Today Video Game Reviews

Bubble Town Game Review

2008-11-28T12:02:00.005-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Remember the bubbles you made from soap when you were a kid? It's so much fun popping them out, and now, you get to feel the same nostalgia in the Bubble Town game from I-play. But will popping bubbles be fun to play in terms of casual gaming too? Well, that's what we're here to find out in this review.

The setting of Bubble Town starts in the idyllic little town of Borb Bay, where hundreds of little bubble heads called borbs live. One day, however, aliens called Lumps arrived on this quiet little town and invaded the whole of Borb Bay, leaving tons of mess around the place. You have to help the borbs get back their freedom once again, because well, they are just too lazy to do this task for themselves. And besides, what can they possibly do since they are just small heads of bubble, right?

Anyway, the game plays like the famous marble popper game known as Puzzle Bubble where you are tasked to clear all the bubbles in the game field by matching 3 or more same colored bubbles. There are no time limits in this game but for a different challenge, you'll only have a limited number of ammunition in your arsenal to make all the borbs pop. Refill your ammo by freeing little borbs from their confinement. This means not popping them, mind, but freeing them by popping their attachments instead.

If your ammo is full, spilling borbs trying to fill it up will mean bonus points. Additional borbs will eventually replenish your ammo tube if you expend them all out while making matches; however, this also means that your playing area will shrink during every replenishment routine. And coupled with other obstacles hindering your objective, Bubble Town is really one challenging game to play.

Bubble Town is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Bubble Town and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Alice Greenfingers 2 Game Review

2008-11-28T12:02:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

We all agree that taking care of plants entails much dedication and hard work, but it seems that it takes a green thumb too for them to grow without much care. A perfect example would be the protagonist in the Alice Greenfingers 2 game, because in here, Alice earns money without ever worrying if produce will eventually grow in her farm.

Alice plant crops and takes care of farm animals, that's what she does best. Her lazy Uncle Berry knows this and thus keeps her in the farm to earn him some easy money. Alice doesn't mind at all, it seems, so she goes around each level doing all of her uncle's bidding. I know the story is kind of disturbing because it looks like Alice is just some sort of slave girl, but that's how the story goes, and in another sense, also sets up the mechanics of each level.

Alice Greenfingers 2 is categorized as a time management game, but actually, it's a free-flowing farm simulation without any time to consider whatsoever. In each level, you are given tasks by your Uncle Berry to complete, and you must do all that you can to budget your money and farm land to cater to his wishes. General examples of this include earning one hundred dollars or selling a set amount of crops, but sometimes, he asks you to do errands too like weeding out dandelions, giving the dog some exercise, or even digging some hidden treasure in the farm.

Buying seeds, animals and buildings, and selling produce and crops in the marketplace all take place simultaneously during the actual game screen. The marketplace and Paul's shop can be triggered by a single click from the game menu, and you can set and forget all your selling activities by just setting the number of crops you need to sell. Furthermore, you can also queue up Alice's activities in the farm while visiting the other windows, making you save time wisely in buying and selling stuff.

Alice Greenfingers 2 is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Alice Greenfingers 2 and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Age of War Flash Game - Tips and Strategy

2008-11-28T12:02:00.001-08:00

By Pavel Anokhin

Age of War - is a great free online flash game, which combines elements of tower defense and anti-tower defense games. If you're tired of all the tower defense games which all look alike, then this game is for you! In Age of War, you can build your defenses by buying different turrets, and when you have no place to set the turret to, buying additional turret spots. At the same time, you can train your troops to attack your enemy. You have a choice of just 3 troops - direct combat unit, long-range unit, and heavy unit. There are multiple ages in the game - starting from cavemen and dinosaurs, and all the way to lasers, tanks and air machines.

Even though your options are limited (just 3 turret types and 3 unit types during each age), don't let this fool you - there is plenty of strategy in choosing the right battle plan - both long-term strategy and short-term tactics. Here are a few possible strategies:

1. Total defense. Forget about attacking your opponent - concentrate on defense. Spend most of your money on turrets and only train troops when the turrets are not fast enough to kill all the coming enemies. Since each side gets the most money for killing opponents troops, your opponent will get less money as he won't kill many of your troops. When you have a good defense, you can accumulate some big amount, and overwhelm your opponent with a quick and devastating raid.

2. Total offense. Forget about defenses - spend all your money on troops and overwhelm your opponent with your attacking force. This is somewhat hard to do on harder levels, so choose your troops wisely and plan ahead carefully.

3. Balanced defense and offense. Build some turrets, but don't forget about your troops - destroy coming wave of enemies with your troops and the help of the turrets, then let your troops attack your opponent to give you some time to accumulate the money for the next wave.

Choose your strategy based on your preferred style and on difficulty level. Besides strategy, plan the order of your troops: watch out for coming enemies and build your troops in the order which will most effectively destroy them. For example, the most powerful combination is the heavy unit followed by long range unit - they will both deal the damage to the 1st enemy unit. Also, do not forget about special abilities - using them is the key at the start and middle of the game. Choosing the right moment to use your special ability can be the difference between winning and losing.

