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:

• Nintendo DSi Matte Black
• Nintendo DSi Bright Pink
• Nintendo DSi Matte Blue
• Nintendo DSi White

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.

• Read our comprehensive Nintendo DSi review
• How to get Facebook on the Nintendo DSi

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.

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
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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.

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

Tags: Hasbro Family Game Night, Party, Hasbro, EA, Nintendo, DS, Battleship, Connect 4, Bob It, Operation

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
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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.

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

Tags: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS, Nintendo DS, Sega, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, DS version, DS, Mario, Sonic, Olympic Winter Games, Party, Olympics

Top Wii games for children

Any one of the following titles should be great fun on Christmas Day and beyond, we’ve linked each kids game for the Wii to Amazon.com to help you find the best deal:-

• Wii Sports Resort Special Edition is 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 with Two MotionPlus units which provide a more lifelike motion control experience.
• Active Life Outdoor Challenge brings all the fun of playing outside on Christmas Day without having to go out into the cold weather and risk catching Swine Flu.

• The Beatles Rock Band Special Value Edition gives you a guitar, drums and microphone ready for some 1960’s loving Christmas fun. If you’ve never played a music game before then this Wii title is the best introduction – watch our comprehensive review of The Beatles Rock Band and see just how good this game will be at bridging the generation gap this Christmas when it has 5 year olds and granma singing along to some of the best hits from the fab 4.
• American Idol fans will no doubt love this Karaoke Special Edition American Idol Encore 2 game with free microphone, it features 40 well known pop songs spanning from the 70’s to some tunes of today.

• Diva Girls Ice Skating features all the pretty elements of Ice Skating with none of the broken ankles and expensive Ice Skates.
• Petz Dogz 2 will keep any children’s puppy wanting urges at bay for a little longer, and it doesn’t poop on your carpet. A dog is for life, not just for Christmas – Dogz for the Wii sits neatly in the DVD shelf all year round and works out around $1000 cheaper.

• Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel dispells the myth that motor racing isn’t all about Nascar or Indianapolis 500 you know, the whole family can enjoy kart racing here. Tons of fun Nintendo characters and themed tracks allow all to compete on the same level due to its clever item distribution system which could see Grandpa beating the kids to the finish line. The game comes with a free steering wheel too, extra official Nintendo Wii Wheels can be purchased separately for $9.99 if your family prefer the addon controller that comes free with the game.
• Wii Fit Plus is a great tool for a healthy family who want to keep track of their fitness as a group. Being able to see everyone’s fitness progress is a great way for family bonding and can be good encouragement for all to stick to the happy lifestyle you want to lead.

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

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.

Get Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 now
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Rental: Rent Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
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

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.

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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.

Get Bomberman Ultra now
New: Buy Bomberman Ultra from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Bomberman Ultra – 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.

Related: Boom Blox Bash Party Review, Bomberman Blast

Tags: Bomberman Ultra, Bomberman, PS3, PSN

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

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

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!

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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

Before I go into my review of Moon for DS I’ll ask you a question. How would we respond to a stronger and more intelligent alien species that saw humans as an expendable resource just as we currently do with nearly every other animal species on Earth? After all, the reasoning for Man’s behaviour has always been along the lines of being top of the food chain or being the most intelligent species. So what if some other species comes along who become the food chain leaders, would we have to fold over in a mound of our own logic and let them do what they like or fight back? Well it wouldn’t be much of a game if we just folded over so it’s safe to assume that we’ll be fighting back.

You take control of super solider; Major Edward Kane whose team is sent to investigate a hatchway found on the Moon’s surface. Not long after arriving on the Moon’s surface some heavy stuff goes down, the Moon base comes under attack by unidentified vessels and the rest of Alpha team have disappeared. General Lambert quickly comes onto the radio and tells you to get your ass down that hatch to investigate, so what do you do? Jump in the Moon buggy lovingly nicknamed Lola and drive to the hatch pronto. Lola comes into play in later missions too and let it be said, driving a moon buggy with a laser gun is always a pleasure.

After a short ride down a green elevator you’re suddenly all alone in an alien base under the Moon’s surface. Sure you have radio contact with your Technical Officer Tsuke and the hard hitting General Lambert but they’re not much use to you against the robotic defence droids flying about, here is where your Super Assault Rifle comes in. This SAR heavy duty weapon needs no ammunition and has a high rate of fire. It’s probably one of Earth’s most powerful hand weapons but is it powerful enough to defend yourself against Moon aliens with? Well the simple answer is, no not really. Luckily for you though you’ll be able to find more powerful Alien weapons throughout your journey in Moon, however these will require ammo top ups which are sometimes dropped when you defeat a baddie, you’ll also pick up health in this way too. If you’re familiar with the Metroid Prime series then I think you’ll be quite happy here inside Moon, for the most part you’ll be heading to locations marked on your map to find keys or disable power supplies to bring down force fields. Computer terminals scattered along the route slowly provide you with data records and diary entries which fill you in with what’s been going on here and why these aliens are so interested in humans. These entries are really well written and tell three different stories, each of which will chill your spine in a different way, but I don’t want to spoil them for you. Another similarity to Metroid Prime is the inclusion of access tunnels which Kane is too big to enter; instead of morphing into a ball like Samus; Kane carries a remote control droid which can be sent through to access switches and reach previously inaccessible areas. If you happen to search these tunnels quite thoroughly you’ll also find Alien Computer Artefacts which Tsuke can use to create Virtual Reality style training missions for you to practice your skills on, you can find three artefacts on almost every level.

For the most part you will just be walking through corridors shooting baddies and trying to reach the next save station before you run out of health. Sadly outside of item finding there isn’t much puzzle solving to be had and the onscreen map will prevent you from getting lost. Fortunately there are usually more than enough enemies to keep you occupied, none of them are too difficult to defeat on their own but in mixed groups they can amount to a challenge. For me playing though to complete the story was the main catch. Fans of Renegade Kid’s previous FPS on DS (Dementium) will be joyous to hear that the control scheme is almost identical. Directional movements controlled with the DPad and aiming via the stylus and touchscreen, just tap the left shoulder button to fire. Access your weapon select screen are just a tap away. Lefties never fear, you can swap the controls to the opposite side and play just as comfortably as a right hander.

Overall I really enjoyed Moon and found the storyline rather gripping and really recommend anyone who likes a bit of intrigue and Sci-Fi to take a look. Graphically Moon is a little bland and the environments hardly change from area to area apart from the walls changing colour. Things do to tend to look more slightly more industrial as you head through the game but variation is quite limited. The saving grace for the lack of detail is probably the super smooth framerate which hardly dips even when lots of enemies and weapons fire are all flying about. The only downside to the game really is the lack of multiplayer modes to be found, no online or offline play at all. Hopefully they’ll consider an online coop if a sequel is in the works.

If I had to choose one FPS title for DS then I’d actually recommend horror title Dementium first because it’s a little more varied and probably is more original but Moon is a close second with its more rigid Metroid Prime meets Quake 2 gameplay. 7 out of 10.

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Related: Dementium, Metroid Prime

Tags: Moon, Moon, FPS, Dementium, shooter, Nintendo DS, DS

It’s hard to describe Madballs in Babo Invasion but I will try. You take control of an oversized eyeball called Occulus and arrive on strange planet who ends up joining the Babo military (the B*D*I). Your mission is to protect a powerful artefact (the Terracite) falling into the hands of the Mercs. You as Occulus start by rolling around the 3D map in a Monkey Ball esque way but rather than moving the level, your stick movements control the actual character or ball. You’re quickly shown the basics by your commander; Major Stone and then it’s off into the field for Babo’s newest recruit. It’s not long before you encounter your first wave of enemies; these aren’t the evil Merc’s but natural (and aggressive) species to the Babo system. First you’ll encounter Chompiis, these underground creatures pop up and attack anything moving near their nests, they’ll keep rolling towards you until they explode in your eye or you dispatch them with your weapon, luckily all of your weapons can destroy these lightweight baddies.

Like almost every other enemy in the game the next ones you’ll encounter are round balls too, the Moltoks roll towards you in a similar fashion but are much tougher to defeat and require more specific weapon choices to dispatch of in a quick fashion. So you continue through the pretty environments picking up new weapons, collecting keys and flicking switches to open a path towards the boss or next area. What makes Madballs in Babo Invasion more than just a ball rolling maze game is that when you encounter the real enemies; such as the Turret’s and Merc’s things get a little more interesting.

In a similar fashion to the Moltok’s these enemies are usually only susceptible to certain weapon groups, if you happen to have picked up the wrong one further back you’ll find it futilely bouncing off their shields. Combine this with often being in mixed groups and you can easily find yourself under serious threat, however you do have extra things in your arsenal to help you get by. As well as the large selection of guns to pick up (you can only carry one gun at a time) you can also find Grenades and Molotov’s. Because these can be thrown from a distance they can help you catch a snoozing Merc unaware, if you were to miss however you may find you’ve just woke him up and that he’s now rolling after you.

The other major element and one that sadly wasn’t implemented very well is transmogrification. At nearly every checkpoint you will roll past special chambers which will turn you into another one of the Madball family (if you’ve unlocked them that is). Typically most Madballs have varying strengths, weaknesses and special moves which can be useful in certain scenarios; however I hardly ever found the need to change character when Occulus is such a good all-rounder. It would have been better if the levels were designed so that you had more reason to change, or even, be forced to change but alas, they’re not.

That’s pretty much where the single player mode ends but if you are interested in heading online you’ll find a whole host of cool stuff to do. Firstly and most importantly you can choose to play the single player campaign with up to 3 other people, this really does brighten the game up and make the harder difficulty level’s beatable. Battle lovers should be excited by up to 16 player death matches and capture the flag modes as well as the rather intriguing Invasion mode where both sides have to actually build the map in real time. One team does one side and the second team designs the other, then you have the fun of competing to the death on this brand new map. This in game map building is a very clever idea and not one I’ve seen before, I wonder if more games will implement it?

