6 on the Xbox 360 and I can’t help thinking it will play better on the PS3 simply because the controller’s d-pad is better. If you have both machines, get it for the PS3. Tekken 6 gets a very good 7 out of 10.

Get Tekken 6 now
New: Buy Tekken 6 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Tekken 6 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy promo code for December 2009 to save money on web hosting and domains – watch the GoDaddy coupon code video for more details, using the December 2009 CCS coupon code valid for December 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use our December 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL’ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Tekken 6 review pics

Tekken 6 review screenshots

Related: Street Fighter review, Soul Calibur review, Youtube Tekken 6 review

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