We’ve arrived at the penultimate episode of Tales of Monkey Island from Telltale Games and boy is it a shocker. It’s okay, don’t worry. There are no spoilers of episode 4 here but if you’ve not finished episode 3 yet then you may want to pass on by. So as you should remember; Episode 3 of Monkey Island ended in yet another cliff-hanger with Morgan Le Flay once again betraying her hero (and ours); Guybrush Threepwood. She gives in to her greater lust for money and continues on with the Marquis De Sade’s bounty on Guybrush’s head. After escaping the guts of the giant Manatee and the mad clutches of Coronado De Cava with the not so giant Voodoo Sucking Sponge in his pocket, Morgan knocks him unconscious and takes him back to Flotsam Island.

Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4; The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood sees the Marquis De Sade finally get his hands back on Guybrush only to be robbed of his prize specimen by a baying mob. They want Guybrush to answer for crimes he’s supposedly committed and simply drag him off to the local courthouse to face trial and punishment. To say much more could easily spoil what is probably the most intriguing episode in this Pentology so far.

What I can say is that this adventure felt a little shorter this time around lasting about four hours, compared to the five to six of the previous episodes. I believe this is because the fifth episode will likely be a longer and more complex affair. I did get seriously stuck at one time and nearly had to resort to searching Google for the answer but as usual; after walking around and trying everything I managed to solve that one really tricky puzzle. Nevertheless Episode 4 features plenty of stomping around the Flotsam Island previously visited in Episode 1; many of the characters that you met before are still there as well as some new ones including the infamous Salesman, Stan from the original Lucas Arts games.

Because it uses the same engine as all of the other episodes, Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 looks and sounds just as good as the rest; the quality of the dialogue is once again great with many laugh out loud moments. Die-hard fans may spot some more classic references and smile, sweet.

I award yet Another 8 out of 10 for Monkey Island here folks.

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Offers: Use our November 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our godaddy discount coupon video for more details, using the November 2009 CCS coupon code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 review, The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition video review

Tags: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4, Tales of Monkey Island, PC, Wii

It’s true that Nintendo have focused more on the casual gamer and families this console generation; however behind the scenes there is a strong core focus to be found.  Many Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners scoff at Nintendo Wii because all they see are TV commercials of the casual games they find so offensive, yet there are plenty of Wii adults only games available. You can now buy a Nintendo Wii for a hardcore video game player this Christmas holiday and still provide them the sort of games they’d want. Searching the web for the best Wii deals gets you more of a dedicated gaming device than the Xbox 360 or PS3 for under $200 because it isn’t loaded down with any multimedia or media extending capabilities.  It’s about games and games only.

Top 10 best Wii games for adults

Here are some of the favourite hardcore games for the Wii available from Amazon.com right now. With other core titles such as Metroid Other M, Red Steel 2 and The Grinder coming out in 2010 at the same time Sony and Microsoft are releasing their own casual motion sensing devices. As it’s looking the Wii could be the system of choice for hardcore gamers in 2010, here are a rundown of some of the top 10 best wii games for adults:

• Madworld is one of the most over the top and gory Wii adults only games of all time.  You just know that the Wii boys will love slicing people up with chainsaws and watching blood splatter everywhere – you can find out what we thought of the ultimate Wii hardcore game in our Madworld review where we gave it an excellent 8 out of 10.
• House of the Dead Overkill is an adult wii game from Sega which recently broke the world record for the amount of cuss words in a video game. Combine this with zombies, blood, gore and sexual references and this is a Wii title to make any hardcore Wii gamer take note. We played this back in February 09 and gave it an almost perfect 9 out of 10 – watch our House of the Dead Overkill review and see why.

• Resident Evil comes to Wii once more in the Darkside Chronicles.  Another light gun esque game which uses the Wii Remote’s infra-red capabilities to brind the arcade feel to your home TV.  Play though scenes you know and scenes you don’t from previous Resident Evil games and find out what happened between the parts of the story you already know.
• The Conduit is the Wii’s most popular first person shooter.  It’s full of Aliens, Science Fiction and guns.  It also features some of the best graphics on Wii and a brilliant online battle mode – head to our review of The Conduit to see exactly why we gave it an impressive 7 out of 10.