These online skirmishes’ are really intense and the maps which are quite often complex mixes of tunnels and open area’s soon get overcrowded when up to 15 other people are rolling and shooting all about the place. Being a good looking chap I can’t pretend not to have found the Avatar battle mode the most fun; here your Xbox Live Avatar is sent into a chamber and transmogrified into a Madball; or to be more precise a giant floating head. You can’t help but laugh when you battle the silly faces of your friends or random people online, well I can’t anyway.

Madballs In Babo Invasion is a fun pick up and play shooter which is best enjoyed online with your friends and at 800 Microsoft points isn’t too expensive either. There are lots of things to like about Madballs; it’s a solid well made title with very crisp visuals and for the most part, an extremely smooth framerate. Playing the campaign mode on your own is a little stale and if you can play online coop I suggest you do, the basic storyline isn’t particularly gripping but then most games which focus on shooting aren’t famed for great storytelling are they? Madballs has a strong personality and some proper down to earth gameplay but it is lacking that little bit of finesse to make it a classic. I’m confident that the upcoming DLC will add that extra bit of spark so I’m going to award Madballs in Babo Invasion 7 out of 10.

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Related: Assault Heroes 2 review, Overlord 2 review

Hudson has sent us some screenshots of their new puzzle game Sudoku 150! For Challengers which is one of the first Sudoku games to be released via the new DSiWare service. Whilst there are already a number of Sudoku games available for the DS, Sudoku 150! For Challengers has very nice presentation and comes at a low 500 Nintendo Points. The Sudoku 150! For Challenges is out now in the shop.

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Related: Colour Cross Review, DSiWare service

Tags: Nintendo Points, Wii Points, Sudoku

Just like last year Microsoft took to the E3 stage with all guns blazing without fear from Sony or Nintendo who preferred to wait for 24 hours and see just what Microsoft had been up to since the previous show. Whilst many details were leaked beforehand, Microsoft still had a few surprises up their sleeve and at the end of their conference seemed pretty pleased with themselves and confident that their rivals wouldn’t be able to match their announcements.

Things started off a little shakily as the first four games to be revealed were non exclusive titles, surely if you want to impress the crowd you don’t show games which will appear on your rivals system and in the case of the PS3, look exactly the same. Not only that but there was a rather embarrassing debacle when Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr arrived on stage with hardly anything to say about the upcoming Beatles Rock Band game aside from it having good graphics followed by plenty of brown nosing by the Microsoft rep. And what was the point in Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison flying all the way to LA just to wave at a hall full of sweaty video game journalists and not utter a word?

The actual premiere trailer and live performance of The Beatles Rock Band looked rather good and it may very well be the first of the modern music games to tempt me into a purchase. Featuring realistic yet stylised graphics which are very reminiscent of The Beatles imagery from the 60’s really appealed to me. If you have ever watched the Yellow Submarine film you’ll know what to expect from the graphics. New information included that Xbox Live users will have access to an exclusive track (All you need is Love) on Xbox Live with proceeds going to charity. Even better than that was the news that all of the tracks have been remastered and that practically every album by The Beatles will be available as DLC after the launch. Oh and the whole album Abbey Road comes with the game.

Next up was Tony Hawk Ride where the skate master himself came up on stage to reveal the final design of the new skateboard peripheral which will come bundled with the game for around $100. After reading from an autocue for a while (something which Paul and Ringo should have done) he then presented a trailer starring himself and other skater friends enjoying the game and the new board. The dudes in the trailer were being paid so forgive me for being pessimistic about this one.

After those two Microsoft decided to bring out one of the big guns and presented us with a very tasty looking trailer then live game footage of Modern Warfare 2 where the deserts and oil fields of Call of Duty 4 have been replaced by a very cold looking snowy landscape with plenty of excellent weather effects. The action was nonstop with gun fire and explosions everywhere, my favourite scene was very James Bond esque when the player shot an enemy soldier riding a Snowmobile then jumping straight on it and riding off. Don’t you wish Rare has incorporated that into a Bond game before they lost their edge? Regardless Modern Warfare 2 looks like a sure fire hit later this year and with Microsoft Xbox Live having two additional DLC map packs before the arrive on PS3 means another drubbing for the Cell Powered console this time out.

Last in this section was the first unveiling of Final Fantasy XIII running on Xbox 360 hardware, to be honest I didn’t notice a difference to last year’s trailer which was running on the PS3 so expect a near identical looking and feeling game on both systems, the only difference may come down to exclusive downloadable content which of course would be announced closer to the Spring 2010 release. Once again I’m not really a Final Fantasy guy and instead prefer Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series so Final Fantasy isn’t on my wish list but I’m sure it’s on plenty of yours.

Here is where Microsoft made their biggest mistake or even a deliberate lie, after announcing that the following ten or so games would be exclusive to Xbox 360 they went on to give us the world exclusive footage of Left 4 Dead 2 which is also coming out on PC which means it is in no way exclusive to the Xbox 360. Exclusive or not Left4Dead 2 looked stunning and has taken the series away from the dark and dingy feel of the original into a bright modern daytime setting. Instead of needing a torch to find your way around you’ll be using a whole host of new melee weapons (including Frying Pans, Axes and Chainsaws) in a bid to fend of bigger hordes of infected than ever before. With a new roster of four survivors this Latin American sequel to Left 4 Dead looks rather interesting and seeing that it comes with more levels, new special infected and other goodies made it the highlight of Microsoft’s event in my opinion.

Other genuine exclusive titles in this segment included:

• Shadow Complex, an Xbox Marketplace title which is a side on 3D graphic shooter which looked to mix Metroid with Metal Gear Solid.
• Joy Ride, an avatar game with downloadable tracks and online Live multiplayer, think Mario Kart meets Wacky Races but starring your Avatars.
• Splinter Cell Conviction with an all new stealth style for Sam Fisher was shown next. This time it’s personal with Sam trying to find the killer of his daughter.
• Forza Motorsport 33 was the next reveal with a stunning albeit short trailer showing off the new graphics engine, they say it’s the best looking racer of all time but I’m sure Gran Turismo 5 may try and disagree if it ever comes out.
• Another big gun this time, Halo 3 ODST, a prequel to the original Halo 3 where you take control of a new series of troops (the ODST) who have new and interesting weapons and abilities, now you can find out what really did happen in the 3 weeks preceding the start of the Halo 3 storyline. This was a surprise showing from Bungie.
• Halo Reach is a brand new title in the series seemingly set solely in space, not really any other information except that a multiplayer beta will come free to those who purchase ODST.
• Alan Wake, a third person survivor horror game very reminiscent of Silent Hill was then shown. The very dark trailer showed the hero trying to find his friend in the forest grounds of a house whilst poltergeist style paranormal activity and crazed villagers tried to stop his progress.

Microsoft then slowed down the pace a little to give us brand new details about upcoming additions to the Xbox 360 dashboard including a Last.FM channel, Facebook photo integration and even a real-time interactive Twitter feed. These paled in significance slightly when news of an upgraded Video Marketplace (Zune) with no delay 1080p movie streaming and live TV content provided by Sky for UK audiences was announced.

Another big gun took to the stage in the form of Hideo Kojima talking about a new Metal Gear Solid for Xbox 360; apart from a trailer not much was mentioned other than the suggestion that this game could possibly feature Raiden as the lead character instead of trusty spy guy Solid Snake. Could it be true? We’ll no doubt have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Finally came the first true showing of Microsoft’s venture into Motion sensing gaming. Microsoft and Sony originally dismissed motion as a new way to play but now seem to have taken note of the Wii’s success and the many billions of dollars in Nintendo’s basement have suddenly changed their minds because both did indeed show off their motion sensing devices this year.

Instead of a controller, Microsoft’s Natal features multiple cameras with advanced visual recognition technology and custom processing hardware. The demo’s shown did prove that the system works and allowed you to interact with the game with your body alone in front of your TV, however some of the footage showing a family pretending to hold an invisible steering wheel looked rather ridiculous, at least Mario Kart Wii gave you something real to hold. I actually preferred the system’s use as a Minority Report style way to control your Xbox 360 dashboard rather than a gaming interface because I like something physical in my hand when it comes to gaming.

Only the future will tell if Microsoft and third parties embrace this new technology and come up with real and fun games for us to play, however if Microsoft’s previous entry into Motion gaming and interactive play (You’re in the Movies) is anything to go by this could be a very expensive waste of time.

Overall Microsoft had a very good show and a wide ranging selection of games which were mostly suited to the hardcore, Natal seems and interesting new entry into the casual market and could trouble the Nintendo Wii if real effort was put behind it. However Nintendo have Wii Motion Plus arriving over a year beforehand which promises 1 to 1 gaming in the mean time. With such a head start Microsoft could well be on the back foot when they eventually come to release Natal at the expected $100 price point.

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Related: Microsoft E3 highlights, Motion Controllers for the Xbox 360 and PS3

Tags: Microsoft, E3, Xbox 360, Beatles Rock Band, Tony Hawk Ride, Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Shadow Complex, Joy Ride, Splinter Cell Conviction, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Reach, Alan Wake, Metal Gear Solid, Natal release date

After such a long wait we can finally look forward to the upcoming blockbuster movie and accompanying video game releases of Harry Potter’s 6th adventure; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Electronic Art’s have spent many months and worked very hard to make this the best Harry Potter video game to date and promise to keep as close to the storyline of the film whilst making the game fun and interactive for the player.

This time around Harry Potter faces his darkest and most terrifying battles yet and will need all of his magic skills and cunning to defeat the evils brought on by Lord Voldemort. You will need to help Harry, Ron and Hermione protect Hogwarts once again in the sprawling and detailed game which is jam packed full of exciting things to do which include;

• Competing in the exciting Quidditch Cup
• Learning new magic duelling skills and taking them into battle
• Creating exciting magic potions
• Taking part in cool and stealthy night time adventures in Hogwarts while everyone is asleep
• Exploring brand new magical areas outside of Hogwarts such as The Burrow and Horcrux cave

No matter what system you own you can look forward to Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince because it’s coming out for Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC, PSP, PS3, DS and Mobile phones. The Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince release date for North American fans is June 30th and the release date for Harry Potter 6 in the Europe is just 3 days later on 3rd July.

