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

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

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

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

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

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

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Related: Boom Blox Bash Party Review, Bomberman Blast

Tags: Bomberman Ultra, Bomberman, PS3, PSN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

Have you ever wondered why the Moon exists? Some people say that the Moon’s gravitational controls the Earth’s tides. Maybe this is true, maybe not, but one thing I can say for sure is you’ll never look at the Moon the same way again after playing Renegade Kid’s latest First Person Shooter for Nintendo DS.

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

Have you heard of the Madballs? Before I downloaded Madballs in Babo Invasion from the Xbox 360 Arcade marketplace I was completely unaware of the craze knows as Madballs which spawned in the mid 1980’s. After looking into the history I was surprised to see that there has been a Madballs cartoon series, comic book and of course; a series of toys. When I first started playing Madballs in Babo Invasion I was describing it to myself as Super Monkey Ball – but with guns. I then found out that Madballs is in fact a sequel to the free webgame called Babo Violent 2. I think this means that this is the third game in the series but the first with the Madballs licence, all a bit confusing isn’t it?

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