So Mario Party 8 has just returned to the shelves after they removed that naughty word from the European version. I never reviewed it a couple of weeks ago when it first came out so maybe this is Ninty’s way of hinting that a review must be done. It’s about to happen, so listen up.

If you’ve never played a Mario Party game the premise is simple. Up to four players compete on a 3d board game to land on as many stars as possible before the end of the game. You hit a dice block with your head, move that many turns and take your prize or punishment depending on which square you land on. If you land on a VS square or on another opponent’s square, you have a little battle in one of the mini games to get the edge over your opponent.

This one has some new boards, the ability to use your Miis in a very limited sense (more of that later) and of course Wii remote compatibility which lets you shake your arms about to fight with your family or friends instead of pressing buttons.

They’ve also added the comcept of candy which helps you on the game board. You can choose to eat various flavours you pick up to roll two dice, move double your turns and even change shape such as into a bowling ball to knock other players off the board.

In my experience Mario Party games have always disappointed slightly and unfortunately this one comes as no exception. At best the mini games are lazy, at worst they’re just very boring. There’s games where you must shake a can of pop, aim with the remote to shoot at targets and even a yawn-inducing one where you have to wind up a clock. Uninspiring to say the least.

If you want to play with your funny little Miis you’re restricted to playing in the extras part of the game and some of these are exactly the same as bowling and tennis in Wii Sports. Not good considering you’ve all played this to death when you first took your Wii out of the box.

If you’re with the right mates and you can have a laugh through anything, you may just enjoy this game when playing against three others. Whatever you do, don’t attempt to play alone. You have to wait for all the other players to have their turn before you get your go and it’s not much fun fighting the Wii at its own mini game when you know it’s just letting you win if you just happen to do so.

At least with the version before it was pulled off the shelves you could laugh at the naughty word. Mario Party 8 is kind of like being at a wake. It gets a not too hot 4 out of 10.

So time to give you my thoughts on the resident Evil 5 trailer as seen after E3. there’s actually a new trailer no line now with extended gameplay scenes so we can see exactly how this game should look when yo pick up the controller.

In the follo-up to this new take on the game, you play Chris Redfield. Once a member of STARS as you played him in the very first game, he’s now part of the BSAA unit (whatever that stands for). He’s found himself in a desert colony and things aren’t too normal round these parts as the folks here start bleeding from the eyes and attacking you with hatchets and other sharp objects that really should stay locked away.

Once again it looks like Capcom are sticking with the over the shoulder view that worked so well an 4 but this time they promise we’ll be able to use the environment around use much more, similar to barricading doors shut and kicking ladders over in the last game.

Also, it appears that the foes you’ll be fighting aren’t exactly ythe clichéd zombies you fought in earlier renditions of the series. These villagers don’t shuffle and moan as they crawl towards you at a snail’s pace. These ones run, think, and even call others with megaphones as if you didn’t think your hands were already full with 20 mad villagers chasing you with pointy things.

Although not seen in the trailer, there’s bound to be some more puzzling to do as you reach new locations to complete whatever mission Chris says he’s got to do in the trailer. Thankfully, it seems random puzzles and retracing your steps were abolished in Resi 4 so let’s hope they don’t make a return here.

Expect a more detailed preview or full review as soon as I get my hands on it in the coming months.

I’m taking a look at the Wii re-thinking of the popular Nintendo DS mind expanding game Big Brain Academy. This one’s called Wii Degree and uses the pointy clicky fun of the remote instead of the touchy-feely stylus and has support for multi-player fun which turns the thinking game into a party game.

Big Brain Academy has always been the more visual title when compared with Brain Training so it’s only right this one comes to a big telly so all the silly animals and noises can be seen in all their glory. At first I was wary as to whether this game would translate well to the Wii but the good news is that in the most part it does and it makes for a fun, addictive game that works best with the new multiplayer mode.

You begin the game by enrolling to the Academy and doing a number of tests to stretch your memory, visualisation, analization and other skills. These can be anything form edentifying a series of building blocks rotated in different ways, counting how many coloured balls drop into a basket or concentrating on the features of a picture before you know what the question is. When all five tests have been copleted your brain gets ‘weighed’ to see how heavy it is and whether it’s the weight of an ant’s or a university professor. Of course, rocket scientist is what we should all be aiming for.

Unfortunately, there are only around 15 games and you’ll see most of them the first time you play the game. Of course, the puzzles within these games vary but it does get old quickly, which is where the multiplayer shines.

You can play one-on-one as you square up to complete the puzzles the fastest, and even share two remotes between others for up to 8 players, encouraging teamplay.

There are some frustrations though that come with using the remote. Sometimes you hit the wrong icon on the screen just because you didn’t aim correctly which never happened using the stylus of the DS. Also, they’ve tried to use the speaker in the remote for some of the games and it’s quite simply not good enough to hear what’s being said through it sometimes.

Still, not a bad first effort. It’d be nice to see a future version with more games and the ability to play over WiFi.

6 out of 10.

It’s been announced there’s going to be a Lego Indiana Jones game coming to your lounge in Summer 2008. Lucas seems to love his Lego, and the trailer, available to see at http://gamesweasel.mevio.com, shows plastic Indy doing silly stuff from the beginning of Raiders of the lost Ark and promises action from all three movies of the trilogy.

David Jaffe, the inventor of God of War has left Sony, much to their disappointment. He’s now set up a company called ‘Eat, Sleep and Play’ and will continue to make games for the PS3, their first game being the next in the line of the Twisted Metal Series.

Although not being officially confirmed by Microsoft, it seems the price of the Xbox 360 is about to come down in the states by around $50. Walmart and Toys R Us are advertising the console with the price drop and usually, the retailers get the heads-up first. This could mean that prices in the UK should fall before Christmas.