• Madden NFL 10 is just the ticket for Football fans who want to score touchdowns without having to join a college team.  A perfect game for boys who want to be men, and men who want to be real men – read our full review of Madden NFL 10 where we gave it a very good 7 out of 10.
• Dead Space Extraction was a hit on PS3 and Xbox 360 and this exclusive prequel brings the horror to Wii in this classy on rails arcade style shooter. We recently got our hands on the game and couldn’t put it down, see our Dead Space Extraction review for the Wii where we awarded it an outstanding 8 out of 10.

• Excitebots comes with a free Wii Wheel (just like Mario Kart) and is a more serious stunt filled affair.  It looks like it’s for kids but to actually do well you’ll need to be great at pulling of stunts and big air.
• Muramasa the Demon Blade is a real 1980’s Metroid style old school hack em up featuring sword swishing in abundance and enough collection to keep an OCD sufferer happy.  Oh and and its rock hard too.
• Star Wars The Clone Wars features all of the stuff a Star Wars geek could want, Lightsabers , Star Wars and excellent cell shaded animation.
• New Super Mario Bros for the Wii – the hotly anticipated follow up the the best selling Nintendo DS game of the last few years.  Go back to the original days of Mario before 3D took over the world.  Any half decent gamer should play this game if they want any credibility in 2010 – cutesy but impossibly addictive.

We also recommend the Wii Sports Resort Special Edition – the fantastic sequel to the original Wii Sports title which comes with a new twist.  This time you can become even more immersed in the experience because it comes bundled free with two Wii Motion Plus units which provide a more lifelike motion control experience and can be used on other compatible titles. It may seem casual at first but dedicated players will find many secrets and appreciate many core mechanics to be found.

Hardcore Wii gaming accessories

Hardcore Wii gamers will also love some of the accessories on the market that don’t try to emulate tennis rackets and golf clubs but instead enhance their gaming experience.

• The Quad Remote Charge Station takes away all the hassle of battery changing because it comes with 4 battery packs that will give hours of playtime.  Save money on batteries with this useful and cool looking base station that will charge your Wii Remotes with no hassle, built in LED indicators show when charging is taking place.

• The Wii Classic Controller is compatible for certain games that aren’t quite suited to motion sensing and those purchased via the Wii’s Virtual Console online download service. Also Wii hardcore games such as Super Smash Bros Brawl support the classic controller for the best gameplay.

• A Wii Zapper is a great way to emulate that crossbow / shotgun feel on Wii and it comes with a free Zelda themed Links Crossbow training game. It’s perfect for titles such as Resident Evil, House of the Dead and Dead Space on Wii.

• Owners of Guitar Hero and Rock Band will appreciate the Dual Guitar Holder which keeps those guitar accessories stored neatly in the living room or bedroom. See our recent run-down of Wii guitar accessories for more ideas of what to get fans of Rock Band and Guitar Hero for Christmas.

• We found the official Wii lens cleaner is the best option to fix problem Wii discs when we did a recent rundown of Wii lens cleaning kits – the Wii hardcore game Super Smash Bros Brawl was known to cause problems when playing with certain Wii consoles due to it’s intense disc activity.

• A Wii HD Link Component Cable will allow up to full 480p visuals to those with an HD television set, great for LCD and Plasma screen gamers who want to get the very best visuals the Nintendo Wii can display.

Special offers: Use our Gamesweasel Godaddy coupon to save money on web domains and hosting – watch the GoDaddy coupon codes video for more details, use our CCS coupons to get money off orders and free shipping on orders over at CCS.com, use our Squarespace coupon code to get money off the lifetime of your account.

I just want to thank Hudson Software for making me feel old. I can’t believe it’s already been 18 years since I played the original European Bomberman game back when it was still called Dyna Blaster. The premise was, and still is quite simple. You and a whole host of human or CPU controlled enemies are trapped in an arena; only one of you will survive. Step in the bombs that act as both your defence and offence in one of the most loved multiplayer games of all time. If you’ve not played any Bomberman game before then all you need to know is that your goal is to blow up your opponents by dropping bombs and hoping the resulting 4 directional explosion burns them to a crisp. The problem obviously is that whilst you’re trying to eliminate up to 7 other people they are trying to eliminate you at the same time; with each player able to carry a good few bombs at once you can easily see over 20 bombs on screen at once and avoiding the blast area takes good positioning and quick reflexes.