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Related: The Lord of the Rings Conquest review, Iron Man review

Tags: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter 6, Quidditch, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2, PSP, DS, Wii, Mobile, movie, film

Rather unusually for a series of action figures, G.I. Joe (or Action Man for British Readers) actually started off as a toy and then moved into comics, a cartoon show and now the upcoming blockbuster movie G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra. As most of you will probably already know, GI Joe is a tough action hero who can adapt to any scenario and learn any skill necessary to stop bad guys from the evil Cobra Organization. You could say he’s a tougher version of James Bond although I wouldn’t like to commit and say who would win if pitted against each other.

Hasbro have entrusted EA to develop the heavily anticipated tie in video game and from the looks of the latest GI Joe Video Game trailer it seems that was a jolly good idea because it looks full of action, guns and melee combat. G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra video game is coming out on all platforms including 360, Wii, PS2 and PS3 and we’ll bring you more news as we get it.

The G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra Release Date is August 4th in North America and 31st July in Europe.

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Related: GI Joe Video Game trailer, Bionic Commando review

Tags: GI Joe, Rise of the Cobra, G.I. Joe, release date, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3, DS

For reference the last tennis game I played most recently was Sega Superstars Tennis for Wii and whilst it was fun it neither managed to recapture the initial fun of Wii Sports Tennis nor the typical Nintendo charm found in Mario Tennis. As much as I like Sonic and his friends they just don’t have the same level of personality as Mario and his pals do but maybe I’m just being a biased Nintendo fanboy. Anyway I digress.

Virtua Tennis was first seen in 1999 but in my opinion didn’t really take off until it appeared on the Dreamcast later on the following year. The gameplay wasn’t too radical (after all it was just tennis) but it was the graphics looking much more lifelike than anything beforehand that caught everyone’s attention. The player models were very recognisable to the real life counterparts and gameplay was fast and smooth, looking back now though, the polygonal graphics haven’t aged very well but the same could be said for Super Mario 64 which is still one of the highest ranking games of all time – if a game plays well it doesn’t matter how it looks.

The general consensus is that sports games have reached a level where the gameplay is more or less set and we only see basic refinements in their yearly or bi yearly updates. Now this is generally true of the EA Sports range but Sega don’t tend to release new versions of their sports games quite as regularly, however Virtua Tennis 3 was released on Xbox 360 only a couple of years ago so it’s not a surprise to see that Virtua Tennis 2009 isn’t a huge leap from the from its predecessor but let’s see if Sega can put the power of the Xbox 360 to good use and recapture the popularity of the original in my Virtua Tennis 2009 review.

Now I’m not the biggest Tennis fan but I do watch the odd bit of Wimbledon (and yes I’ve even played the real game on occasion) so it can’t be said I don’t know the rules. Virtua Tennis 2009 for Xbox 360 has all of the modes that you’d want including the career style World Tour mode, Xbox Live online play as well your standard option to dive straight into one off Arcade style matches, Exhibitions, Tournaments and mini games (single or offline multiplayer modes).

World Tour allows you to create your own player from scratch; everything from gender to facial appearance and even body shape and size. After that you head into your new life as a rookie as you try to climb the ranks from lowly 100th place all the way to super duper world number 1. Just as with real life it’s not quite as simple as turning up with your racket and balls to one off matches because you need to practice and work hard to get good. That’s why in Virtua Tennis 2009 getting to the number 1 spot will take lots of time and effort on the real court but on the training court too. After you’ve created your character and chosen a home location you’ll be given a top flight coach which in my case was Tiger Tim Henman because like me he’s from England. Your career hub is displayed as a globe and all your activities are placed around by world location and everything is easily navigated by moving around with the left analogue stick.

First things first you should hit the training courts with your coach for a little while and it’s worth noting that in Virtua 2009 every event you partake in (save visiting the tennis store and having a fizzy drink) takes a whole game week. Be it playing a mini game or competing in a tournament it’s best you don’t get too sidetracked with training and the minigames and keep checking your calendar or you’ll quickly miss practice matches as well as the vitalchances to get up that rank ladder. Instead of teaching you the absolute basics such as hitting the ball and controller button placement; right from the get go your coach is there to test your skills on the court and will award you with bronze, silver or gold medals depending on your performance. Complete enough training missions and you’ll unlock new play styles for your rookie character which will help them become more powerful and skilful. Actually getting gold on most of these training challenges is pretty tough and to be honest harder than diving into an Arcade game against the pro players, it sounds odd but when it comes down to it you don’t need to be able to pull off every trick in the book to beat them but if you want to be the top Virtua Tennis player online you’ll need these skills and the advanced play styles.

Virtua Tennis 2009 has lots of depth in its game modes but as far as actually playing it goes everything is quite simple. Obviously it follows the rules as any good sports game should but controlling your character player is very simple with the left analogue stick and along with the four main face buttons which control your different shots (lob, slice, etc) the only time you’ll need any other button is when in a doubles match with a CPU teammate as you can shout orders with the LB or RB buttons. On the top right corner of you screen is your stamina bar which you need to keep a close eye on, be sure to plan your activities well and take enough rest to avoid injury – it could be that you want to enter that doubles tournament to earn some cash to spend in the tennis store but if you’re out of stamina you may very well have to take a 2 week vacation, spend a week at home or drink an isotonic sports drink to recover yourself a little. As you’d expect the 2 week beach holiday refills your stamina completely but a non essential trip abroad costs you money. Spending a week at home refills half of your stamina but the bonus is that it’s totally free (and to be honest who doesn’t just like having a week at home away from work)? The quickest option is to have one of those special energy drinks which gives you wings, it may not fill your stamina bar up very much but could just be enough for that last minute make or break match.

Most of the time you’ll be entering into mini tournaments either solo or in doubles and going up a couple of spots up the rank every time (I don’t think I lost a game so I’m not sure if you can fall just as easily). Spending time away from this on the minigames and such may not seem a good use of your time but they too have their own energy bars to fill which will also help you unlock those valuable play styles found in the training centre. So at one time or another you’ll probably need to play them to earn everything valuable for your skill repertoire but if you don’t fancy doing so there isn’t really a fixed rule forcing you to do so. The practice and sponsorship games don’t provide you with ranking but its good practice none the less and you’ll also earn new tennis friends that you can invite over for any doubles matches that are offered your way. The mini games are quite basic and similar to those you’ve seen in other titles before, my favourites include Pot Shot (a pool game reminiscent of Billiards from Super Monkey Ball), Zoo Feeder which sees you having to hit food towards the correct animals (so meat towards a lion and a banana towards a gorilla) and Block Buster that gets you to volley against a wall of colourful shapes (well blocks) in a bid to remove them in a breakout fashion to earn tons of combo points. There are many more to play and they’re all fun enough to keep you amused for a little while – especially in multiplayer mode.

Overall World Tour mode in Virtua Tennis 2009 gets a little repetitive and even as you climb the ranks the CPU opponents that match real life players such as Andy Murray, David Ferrer Timmy Haas, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova don’t seem that difficult to beat, I know difficulty and learning curves are quite difficult for game designers but one thing I do know is that when a game is too easy you generally tend to play it less than when a game is too hard. There is always something fun about a challenge and that unattainable high score but you don’t get any of that when a game is too easy. Luckily the real difficulty comes in the form of ranked online matches against random people from all over the world via Xbox Live but the problem is that the match making system or to be precise the lack of match making system. No matter how many matches online I tried I was firmly beaten by the other players which seemed really odd when I had been beating the CPU moments before, as it turns out I was being pitched against people who had already unlocked the best play styles and strongest rackets – I didn’t stand a chance. It turns out that playing non ranked online matches with your friends is a much better idea and if you do have the chance to play doubles then of course you’ll have tons of fun. In the end though I did have the most fun playing matches online where the opponents you face are much harder to second guess than the CPU, even if I got beaten by somebody who had been practicing for weeks it didn’t feel as worthless as beating the AI players senselessly. Keeping a check of your progress on the online leaderboards is always a hoot but don’t expect to top them unless you are committed to play for hours every day.

If you’re into your graphics and if you have a next gen console you probably are then Virtua Tennis for 360 hits the spot when it comes to player likeness and the motion captured player animations. Quite simply they’re great (especially when watching the action replays) and if you could set the AI to play by itself it wouldn’t be too far off watching the TV coverage. One final thing to mention here is that the new camera angle which puts you behind your player (as opposed to above) really increases the realism of the game. And those tennis balls heading towards you seem much faster to!! Hopefully next year we might even see a first person viewpoint which could be very interesting and even more realistic. There is a nice choice of courts and the different surfaces are very detailed and the ball physics do feel different depending on which surface you are on. It’s a shame to see that the crowd and court officials are much less detailed but I suppose you can’t have everything.

Now what I’m confused about is why the crowds sound muffled and why there is a lack of any sort of commentary, yes we have the score person who sits in that tall chair but apart from that nothing. EA Sports have proven that a realistic commentary adds realism and it’s a shock to go into a sports game that is essentially silent for most of the time. I’m sure plenty of retired tennis player would be happy to it in a studio recording some commentary for a few extra dollars, I know I would be Sega if you’re reading.

Virtua Tennis 2009 is a solid performing arcade title which has stepped slightly closer to being a simulation which in my opinion is a good thing. It still has that arcade feel which keeps things exciting but it would have been nice if it was a little more difficult to hit perfect shots around the court and nearly always making incredible diving returns time after time. Now I come to think of it I’ve played it for a couple of weeks and have hardly hit the net or smashed the ball out of bounds.