I will just mention that the majority of the Bomberman games have featured a single player story campaign as well as the full on battle mode mentioned above; the thing is that most people weren’t really too impressed with these story campaigns and so the last few games have seen it removed completely. Bomberman Ultra for PS3 is no different; there is only battle mode for either offline or online play. Similarly like Bomberman Live on 360 and Bomberman Blast on WiiWare; Bomberman Ultra is a download only title available on the PSN for just a few dollars. So nearly 20 years later there must be something a little bit different to make this version of Bomberman stand out from the crowd of its hefty back catalogue. Indeed one cool new feature is the ability to unlock costumes and create your own cool looking Bomberman avatar; it’s not quite as cool as using Mii’s like Wii game but it’s a nice touch.

Gameplay is pretty much as you’d expect from a Bomberman title; this is a fun and frantic bomb blasting battle with a whole host of pickups which can help or hinder your game. As you destroy the arena blocks, special items such as; Extra bombs to drop and Flame Boosters will appear. These have obvious and useful uses but why stop there when you can travel faster with roller skates and throw bombs with a power glove. With stacks of other items you can develop your own strategy which makes playing random people online even more interesting because their game style might be radically different to yours. One addition I am not too keen on are the Bomb Shelters; these huge view obstructing towers will protect anyone from a bomb blast; my problem is that they obscure too much of the battlefield and attract campers. Depending on the game settings chosen at the start; things like sudden death and the ability to take part after your death via the sidelines can spice things up when the timer is running close to the end and a number of people are still battling away.

Of course there is much more I could mention including the different game modes and different arena’s but the most important thing for me was the online multiplayer for up to 8 people. Sadly the part of the game I was most looking forward to is also the most disappointing. Now offline multiplayer is always a hoot for 4 mates and you’d think online with 8 players should double the fun right? Well yes in theory it should. The problem I found was that hardly anyone else seems to be playing online; if you’re lucky enough to find someone hosting a match it tends to never actually get enough players to start and the host gets bored of waiting and kicks everyone off. You could try hosting your own game but don’t be surprised if you only get a handful of random people to actually play with you, instead you’ll need to convince people on your friends list to buy the game if you really want to have fun with online play.

Bomberman Ultra is an extensive battle experience which delivers solid gameplay but doesn’t really push the boat out. Even though it runs in a super smooth 720p you could be mistaken for thinking this was a 32bit era title; it doesn’t feel like Hudson have really pushed themselves to make a next gen Bomberman quite yet.

Overall then a typical Bomberman game which should fit happily on most PS3 owners game library; if you don’t go expecting anything other than a fun retro Bomberman battle experience you probably won’t be disappointed. A well-deserved but must try harder next time score of; 6 out of 10.

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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.

Related: Boom Blox Bash Party Review, Bomberman Blast

Tags: Bomberman Ultra, Bomberman, PS3, PSN

If you’ve been following my reviews of the wonderful point and click adventures; Tales of Monkey Island Episode One and Tales of Monkey Island Episode Two so far then you no doubt have been dying to read this Tales of Monkey Island Episode Three Review right? Welcome to the third instalment of Telltale’s new adventure in the Monkey Island franchise. This time our hero Guybrush Threepwood is starring in the ‘Lair of the Leviathan’. Please be aware of spoilers of Episode Two coming up shortly. As previously mentioned Tales of Monkey Island is a brand new spinoff of the classic Amiga and PC games released in the early 1990’s. This 5 part adventure from Telltale (the developers of Sam and Max as well as Strongbad’s Cool Game) is a fresh take on the series but does feature input from many of the original developers. Best of all you can enjoy Tales of Monkey Island on both PC or Wiiware.

As you may remember, Episode Two ended with Guybrush on the trail of the Sea Manatee and the Giant Voodoo Sucking Sponge. As usual Guybrush didn’t exactly know what was in store for him because soon enough; his crew, his ship as well as himself are all swallowed and therefore trapped inside the belly of said Sea Manatee. Without wishing to spoil the four or five hours of playtime to be had here I can say that in this adventure you’ll bump into the Voodoo lady’s old flame Coronado De Cava who was previously on the trail of La Esponja Grande. After years stuck inside a Manatee you’ll understand that he’s not quite as sane as he once was.
If you’ve enjoyed the first two episodes then of course you’ll love to see how the story is progressing.