If you already own Virtua Tennis 3 then you may well feel underwhelmed by this latest instalment but if you’re new to the series this is a fine time to jump on board as I doubt you’ll find another tennis game to match it right now (although Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii is looking rather tasty).

Virtua Tennis 2009 scores an ace 7 out of 10 but if it wasn’t for its double faults could have seen scored higher.

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Related: Table Tennis review, Wii Motion Plus Release Date

Tags: Virtua Tennis 2009, Tennis, Sega, EA Sports, Virtua Tennis, Xbox 360, Virtua Tennis 2009, Playstation 3

Real time strategy games have never been my favourite game genre and if I’m honest I’ve only played a handful in the last few years. I tend to prefer more lightweight RTS games such as Pikmin or Mega Lo Mania. I just couldn’t get into Command and Conquer and the many others that were popular on the PC during the late 90’s. Empire Total War comes from the Creative Assembly crew that bought us recent console game Stormrise as well the other more well known Total War games such as Rome and Medieval.

Empire Total War for PC takes you back to the 18th Century to battle on Land and by Sea spanning most of the known globe including India, Europe, Scandinavia and The America’s. So not only will you be controlling ground troops but warships across the high seas in a bid to take over the world. There is an absolute ton of content in this game and as it comes on two DVD’s you’d expect nothing less (I’m sure the gorgeous FMV intro fills up disc one on its own), I really haven’t got the time to go over everything here so for the most part I hope you’re familiar with the franchise.

After played the tutorial you start the game and you’ll probably want to head into one of the main game modes which are The Road to Independence and The Grand Campaign. The Road to Independence let’s you follow the interesting story of the rise of George Washington and Grand Campaign sees you pick a nation then have 100 years to take that Empire and further make it the biggest the world has ever seen. Now a few years ago this would have been fairly straightforward because games were just smaller and less far reaching back then but today Empire Total War is full to the brim with everything you’d need to take over the real world let alone one set in the 1700’s. You have two advisors who will pop up from time to time to advise you on what to do next or you can call upon them at anytime to explain any of the game panels to you.

Now if you thought delving deep into the Microsoft Windows Control Panel was confusing then take a deep breath because Empire Total War has more Windows and Panel’s than your local double glazing dealer. Absolutely everything is here from dealing with your Governmental duties such as Tax and Expenditure, to Missions, Army and Fleet Building, Trade, Diplomacy, Revolutions, Public Happiness and even Prestige. This is all before you think about going into battle where you need to balance your ground infantry and artillery with keeping your soldiers morale up with the presence of your General and Admiral as well as making sure you’re not losing the fight.

All your units are controlled by mouse and keyboard and once you are used to controlling them it isn’t so daunting controlling hundreds of troops but you must bear in mind that they are totally under your control and won’t even so much as sneeze without you telling them. You’ll constantly need to check their status and issue new commands whilst moving your camera around the 3D map to plan your strategy. What about the Ship Battles? Well most of the same applies but now you’re controlling warships but now you have to deal with formations, wind speed and direction as well as boarding enemy ships, dropping anchor – all whilst dealing with the battle at hand.

If you’re after a lengthy strategy game to see you through until next winter then you’ll not go wrong with Empire Total War, however if you’re new to this type of game then I think you may want to start with something a little easier because I found it very complex and slow going even with the AI helping me out.

Not only will you need masses of patience and time but a powerful PC is recommended if you’d like a decent framerate, a dual core CPU and a decent video card is the minimum you’ll need if you want to get a decent looking experience with the highly detailed and animated graphics. Empire Total War is as hardcore as you can get and fans of the series will not be disappointed by the sheer breadth of stuff in single player mode but also multiplayer against up to 7 others. It’s not easy (even on easy mode) so isn’t good for those new to the genre or to video games in general but if you’re a diehard Risk lover then this will make you giddy with excitement. Empire Total War scores a rather complex 8 out of 10.

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Related: Stormrise review, Halo Wars review

Tags: Empire Total War, Real Time Strategy, PC, Land and Naval Battles, RTS

With combined sales of around 100 million Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS lites one would wonder if Nintendo needed to develop a third iteration of their dual screen money printing machine but they have done it anyway. Have Nintendo improved on the already popular DSlite enough to warrant a new model and an increase in price? We’ll find out in my review of the Nintendo DSi. Assuming you know what the DS is we’ll skip the lengthy description of its two screens and stylus touch control.

So what have Nintendo changed from the second DS incarnation we all know and love, the DS lite? The biggest physical change of note is the removal of the Game Boy Advance slot. Now that Nintendo are confident that the Game Boy brand has been safely superseded by the less gender offending DS moniker they’ve taken the chance to strip out the legacy hardware and software which in many respects was holding the DS back. The fact was that GBA games have long since become a thing of the past and the GBA port was mainly being used for hardware devices such as the Guitar Hero on Tour hand grip and the Rumble cart.

With GBA out of the way Nintendo were free to look to the future and incorporate new technology into the DS Lite to bring it up to date in line with the more recent Nintendo Wii home console. Other physical differences include an increase in the size of both screens by a quarter of an inch but no change of screen resolution. Whilst this is an improvement, the DS screens still look teensy against the PSP’s giant widescreen display.

The DSi is now thinner and lighter than the DSlite but just like the PSP it’s still quite a wad if you plan to carry it in your back pocket all day; there’s a long way to go before it matches the GBA micro in terms of portability. The DSi is also coated in a matte finish, which in my opinion feels a bit weird and a little sand papery to the touch, but it’s not too bad and not something radically off-putting. I actually prefer the previous glossy coating of the DS lite and wasn’t too worried about the fingerprints – they were easy to wipe off. The DPad and buttons have all had a little change to make them click in when you press rather than a smooth press down. You could say they feel more digital now as opposed to analogue (although of course they were still digital buttons before). There are some other button changes but nothing drastic, not worth going into OCD detail about here.

Onto the cameras; the DSi features two low res 0.3 megapixel cameras (one internal and one external) which means you can take photos of things you’re facing as well as pictures of your own ugly face without having to turn the DSi around and guess where the lens is pointing. The cameras aren’t just for your holiday snaps though, as both cameras can be used by special DSi software, such as the new WarioWare Snapped downloadable game, which in the not so distant future could see a whole host of new interesting software using photos in interesting ways. It has to be said – the DSi cameras are quite low quality, and pictures only tend to look half decent when taken in brightly lit areas – photos taken in low light situations look quite horrid. Although the DSi is physically capable of capturing video with the cameras, Nintendo decided not to add the option. However it’s only a matter of time until it becomes available as either part of a firmware update or a downloadable application from the DSi Ware store.

A lot of people complained that the DS fat and DS lite had poor sound through its little speakers. Personally I was never too disturbed by it, as using earphones was the only true way to hear the music and sounds properly with the DS (or any portable device). Nintendo’s improvements to the speakers are noticeable here though, with much better clarity and less distortion. Finally we have the general specification bump: system RAM has been quadrupled and CPU speed greatly increased – it’s the addition of 256MB of internal flash memory which is the coolest. Just as with the Wii, the internal storage will allow for downloadable content (games and apps) to be stored on the system for instant access, or transferred to SD cards via the new SDHC slot which allows for a further 32GB’s of storage.

The DSi has been revamped with a new operating system which looks and feels much more like the Wii Menu system you are probably already used to. Instead of a grid of channels, the DSi features a single row which can be scrolled left to right. By default, 7 channels are preinstalled, these are the: Settings Menu, DS Game Boot, DSi Camera Channel, DSi Sound Channel, DSi Shop, DS Download Play and PictoChat. Glossing over the System Settings and DS Game channel, here are the more exciting features:

• The DSi camera channel is your hub for everything photo. After an interactive tour you will see a lovely calendar on the top screen. Your photos are displayed here, on the date that they were taken (there’s a slideshow if you’ve taken more than one photo on a particular day), along with any memo’s you’ve created. On the bottom screen you have nice big buttons which will allow you to view your photo albums stored on the DSi itself, or on a SD card which has been inserted. Your other choice is to go into camera mode – where obviously you can take photos, but also manipulate them in real time with a choice of eleven different lenses (or to be more precise, effects). Most of them are a bit silly (like putting a Mario Cap and Moustache onto your face), but they are also rather well implemented, and make clever use of basic face tracking and recognition technology. The nicest feature for me is that a random photo from your library will be displayed when the DSi menu is loaded, making the DSi feel much more personal to the owner. Photos can be moved to PC, Wii or another DSi by SD card, but other DSi owners can also use the Wireless Exchange option to transfer pictures using Wi-Fi – neat.
• The DSi sound channel acts as both a sound recorder as well as a playback device. Songs in AAC format can be played back from SD Card, and can even be remixed on the fly with the simple yet effective sound effect tools, such as speed and pitch change. Recorded voice (or other samples) can be stored, then loaded and played during song playback – which can result in either a glorious mess or fantastic new version of your favourite tunes. If you are clever enough to output the DSi sound via the earphone socket to your computer you could even save your remixes permanently on your PC. There are some other cool things you can do to mess around with your music whilst it’s playing – like turning the vocals down in a sort of Karaoke mode – but my favourite has to be 8-Bit mode, which makes everything sound like a NES or Commodore 64 game…which for retro geeks like me is the bee’s knees.
• The DSi shop channel is nearly identical to that of the Wii Shop Channel. You can go online and purchase new games and software using special ‘virtual currency’ called Nintendo Points, which can be purchased via credit card or special scratch cards sold in stores. The best news is that Nintendo load up your account with 1000 (£10/$10) worth of free points when you first visit the DSi shop, as a special gift (for a limited period). There are already some cool little games to buy, which are easily downloaded right to your DSi internal memory for keeps. Don’t forget you’ll need an active Wi-Fi internet connection, otherwise your DSi cannot go online. Currently there are rumours circulating of a Virtual Handheld Shop coming to DSi, which would allow you to buy classic Gameboy games. Hopefully this rumour will become a reality, but knowing Nintendo I wouldn’t bank on it just yet. The free Opera internet browser for DSi is available to download too, and is highly recommended for light web surfing, but lacks many features and the speed of typical PC web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• DS download play allows you to temporarily install DS demos to the DSI’s memory wirelessly from: the Nintendo Wii, other DS owning friends or special demo pods set up in Supermarkets and Game stores. This feature was available in the DS and DSlite, but many people didn’t know about it. This is also the channel you’ll need to use to play multiplayer DS games such as Mario Kart DS.
• PictoChat is another carry over from the original DS. It is a simple instant messenger application for local (not online) DS and DSi owning friends in a large group. Here you can wirelessly send messages and hand drawn pictures to each other. It’s not very good, and I’ve never met anyone who really used it.

The first thing to say is that the DSi will play all previous DS games that you can buy, except those that require the GBA slot, which is only a very small number of games. Another nice little feature is the ability to hot swap DS games and SD cards whilst in the DSi menu, without having to turn the DSi power off. In a similar manner, it is possible to change the brightness of the DS screens midgame, where previously you would have to quit to the old DS menu and reload the game. One thing worth mentioning is that due to the extra brightness and smaller battery capacity, the DSi’s battery life is a little shorter. It still offers around 14-20 hours of use per charge though (depending on the brightness level and amount of CPU power used by 3D gaming, or the Camera Channel lenses).

So, is the Nintendo DSi actually worth buying? If you are in the market for your first DS then, yes – the DSi is the best choice to go with – it has new abilities, and as it’s the latest model it is more futureproof (less likely to become outdated as soon as previous handheld consoles). If you have an older DS fat, the answer is also yes – the DSi is a fantastic upgrade. If however, you have a DSlite, then there is less of a reason to buy the newer model…unless you are interested in the possibilities that are opened up with the cameras, or the ability to purchase digital download games. Otherwise your DSlite will remain as effective as it is now as your DS and Game Boy Advance game player device. At £160/$170 the DSi is actually a trifle expensive – but so are many things in life. If the DSi sounds likes your cup of tea, then it is likely to be worth the money to you. If I had to award the DSi a score I would give it 8 out of 10.

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Related: Nintendo DSi release date, DSi region unlocked

Tags: Nintendo DSi, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, DSi

I have memories of playing the Original OutRun at the local amusement arcades many years ago when I was a smaller and less hairy young boy. I also remember a couple of years later getting a copy of OutRun for the Amiga which wasn’t a brilliant port of the arcade game at least let me play the game without having to shove lots of silver coins into a greedy gaming machine whilst the grinning amusement owner looked on and planned how to spend my pocket money later that week. The Amiga version wasn’t developed by Sega but ported by a third party and as such wasn’t the best representation of the original as it could have been but still cool for a home computer. Apart from a brief play of OutRun 2SP at my local ten pin bowling centre a year or so ago I’ve must have not played OutRun properly in over fifteen years. Thanks to Sega and Sumo Digital I now have played through OutRun Online Arcade for the Xbox 360 and all those memories of the original OutRun have come flooding back because it captures all of the magic from the original and mixes it with my typical everyday life. Nonstop racing through traffic along scenic American Coastlines, Mountain Routes and Skyscraper filled cities with the girlfriend by my side, she loves the thrill of the race and I love driving fast in one of my 10 Ferraris. Sometimes it’s hard to see where OutRun ends and my real life starts. All OutRun fans will already know the unique racing structure that you must compete in.

You start off in your Ferrari at the beach and end up at one of 5 goals (A to E, A being easiest and E being hardest). Your race is splits into four choices where a fork in the track forces you to pick either left or right. Choosing left takes you onto a easier path heading towards A while the right takes you through a harder path towards E, however at any fork you can switch back from a harder route to an easier route (or vice versa) which will take you to the middle goals (B, C and D). It may sound a little complicated but that’s probably me not explaining it right, think of it as an RPG where your decision good or bad affects your outcome, well in OutRun choosing Easy or Hard can be just as critical. As you only have a limited time to complete each checkpoint you need to drive fast, choose your route wisely because if you don’t complete it fast enough it’s Game Over. So whilst the different routes vary in difficulty with such things as; twisty turns, level or traffic and weather effects, each are actually roughly the same distance and take around a minute to complete (depending on how quick you are obviously).

OutRun Online Arcade is split into two modes, Single Player and Online Multiplayer. Single player as you’d expect just asks you to race to the finish as quick as possible in a choice of 10 different Ferrari’s, they do handle a little differently but not enough to really worry about which one you choose, after all this is an arcade game not a simulation. Also in Single player is Heart attack mode which is a little different because now it’s not just about getting to the finish line as quick as possible. Now your girlfriend gets demanding and not only wants you to finish each stage quickly but complete a little challenge too, sometimes it’s as simple (and easy) as passing cars or passing and not hitting other cars but quite often you’re asked to drive through rings or collect coins laid out on the track, this can become difficult when you have to time your slides perfectly around a corner to collect them all. Ideally you want to score a rank of AAA on each to gain the most hearts from your girlfriend but this is quite a tough feat and scoring AAA on every possible router will take lots of practice, but it’s quite fun so that’s not a problem. Multiplayer online allows you to create or join a race with up to 5 random people or other OutRun owning friends, it’s pretty fun to be racing online when you know it’s just your speed keeping you in front or lack of speed keeping you behind, unlike my usual racer Mario Kart Wii there are no weapons to help (or hinder) you here. In these modes races generally consist of you driving full throttle with the occasional bit of braking to assist you power sliding (I bet that phrase isn’t cool anymore) around long corners without losing too much speed or crashing off into the scenery. Downloading OutRun Online Arcade is just as simple as any other Xbox Live Arcade game and within minutes I was ready to start racing, sadly I don’t have an Xbox Steering Wheel but even so I’m a pretty nifty racer with a joypad.

The online leaderboards are a nice addition but don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll knock off the crazy Japanese racers at the top, they play all day and are unbeatable. It’s best to stick with trying to compete against your friends. With some other cool racing modes such as Time Attack and 15 courses mode as well as the 12 achievements to earn there is a nice amount of replayability here. In the look departments OutRun Online Arcade looks just as good as the arcade version of 2SP as far as I can recall, there’s usually lots going on in the pretty detailed environments with only slight slowdown on occasions. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is the best looking racer on Xbox but considering its age and file size (remember it doesn’t come on a DVD) it holds up rather well.

All the popular OutRun music is here but if you’re expecting a lot from the sound effects then you’ll be disappointed; apart from a few bumps, screeches and cries from your girlfriend there’s not much to listen out for. Overall OutRun Online Arcade for Xbox 360 is a very solid and cheap arcade style racer, if you’re a motor racing purist and like your action realistic then stay away but if you like fast no nonsense racing against the clock then OutRun could very well be for you. I really enjoyed OutRun Online Arcade and award it 7 out of 10.

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Related: Sega Love In, Need for Speed Undercover review

Tags: OutRun Online Arcade, OutRun, Racing, Sega, Xbox 360, PS3

Before the outbreak of killer swine flu in 2009 which turned 90% of the world’s population into mindless zombies (or maybe it was just our TV’s that did it?) you had to watch movies or play video games to get your weekly fix of the undead. Over the last year or so we’ve had a rather big selection of games featuring zombies which include hot titles such as; Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil 5. Burn Zombie Burn is an exclusive downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 from the PSN store but unlike those big name titles, Burn Zombie Burn is not a first person shooter. If you’ve played the arcade classic Robotron 2084 then when you first load Burn Zombie Burn you’ll instantly recognise the similarities to its old school ancestor. In Robotron you control a character who has a small closed environment (an arena if you will) to move around in whilst waves of robots appear in all directions start to home in towards you like crazed magnets. Your only possible action is to move around the screen avoiding them whilst shooting your weapon in their direction to kill them. What made Robotron so addictive was its seemingly never ending supply of killer robots and rock hard difficulty. Underneath it’s modern coating Burn Zombie Burn is Robotron through and through but have developers Doublesix managed to successfully bring their own bit of magic and pull of the zombie theme without spoiling the memories we have of Robotron 2084? Let’s find out in my Burn Zombie Burn review. If you’ve ever wanted to step into the boots of chainsaw wielding geek hero Ash from the Evil Dead movies then Burn Zombie Burn is quite possibly the closet you’ll get.

You control Bruce; a stereotypical 1970’s American Jock who along with his high school sweetheart Daisy appear to be stuck in the middle of a zombie invasion. You and your pistol are your only protection from those nasty brain eating baddies so best get your trigger finger ready because you only have a few seconds to prepare at the beginning of a level before the zombies are heading your way. So just like Robotron you need to get your ass in gear and get moving around the map shooting at every zombie you see; staying still is your ticket to being surrounded rather quickly and one of your 3 lives going down the drain. Each wave is fairly short but as you’ve probably guessed you’ll see a steady progression of zombie count but it’s not all bad because handy new weapons such as; Chainsaws, Baseball Bats, Gatling Guns and even Lawnmowers will appear to help you fend off the baddies. However you can only carry one new weapon at a time (besides your default pistol of course) and these all (except the melee items) have limited ammo. Soon enough you’re back to your trusty slow firing sidearm waiting for another good weapon or some ammo to spawn.

Before you fret about the lack of violence I must mention that Bruce also carries a flamethrower to ignite zombies in a blaze of flame, the problem is that the fire doesn’t actually kill them. Instead it makes them more dangerous and run faster, however on the upside killing burning zombies with regular weapons rewards you with new items to pick up in the form of TNT (which can be kicked and thrown) as well as the ever useful speed boost and health pickups. The TNT is your basic explosive variety and can easily take out a mass of zombies in one go and after upgrading (by killing even more burning zombies) to the more useful varieties such as Proximity and Remote can be very deadly to both them and you so be careful where you place/detonate it especially when the blue gas canisters spawn around the map! Next up is the giant red button, not quite as powerful as the one President Obama now has the keys to but handy none the less. As you kill regular zombies with a particular weapon a progress bar will slowly fill which eventually result in the big red button being activated, this button will induce a different environmental assistance on every map which could be the difference between you staying alive for another 30 seconds of having your guts ripped to shred (don’t worry the game isn’t actually gory), two early examples are; Rain which slows the speed of the zombies and a God Ray which will kill any evil dudes who are lured towards it. There are too many other weapons to talk about but rest assured anything you’ve ever seen to kill zombies in a B-Movie is here for your use, whether you are skilled enough to make effective use of them or not is a different matter. Game play is very intense and very difficult; If you can’t keep every wave of zombies under control then you will soon die and see the menu screen again and be no closer to unlocking any medals (bronze, silver, gold) and more importantly the bonus content and Trophies.