Just as with the first two episodes both the graphics and voice acting are a treat and as crazy and imaginative as usual. The whole series so far is a treat for point and click fans everywhere and I’m really engrossed in this series and can’t wait until Episode 4 is ready. Another 8 out of 10.

Get Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 now
New: Buy Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes, using the CCS discount code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping with any order over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ will get you 15% off any order over $75, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Tales of Monkey Island Episode One, Tales of Monkey Island Episode Two

Tags: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3, Lair of the Leviathan, Chapter 3, Tales of Monkey Island, Episode 3, Telltale, Wii, PC, Monkey Island, Guybrush, Point and Click

Right off the bat a video game title based around pun is a little worrying but you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a DS game by its name. The subtitle for Build-A-Lot is ‘become a property tycoon’ and that should start to give a clue as to the game’s theme.

For a couple of weeks I was waiting for a fun little title to play on my DSi in bed and I was quite pleased when Build-A-Lot arrived for review. So the aim of the game is to progress from being a newbie property developer to America’s greatest (and richest) property tycoon. On the offset I agree that a property building game doesn’t sound that much fun; that’s because being a real property developer is quite a horrid prospect for most people. What you have to remember is that this is a game and as such, it’s been designed with fun in mind with nothing to bog you down. From the start Build-A-Lot throws you into the action rather than get you doing any of the boring stuff like searching for land, getting it surveyed and dealing with all the legal bullplop.

Meadow Dale is the first neighbourhood which acts as your tutorial; the Mayor gives you three missions that teach you the basics to the game. One of your first jobs is to build a rambler (a small family home) and that is as simple as clicking on one of the pieces of land that you own and clicking build house.

With another 7 neighbourhoods to play through (each with a more demanding Mayor than the last) you’d expect the game to steadily increase in difficulty and complexity. Materials become a critical factor, you can’t build houses or buildings without them and your initial budget is usually quite low, this doesn’t give you the option to buy in bulk which saves money. The only way to make money is by selling or renting your houses. Renting will provide more income long term whilst selling can get you a large sum quickly. Here it’s time for you to plan a strategy so that you can afford to progress. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes you will not know if you’ve made the right decision until a few minutes later (i.e. when you running out of time to complete the mission). You’ll also need to build workshops to train builders and even deal with the tax man when he comes knocking for his share of your profits. The surprising thing is that even with more and more tasks to complete per mission as you progress, the game is stays fun. This is because Build-A-Lot cleverly evolves from a simple ‘tap here and build stuff game’, to an intriguing yet taxing micromanagement fest. This is something not really gathered that easily from the description on the box which made it a really nice surprise. It’s like going out with a good looking babe and finding out she has brains too, excellent.

Build-A-Lot is presented with nothing flash or fancy to get in the way of solid gameplay. Graphically it’s basic and doesn’t push the DS to its 3D limits in the slightest; this is purely a 2D top down perspective game with some pretty hand drawn art and a smidgen of animation here and there for good measure. The music and sound effects can and do get a little irritating; especially the constant sound of your builders at work. Luckily Build-A-Lot is one of those games that do not require sound, ideal for those times at a public library whilst your geeky friends read books.

It’s hard to categorize Build-A-Lot. It falls right in-between thoughtful strategy games such as Civilization and frantic strategy games like Diner Dash. You could say it has the brains of the former but the excitement of the latter.

I really enjoyed Build-A-Lot because it offered a good challenge without a crazy difficulty curve or some never ending style of gameplay. There are lots of things to do in the game without there being too many menus and icons scattered about the place, everything is straightforward and logical and that’s how I like it. There is no multiplayer mode or any online aspect to the game at all so if you’re only looking for a game to play with your friends then this isn’t for you. I don’t describe Build-A-Lot as a lonely experience because it’s sometimes nice to have a game which you can play on your own and in your own way. I spent about two weeks wanting to head to bed early just to play a couple of missions before I went to sleep, if only I could review Wii, 360 and PS3 games in bed too. As a bonus to the main game there is also a casual game mode which does away with the time limit and frantic action; here you can take as long as you like to turn the empty town into a neighbourhood the beautiful people will want to live in. You’ll still need to plan ahead but things aren’t quite as stressful as the main game.