There are a total of six maps of which five need to be unlocked by earning bronze medals which is actually a feat in itself and not something you’ll do very quickly unless you’re a skilled arcade supremo. Every map is a recognisable B movie style location and suit the American 1950’s theme perfectly, everything from spooky woods to an army base and even a drive in movie theatre are included. They do all tend to have the same sort of shape and feel to them so it’s only the different big red button events that really differentiate them that much, having said that they do look great and have the matching music you’d expect too. You know what? I’ve forgotten to tell you that there are 9 different types of zombies to kill who all react differently. I won’t list them all here but my favourites have to be the Super Zombies which fart flame, the masked zombies that use trashcans as makeshift shields and the dancing ballerina zombies which suffer from shyness if you look at them. Things can go especially crazy when you have zombies that need to be TNT’d as well as those that need to be shot from behind all running towards you at once – making good use of the strafe and lock on buttons are essential to success. Burn Zombie Burn features some nice other game modes including local 2 player coop and special challenges which will keep you going for ages, it’s a shame there is no online mode but at least there are Trophies to earn and compare with your mates. Graphically Burn Zombie Burn isn’t going to make you glad you bought a PlayStation 3 even if hundreds of zombies on screen at once because sometimes the game suffers in framerate, but for 95% of the time you do get a lovely looking and smooth 1080p experience. Issues aside I like a game which puts charm and comedy into its visuals and Burn Zombie Burn does that. The same can be said for the soundtrack; the cheesy rock and over the top voice acting may very make your dolby surround sound geeks wince but they do the job for me and that’s what matters right? If you’ve been missing some proper hardcore action to rival Geometry Wars or Robotron on the Xbox 360 then Burn Zombie Burn is for you and scores a rather good 7 out of 10.

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Rental: Rent Burn Zombie Burn – free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Related: Left 4 Dead review, House of the Dead Overkill review

Tags: Burn Zombie Burn, Zombies, Playstation 3, Robotron, Arcade, Burn Zombie

Maybe I’m just lucky but I’ve never had to stay in hospital other than the time when I was actually being born and I don’t really think that counts. However after staying for a week in a virtual hospital full of monsters on my new DSi the experience has put me right off my upcoming sense of humour reduction surgery. Dementium The Ward is a survival horror first person shooter for DS.

If you thought that such a game couldn’t be done on Nintendo’s low powered handheld then developers Renegade Kid are here to prove you wrong. Suddenly you wake up in a dark hospital room with no clue what’s happening; nothing immediately looks amiss but the fact that your room is only lit up by the lightning outside already sets a spooky atmosphere. A notepad is on the floor in front of you with the words ‘Why Did You Do It’ scrawled upon it and a metal key alongside. Simply tapping TAKE on the bottom screen collects them into your inventory ready for use. There is a single exit door to your room and the same key you just collected unlocks it, but if the key was on the floor doesn’t that mean the door must have been locked from the inside? As you step out of the door the first thing you notice is blood, there’s blood everywhere; on the floor, on the walls, everywhere. Perhaps it was a mistake to leave the safety of your room but you won’t find any answers in there – you’re only choice is to move forward and find out what has happened here. A recorded message is playing through the speaker system, ‘This is an emergency, everyone must evacuate the building, locate the nearest stairwell’. As you walk towards the voice recording you quickly notice that the doors to the stairs ahead are padlocked securely; the only other way is back towards more blood and a FMV sequence featuring a huge creature carrying a bloody cleaver dragging a woman away to her death – her terrified blue eyes fix on you and open wide seemingly asking for help but in a brief second they’re gone .

Spooky stuff eh? Well that’s just the start, if you’re easily scared it might be time to play something else because things in Dementium are not going to get any nicer. The basic premise of Dementium is to explore the hospital, find out what has happened, and survive. If you have previously played Doom 3 you will no doubt have experience of having to switch between a flashlight and weapons on the fly in order to navigate rooms and corridors to dispatch monsters. Well that experience will come in very handy because just like Doom 3 you’ll be exploring very dark rooms and corridors with your torch in hand but at any moment a monster could appear and will need to be killed quickly because this time you’re not a marine covered in protective armour and you certainly don’t have a plasma gun capable of cutting through flesh, to start with you just have a wardens nightstick to use as a club. For the most part you will be moving from floor to floor throughout the east and west buildings of the hospital taking mental notes of your surroundings with every step because each floor is very similar to the last and can even seem identical, you’ll need to use your memory and any torn maps you find to work yourself through. As soon as you think you know an area and become complacent whilst moving around you’ll find out you were wrong when something spews green acidic vomit onto you or breaks through a seemingly locked door. Unlike Doom 3 you will have to solve some riddles before you’ll be anywhere near escaping. Noting down number sequences written in blood on the walls and solving cryptic clues to find keys are just some of the things you’ll have to do if you want to find weapons to aid your escape. Because Dementium: The Ward is very linear I don’t want to describe too much about what happens because the best way to experience it is for yourself, so let me jump to the chase. It’s a very dark and scary game, there aren’t too many adult rated games on DS but Dementium is one of them.

Gameplay and cutscenes will spook you both physically and mentally. Just imagine Resident Evil meets Silent Hill Homecoming with a smidgen of Doom 3 and FEAR 2 thrown in for good measure and you’re well on your way to picturing Dementium. The question is; are you brave enough to try it? After just a couple of minutes you’ll see just in terms of technicality that Dementium is stunning, a fast slick moving FPS on Nintendo DS with real time lighting and fully 3D models is not only an achievement on the system but quite rare to find. Sure up close those textures are a little blocky but that was the case on every PlayStation 1 game and that didn’t stop the system from selling god near a billion units did it? Controlling yourself in Dementium is a dream (as long as you dream about simplicity that is) and because of the clever DS button layout, right and left handed players have a very similar control scheme. Glide the stylus over the touch screen to move your viewpoint and use the DPad to move backwards and forwards as well as strafing left and right. The shoulder button acts as your trigger finger and as soon as you find a gun (or two) you’ll be getting lots of use out of it. Collecting health and ammo is just a case of walking over them but both are in short supply so you’ll need to take your time and not get caught off guard by enemies. You’ll either need to turn your DS volume up high or wear some earphones if you want to experience the atmospheric music and effects at their best, it’s also worth noting that you can hear monsters from a distance so the easier you can hear the game the more time you’ll have to prepare for attack.

The boss battles are quite tough but thankfully you usually find a supply of health and ammo just outside their room, sadly you encounter each boss a couple of times (even know you’ve killed them once) which adds to the receptiveness of the already repetitive hospital layout from floor to floor and room to room. I would like to have seen a little more variation in all aspects of the game; the environments, the enemies, the gameplay and even the puzzles but even as it is this is a unique game on DS which deserves to be played. Even though enemies respawn if you have to back track through the level actually shooting hideous freaky beings in tight confined spaces with a shotgun is great fun whatever, just as long as you’re accurate and don’t use up all your ammo. Dementium The Ward is one of the first in a new line of DS games designed to push the hardware and challenge the hardcore player. It’s not perfect but would be considered a fairly good game on a console and considering it’s on a handheld I have to award an excellent 7 out of 10.

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Rental: Rent Dementium The Ward – free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Related: Silent Hill Homecoming, Siren Blood Curse review

Tags: Dementium The Ward, Dementium, The Ward, Survival horror, DS, Doom, Silent Hill, Fear 2, Dementium: The Ward

Point and click adventures are like unpaid tax demands; years go by without any and then three come along all at once. So after my recent reviews of Evil Under the Sun and Sam and Max I wasn’t thrilled about having a third long adventure to play through but let’s find out if my apprehension was justified or not in my review of Ceville for PC.

Ceville is a mouse driven point and click adventure set in a fairytale land called Faeryanis. You take control of a rather short dictator named Ceville who is a bit reminiscent of Lord Farquar from the movie Shrek (but much nastier). It just so happens that your evil assistant Basilius has coaxed the citizens of Faeryanis to revolt against you and your Napoleonic rule so that he can become King. There is no choice but to escape to safety before the baying mob throw Ceville into jail, or worse tear him apart limb from limb. But there’s a snag. Just before Ceville manages to escape via a secret tunnel in the castle dungeon, fearless hero Ambrosius ends up capturing him accidently after falling down a nearby watering well. Having been a diehard Monkey Island fan when I was a kid there’s no way I could resist a storyline like this so let’s delve into our review of Ceville for PC and see how it actually plays. Well really well is the short answer. The long answer is that Ceville instantly captures your attention with its bright colours, gorgeously created 3D world and catchy background music. From the very first scene the humorous voice acting stands out making your ears pricks up inviting you to listen closer. As with nearly all other point and click games Ceville is all about scouring the environment looking for items to pick up, puzzles to solve, objects to interact with and people to talk to. More often than not though you’ll find it’s a healthy mixture of all four at once to tax your brain. Don’t go thinking it’s all a solo effort, shortly after Ceville is captured you encounter a young girl named Lilly who decides to help you out on your quest. There are many puzzles that require the cooperation of Ceville and Lilly to complete so it’s not a surprise to say that for most of the game you’ll be controlling them both. At certain moment’s they’ll separate so that you can use the skills of both individually; a perfect example of this is a scene where Lilly must direct a dancer towards a trapdoor using a spotlight, Ceville is waiting in the wings to pull the lever to open the trapdoor and make her fall through on her behind.

Faeryanis itself is a huge place with many areas for Ceville to explore such as an Elven Forrest, the Dwarf Mountains and even a Spooky Graveyard amongst other interesting locations each with their own new characters to talk to, or in Ceville’s case; be sarcastic to. Every area is very nicely presented with lots of background detail and you’ll need to visit most locations more than once to complete every puzzle they hold. When you get stuck you’ll no doubt be looking around each area trying to see what or who you’ve missed, this can get a little frustrating at times and makes you want to search on the internet for a tip or two (yes I admit it I had to get help once or twice myself). However this isn’t unique to Ceville as it’s actually a trademark of all PAC adventure games and will likely be that way for many years to come. If you don’t like frustrating moments of wondering what the hell you should be doing then Ceville isn’t for you. However if you can cope with the hair tearing moments then Ceville and it’s huge colourful world full of entertaining characters will put a smile on your face for at least 20 hours (maybe more), I wouldn’t say there is much replay value but at least without any hideous DRM restrictions (yes EA I’m looking at you) it means you can pass the game to a friend when you’re finished with it and let someone else enjoy the wonder of Ceville.

Before I sum up I should mention that my initial experience with Ceville was clouded by some technical issues with conflicting audio and random lock ups; however a trip to the official Ceville website saw me come away with a fresh patch which fixed all of the issues and thankfully allowed me to continue playing. If you purchase Ceville on disc then I recommend downloading and installing the patch before you play, Steam users should have the patch installed automatically as usual. What impresses me most Ceville is the quality of the script and the voice acting itself; Ceville really does buck the trend of many a game where a character’s voice sounds totally out of place and not how you think they should sound. I laughed my socks off whilst after hearing references to Half Life, kids cartoon He-Man, online role playing game Runescape and even a bitter tirade against search engine Google. Finally we have a game that rivals the observational comedy of TV shows like The Simpsons or Family Guy. Ceville’s graphics are very impressive, lovingly created down to the finest pretty detail with superb animation (well maybe not the lip-syncing) and plenty of variation. Ceville is without doubt the best looking point and click adventure game I’ve ever seen and because it’s not an action game needing to display hundreds of enemies at once, it should look fine on older PC’s too. Yes you’ll get stuck and tear your hair out but I can’t not award Ceville a stunning 8 out of 10 because it’s absolutely terrific.

Related: Evil Under the Sun, Sam and Max

Tags: Ceville, Ceville, Point and Click, Shrek, PC

We’ve been sent some tasty looking screenshots of Burn Zombie Burn from Kuju Entertainment. Burn Zombie Burn is coming out in the upcoming months for download via the Playstation Network and is already looking like a great shooter experience. If only Sony could get more exciting titles onto PSN! Want some Zombie action on Wii and Xbox 360 right now? Take a look at Onechanbara Bikini Zombie Salyers from Amazon.

Related: House of the Dead Overkill review, Left 4 Dead review

Tags: Burn Zombie Burn, screenshots, Kuju Entertainment, PS3, PSN

Your Wii can do more than play Wii Fit and Mario Kart you know. Whilst they are great games worthy of their incredible sales, spare a thought for our lost retro games. The Wii has access to hundreds of digital download games both old and new via the Wii Shop Channel. Donkey Kong Country is probably the favourite platformer of all time and is a bargain at 800 Wii Points. Head over to Wiigamereview.com to read the review of Donkey Kong Country for Wii, think of it as a warm up for the soon to be released Wiimake of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (part of the play on Wii range).

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Related: review of Donkey Kong Country, DK Jungle Climber review

Tags: Donkey Kong Country, Wii, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

The chances are that you’ve played Geometry Wars after it became the game to buy on XBLA, it was also the title which seemingly everyone used to rank each other by via the online high score tables. XG Blast from Next Wave brings the same hardcore arcade gameplay but tries to add a bit of narrative for the discerning gamer. Let’s see if they managed to not only clone Geometry Wars but get that story line believable enough in our review of XG Blast for DS.

XG Blast’s story starts off with a special ship called the Aknathen heading off into space with a secret gravitational weapon on board (the XG Blast). Not long after the crew go into stasis the ship’s computer (called Aton) senses what appears to be a signal given off from another XG Blast weapon, the strange thing is that there is only meant to be one XG Blast and that is sitting on the ship. So the computer decides to plot a course for the signal as it must be investigated. When the ship arrives at the location it appears the signal is emanating from a black whole not marked on the star charts, confused Aton begins the process to defrost the crew but just at that moment the Aknathen is sucked into the black hole. As you’ve probably worked out for yourself, our job is to get the ship back to reality and destroy any nasty aliens that get in our way.

XG Blast has three game modes; Discovery (the story mode), Survival (a nonstop high score mode) and Multiplayer (for 2-4 players). Discovery mode is split into Zones each with a varying number of level stages, they get progressively harder as you’d expect and at the end of every Zone there is a boss battle. Gameplay in XG Blast works in a very similar manner to Geometry Wars, you control your ship around a small arena trying to avoid whilst shooting the spawning alien ships. Controlling the ship is very simple using the DPad whilst using the stylus to shoot in a chosen direction. The aliens you’ll encounter at the start are quite slow and you won’t find too many of them appearing at once. It’s not long before the waves get bigger and the aliens get tougher. Luckily you have a shield to help you out in times of need but be warned it has a limited power source and unless you charge it up by collecting energy pellets from dropped enemies (or if you’re lucky, bonus energy pods ) you’ll soon get blasted away. The same energy pellets are needed when you get a screen full of baddies and you just need a quick way to blast them out of existence. The XG Blast is a very powerful weapon and just like the shield, uses masses of energy which will need replenishing. The XG Blast pretty much obliterates anything in its path and is very useful in the boss stages so make sure to save some energy up. Your standard weapon can be upgraded by collecting coloured pills of the same colour providing you with up to three upgrades (four power levels). If you collect a different colour pill container your weapon will switch to a new style but thankfully remain at the same power level of your previous weapon. The balance of weapons is quite even so as long as you have upgraded above the lowest power rating you will only have to switch if you have preference to missiles that either home in towards enemies, bounce around walls, those which just fire dead ahead or in a fan shape, whatever your preference is really. As you’d expect variation isn’t XG Blast’s strongest point, it really is a proper arcade game which starts off at a steady but tricky difficultly level and only goes upwards from there. One thing I really like is that your progress is saved automatically meaning you can carry on from the zone you were on when you run out of lives or simply turn the DS off. The lack of progress save is the one annoying thing about most arcade games which tends to put me off, they always make you start at the beginning every time which may very well suit some people (sadists) but usually tends to annoy me more than watching Big Brother.

Survival mode is where the real high score freaks will feel at home, pick an unlocked level from the Discovery mode and try to last as long as you can before you die. Medals are given out for your performance and you’ll really need reactions of a hawk to earn top ranking in this mode, for all I know you can unlock something amazing if you get every medal but it’s so difficult that someone out there will have to write in and tell me because I don’t think I’ll be doing it anytime soon. The multiplayer mode comes in two flavours, a coop mode where two of you can play endlessly trying to kill aliens until the battery in your DS runs out or the Full War mode for up to for up to four players in a timed round of a Frag Festing where your mission is to simply shoot your friends more than anyone else, basic but effective. Sadly I couldn’t test the multiplayer modes out due to a lack of friends (boohoo) and more importantly lack of single card download play option , yes that’s right, everyone needs their own copy. However if the multiplayer mode even matches the single player mode you’ll be in for a right treat.

With no online mode for high scores or play XG Blast at least does look the business, the graphics are sharp, colourful, frantic and all without a hint of slowdown. Sure it doesn’t have the full wow factor of Geometry wars on 360 but it comes close enough. Even though there is a handy map displayed on the top screen the game is so frantic you’ll not ever look at it because your eyes will be glued to the bottom screen, some could argue that instead the game should have spanned both screens but it didn’t really bother me – the added complication may have actually spoilt the game. XG Blast’s music and sound effects didn’t send me into a spin but did suit the game perfectly; electro tunes and your standard space weapons are convincing enough, no complaints here.

If you’re looking for a game to compliment your current copy of Geometry wars for DS, Wii or 360 then you can’t go wrong with XG Blast. I don’t know if the basic story line is different enough to make it an essential purchase if you already own GW but there’s certainly nothing hear that would disappoint old or new GW arcade shooting loving alike. XG Blast for DS does achieve what it set out to do (be an interesting Geometry Wars clone) but drops the ball on adding some extra functionality, online high scores and multiplayer modes would have added some much needed longevity to the game, nevertheless XG Blast for DS scores a blasteriffic 7 out of 10.

Related: R-Type Command review, Geometry Wars

Tags: XG Blast, DS, Geometry Wars, XGBlast

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After watching the latest trailer for Blood Bowl I was reminded of a game I played on the Commodore CD32. Described as being the world’s first 32Bit games console (although it wasn’t) it was released over a year before the Sony Playstation but did not sell anywhere near as many units. It was on the CD32 I remember playing Brutal Sports Football, an interesting mix of American Football, ultra violence and gore. Blood Bowl looks like a spiritual sequel Brutal Sports Football which can’t be a bad thing, based on the Warhammer games you can create teams made up of Orcs, Elves, Humans, Dwarfs and many more fantasy creatures and go to battle in the goriest Lord of the Rings esque version of American Football you’ve ever seen. The Blood Bowl release date is a vague Q2 2009 and is coming out on the Xbox 360, PC, DS and PSP.

Preorder Blood Bowl now
New: Preorder Blood Bowl from Amazon.com

Related: Madden NFL 09 review, Lord of the Rings

Tags: Blood Bowl, Trailer

After many months of crazy Japanese schoolgirls buying the Nintendo DSi until stocks ran out it’s now our chance to buy a the latest update to the Nintendo DS. Are the two camera’s, SD card slot, bigger screens, built in Web browser and downloadble games enough to make you purchase this? I’m still unsure as both of my Black DS Lite’s are serving me quite well at the moment, however if you want to be the first to own a proper regionalized DSi then you’ll have to pre-order early to avoid disappointment.