Build-A-Lot for DS is a budget title that packs a premium punch. No it’s not a simple game for the kiddies but a game for the grownups who don’t mind their head hurting in a good way. I award it a rather good 8 out of 10.

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Related: Henry Hatsworth Review, Professor Layton and the Curious Village review

Tags: Build A Lot, Build-A-Lot, DS, Strategy, Puzzle, Property, Building, Nintendo DS

Welcome to yet another review where I begin by reminiscing about my favourite childhood home computer, the Commodore Amiga. Yes it was around 1992 or 1993 when on this magnolia coloured jumped up electrical typewriter; I played the original Secret of Monkey Island. Since the original Point and Click adventure we’ve seen three sequels of which I have only played one; the Secret of Monkey Island 2. The third and fourth titles were released on PC at periods of time where I wasn’t able to enjoy them and sadly I’ve not gone back to play them yet.

Now heading back into the present day TellTale Games are here and bringing us a brand new five part Monkey Island adventure for the PC and WiiWare. I’m not strictly sure if this counts as the fifth game in the series but what I do know is that it continues the storyline where it left off.

Just as with the previous games you take control of the mighty Pirate known as Guybrush Threepwood; you don’t start on Monkey Island this time but on your ship. You are travelling on the high seas to rescue your wife Elaine from hands of the evil Pirate Le Chuck. The first scene is a short introduction which also acts as your training mission and trains you to use the new inventory menu and control scheme. It starts with you just a few steps away from finally banishing Le Chuck to hell forever. But things go wrong (I won’t spoil how) and you end up unconscious floating towards Flotsom Island which is where your adventure really starts.

Soon after washing up on the shore you meet some of the inlands inhabitants who are generally quite friendly considering they’re pirates; they inform you of the island’s freak weather system which traps everyone who lands upon it. It seems the wind constantly blows towards the island and doesn’t ever change thus preventing anyone from being able to sail away. Even if they wanted to sail away the island only has one ship in port and it’s never been sailed on the open seas. The Screaming Narwal has been built from scraps found on the island and from previous Shipwrecks, not exactly a fine example of shipmanship. I don’t want to spoil anymore of the storyline here because it would be easy to tell you too much of this short but jam packed 6 hour chapter and it’s so much better if you experience it for yourself. All you need to know is that as Guybrush you will have to uncover the secrets of the Island in a very funny and lovingly created adventure with plenty of characters, item finding and puzzle solving. There are quite a few references to the original games which I’m sure will raise a smile to anyone who’s played them.

Telltale has managed to capture the essence of Monkey Island with the help of the original creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman. Whilst I was a little nervous about heading into this brand new 3D Voice Acted style of point and click game I’ve been won over, I really enjoyed all of the time I spent with this episode, yes even all the time I was stuck wondering what to do (probably one hour out of the six). Gameplay feels fresh and plays a little like the recent Strongbad and Wallace and Gromit games also from Telltale but features a slightly revamped control scheme. Rather than the traditional point and click which I used to love; Tales of Monkey Island introduces Point and Drag.

Instead of using your mouse cursor and clicking where you’d like Guybrush to walk you can now hold the mouse button down and drag in the direction you’d like him to walk. Personally I don’t like this change and instead chose to make Guybrush walk using the arrow keys on my keyboard, I felt I had greater control and accuracy this way. The new graphic style took a little of getting used to for me because mentally I was coming from the original 16bit games; everything looks lush with lots of attention to detail. All of the characters are really well voice acted and become instantly memorable; hopefully we’ll bump into them in future episodes. Veterans will recognise lovely new renditions of the classic Monkey Island soundtracks too!

I whole heartedly recommend Tales of Monkey Island and can’t wait for the future episodes coming every month up until November 2009. I know it seems unusual to purchase a game for $34 right now and receive it in five separate six hour chunks but Chapter one scores 8 out of 10. Bring on Chapter 2!

Get Tales of Monkey Island Episode One now
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Rental: Rent Tales of Monkey Island Episode One – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our August 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition review, download the Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwal demo

Tags: Tales of Monkey Island Episode One, Monkey Island, Amiga, Strongbad, Telltale, Adventure, Xbox 360