The Nintendo DSi release date is April 5th 2009 for North America and two days earlier (April 3rd 2009) in the UK but it’s not as cheap as we’d have hoped for. Shoppers in the UK are looking at a £149 price point whilst those in the US can expect a $170 price tag.

Preorder a Nintendo DSi now
New: Preorder a Nintendo DSi from Amazon.com – $169.99

Related: DSi region unlocked, Nintendo DSi announcement

Tags: Nintendo, DS, DSi, release date

Hudson has just announced the Job Island Wii microsite where you can spend a few minutes learning about the game, watch some trailers and meet the cast. Titled Help Wanted in the US, Job Island features 50 great mini games all revolved around doing cool jobs such as: Astronaut, Fireman, Clown, Farmer, Stunt Driver (and many more) in a bid to save the world from a terrible disaster. It’s not Metal Gear Solid 4 for Wii but Job Island still sounds like it will feature some fun multiplayer action. The Job Island for Wii release date is March 12th 2008 in Europe and March 13th 2008 in the UK.

Related: Job Island Wii microsite, Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaros Treasure review

Tags: Job Island, Wii

Even though I love my DS Lite to bits, lately I’ve not been enthralled by most of the games hitting the shelves. It seemed to me there was a gap in development where the serious publishers we waiting to find out about the upcoming Nintendo DSi and its features before green lighting new titles. Now that the fate of the DS brand is sealed for another couple of years we should start seeing more unique games heading our way very soon. Thankfully smaller more indie developers kept going with the Nintendo DS, creating original games for the discerning gamer and today we’re going to look at one such game. Big Bang Mini DS is the second game from the interesting French studio Arkedo who previously worked on a Breakout inspired title called Nervous Brickdown. Well Arkedo are back and this time it’s Missile Command and Space Invaders that have been the inspiration for their new title Big Bang Mini, but can it really live up to the classic game that I played on the Atari 2600 so many years ago? Let’s find out in my review of Big Bang Mini for DS.

Everyone knows Space Invader’s so I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining it here for you now, Missile Command on the other was never quite as popular and as such isn’t as well known. Basically the idea of the game was to shoot defensive missiles using your joystick into the sky to destroy the incoming alien rockets and ufo’s. Missile Command was a hit with gamers just like Space Invaders because of the perfectly pitched learning curve, starting off simple but getting harder and faster as you progressed. It didn’t matter how many times you died because each time you believed deep down inside that you were just seconds away from completing the game and so the ‘just one more try’ factor kicks in until you’re out of money and asking your parents for an allowance increase to pay for your habit. Nowadays video arcades are a dying breed because our home and portable consoles tend to do everything a gloomy seaside video Arcade Cabinet can do and more besides. So whilst Big Bang Mini has that same ‘just one more try’ factor, once you’ve bought it won’t in fact cost you all your spare change to have another go.

The basic goal in Big Bang Mini is to survive waves of enemies by firing missiles (or fireworks as the game likes to insist) up from the bottom screen to the top screen and hopefully destroying them. To fire a missile you drag your base icon around the screen by using the stylus. To shoot your fireworks you simply strike the touch screen in the required direction just like you would a match on a matchbox (well perhaps with a tad more care). At the very start you’ll actually be shooting harmless balloons with fireworks to get you into the swing of it. Quicker than you think come the real baddies; they move around the top DS screen (sometimes even dipping on the bottom one) avoiding your missiles and even sending weapons of their own back down towards you. To make matters worse every missile of yours that does not successfully hit an enemy will explode and the debris will fall back down to the bottom screen and let’s just say, with only a single hit point between you and failure, you’d better move your base icon out of the way or be prepared to start the level again. Every time you destroy an enemy a power star falls down and it’s up to you to collect it if you want to progress to the next level, the star’s size will vary from small to big depending on the difficulty of the baddy dealt with, a meter displayed on the left side of the screen slowly fills as you collect the stars and once it’s full the level is over. After each level you get the chance to take part in a bonus round where you effectively play join the dots with your base icon avoiding any dangerous objects. If you complete the bonus round a photo is taken of the resulting firework show and you’ll be one step closer to unlocking the special ‘relax’ game mode to play. So that’s the basic premise of how Big Bang Mini DS works but there’s so much more to let you know about.

There are 9 game worlds each containing 8 standard levels and a final boss battle. Each world looks markedly different with new enemies to encounter and special powers which change how the game plays. The first world; Tokyo, starts you off gently with just simple rockers and easy enemies but world 2 Aurora introduces the ability to draw an invisible spiral on the screen to deflect incoming bullets but needs to recharge between uses, the bad guys also get much faster. When you get to world five; Savannah, you gain the ability to shoot Fireballs which fly to the top screen killing most enemies in one hit but the Fireballs rebound back down which you’ll need to avoid along with any enemy fire as well as the debris of your fireworks. Maybe when you get to Rio de Janeiro you’ll find the homing missile you were giving in World three has been disabled, how will you manage to fend off the bad guys without it? Getting all the way to World 9 (The Abyss) will take bags of skill and touch screen dexterity, maybe for a break you’ll want to check out the Challenge mode? Here in Challenge mode you can play a seemingly never ending game mode in an attempt to get the highest score you can, a bit dull you say? Well what about if we throw in online high score leaderboards via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection where you can compare your score against the whole world and your BBM owning friends? Big Bang Mini is so addictive I could see it becoming the next Geometry Wars with regard to high score loving. If high scores aren’t your thing then if you have a friend with a DS you can use the single card download play mode to send over a three map battle game for two players which quite unusually asks you to turn the DS on its side to play. The simple goal being to shoot over fireworks to your friends DS hoping to eradicate the other player before they do the same to you. Simple fun but without the hecticness of the main game (no enemies) and as such it feels a bit sterile and slow in comparison which is a damn shame. Moving platforms and bats make things a little harder but you’ll be better off doing some competitive high scoring in the challenge game rather than play this multiplayer mode.

Big Bang Mini for DS is a frantically good arcade style handheld game which contains more explosive action than every Warner Bros cartoon combined; things get so busy that you’ll end up hardly even looking at the top screen, instead you’ll be staring at the bottom DS screen without blinking for minutes at a time trying to shoot your rockets, avoiding enemy fire whilst collecting stars without killing yourself in the mean time. If you haven’t got that extra peripheral vision sense when gaming on your DS you’ll be in trouble here when you reach the later levels where speed and accuracy is of the essence. Don’t go thinking the boss fights will be a welcome relief; you’re stripped of all super powers and asked to kill giant baddies with just your normal missiles whilst he throws every trick in the Big Bang Mini book at you.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Big Bang Mini visuals, everything is very slick with gorgeous stylised animated backgrounds to each world and a diverse looking range of enemies (even if all they do is shoot at ya). Just as with the visuals BBM excels in your ears with very catchy tunes (I really love the title theme, I have been humming it for days) and all the explosive sounds you expect in a game full of explosions.

So whilst Big Bang Mini suffers slightly from a lack of gameplay variation it cannot be denied that it’s full ff over the top Arcade goodness which will grab you by the goolies with its insanely difficult later levels whilst being simple enough for causal gamers to pick up and become engrossed. Big Bang Mini scores a terrific 8 out of 10 and we can’t wait to see Arkedo’s next pseudo retro arcade outing.

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Related: Chrono Trigger, Colour Cross Review

Tags: Big Bang Mini, Nintendo, DS

Check out our review of Sam and Max Season One for Wii on Wii Game Review. Find out if the conversion from PC to Wii has been successful and if the Dog and Rabbit crime solving duo can manage to topple Strong Bad from his almighty perch as the coolest point and click game anti-hero on Wii.

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Related: review of Sam and Max Season One, Strong Bad

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Related: review of Onslaught, Metroid Prime

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We always like a bargain and once again we’d like to share with you the Xbox 360 deals we spot. Today we’re looking at essential games that every discerning hardcore Xbox 360 owner should have in their collection. Here just for you here are our top 5 best Xbox 360 games that $25 (or less) can buy you.

• BioShock – Quake 4 meets Half Life 2 set underwater. Now only $23.99.
• The Orange Box – Includes; Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2. Now only $19.99.
• Burnout Paradise – Open world racing and plenty of crashes. Now only $19.99.
• Prey – A unique FPS where you must save the world with the help of a hawk, and it’s developed by the same people who made Duke Nukem 3D. Now only $21.86.
• Virtua Fighter 5 – The best looking 3D fighter from Sega. Now only $21.99.

Related: Top games of 2008, Top games of 2009

Tags: xbox games, budget xbox games, top 5 Xbox 360 games

I can’t wait for Resident Evil 5 so had to go and buy Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition to keep my appetite at bay for just a bit longer. Resident Evil 4 may be a few years old and soon to be replaced but it’s still a cracking game and the Wii controls only make it better, check out our review of Resident Evil for Wii on Wii Game Review.

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Related: review of Resident Evil for Wii, Resident Evil 4 screenshots

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Sony PS3 New Year deals

A little late announcing these top New Year PS3 bargains but its still January so what the heck. PS3 games tend to cost a bit more than Xbox 360 games so it’s all the more important to find a Playstation 3 bargain when you can. Here are the best deals on PlayStation 3 games we could find on Amazon just for you.

• Save 17% on Call of Duty: World at War
• Save 5% when you preorder Killzone 2
• Preorder Street Fighter IV collector’s edition
• Save $40 on Burnout Paradise
• Save 7% on Resistance: Fall Of Man
• Save 20% on the essential Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote

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Related: PS3 free BluRay movie bundles , Top 5 games of 2008

Tags: PS3, Playstation 3, savings, Call of Duty, World at War, Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV, Burnout Paradise, Resistance: Fall Of Man, Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote controller