Play age of war absolutely for free at the free online games portal!

Gundam Vs Gundam - PSP Review

2008-11-28T12:01:00.003-08:00

By Gabriel Chau

Past Gundam related games like Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable, Gundam Battle Royale and Gundam Battle Tactics were all great games, specially the Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable with the latest mobile suits from the Gundam Seed series. Gundam vs Gundam, the newest Gundam game released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan (no date for North American release yet). Is this one worth buying at all? Read on.....

For those that haven't played the games or even heard of Gundams before, they are basically transformers but only look 100x better. The games mentioned above basically put you in one of the mobile suits, not necessary Gundams because there are different robots in the series. You will be controlling and fighting against one of the other sides, usually two sides each with different mobile suits and mobile armor (these are not necessary robots but can be fighter planes etc). Its really a third person shooter, just replace human/monsters with robots.

If I remember correctly, this game was originally from the arcade and it was ported over to the PlayStation 2, then to the PSP. Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable was a great game that offered hours of play time and great replay value because you can upgrade many of your mobile suits' stats such as how fast the weapon can fire, more ammo, more fire power as well as more health, jump higher and more booster power etc. This is pretty much level grinding though, which I think was necessary in order to pass some of the harder levels.

Game play

Gundam vs Gundam is really just the arcade version ported over to the PSP. At first I thought there was a story mode just like Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable. I should have figured that out from the name of the game, stupid me. The controls are basically the same or really similar to the other games though - jump, boost, shoot, melee, shoot 2, special shot, special melee and special. The three specials are hard to execute because you have to hold triangle, plus either the shoot or melee. The special move is slightly easier and its executed by pressing triangle, square and cross (might as well press your right thumb onto all four buttons)

I have yet to even execute any of them. How did I even figure out how to execute these hard to do moves? They are actually mentioned in one of the game options. I will update once I figure out how to execute them. I have never had such frustration over special moves from previous Gundam games.

[Update: I have mentioned to execute the special attacks (only when your special gauge is full) by pressing.....most of the buttons]

Aside from the standards, now you can assign orders to your computer teammate, commands like attack, dodge and surprise attack. You can also call in support where an additional mobile suit for a second and throw in a few more shots at your current target, as usual, the calls for support can be recharged with time just like recharging your gun's ammo. I find the support useful because, if I remember correctly it was able to take the hits for me as well as acting as a decoy for a short time.

Enough with the controls, the game has three game modes - "normal" mode (I call it the normal mode, was going to say story mode but its not a story) where you fight through 8 stages with the last stage as boss stage, quick play and multiplayer that supports 2 on 2 battles. I think the 2 on 2 is the selling point here, just like the arcade version, the fun is from shooting and slashing other human piloted mobile suits. Once you have selected a mobile suit from the list with 20+ of them and more can be unlocked by completing the "normal" mode. They range from the oldest 0079 series all the way to the newest ones from the Gundam 00 series. The objective of any of these game mode is the same, you and your enemies both have a life bar, you will lose if your side's life bar reaches 0. When you and/or your teammate dies (same goes for enemies), the amount of life your team loses is based on the mobile suit you picked. The stronger the mobile suit, the higher points its worth, which means when it blows up, your team loses a bigger amount of life. So that means its not always better to pick the strongest from the list. I picked my favorite Freedom Gundam and its worth 3000GP, I lost one of the games once by dying only twice!

In "normal" mode, you will fight in random locations and you will have a random computer mobile suit to fight along side with you. There are a total of 8 stages with the last one being the boss stage. The boss is huge, relative to your mobile suit and it took me 2 tries to beat it, I was one hit away from losing the game for the second time! I guess I just need to practice more with the controls, a training mode would be a perfect game mode for this game.

Quick play is no brainer, you pick your mobile suit and pick up to 3 other computer to fight with or against you. You can modify options like how long the match lasts for, how fast your special gauge fills up or different stages/music.

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to try out the multiplayer.

So as you can see, there isn't any level grinding here. Although you can still unlock more mobile suits, intro movies, endings and images for the multimedia galleries.

Graphics and audio

Graphics are again, PSP quality, the mobile suits are nicely detailed, environments are plain but the game is so fast paced you won't have time to appreciate or pay attention to, not that there is anything to appreciate here. Music is actually real sound tracks from the Gundam series, so based on which Gundam series' stage you are fighting in, you will be listening to that series' soundtrack. The soundtracks bring back a lot of memories by the way.

Final verdict

Overall I think this game is OK. I still prefer Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable because it has a story mode and level grinding although you can still unlock more mobile suits, maybe its just me. For those that are looking for fast paced arcade style game play, Gundam vs Gundam should suit your needs. Skills really matter in this game since there's no level grinding where you can easily overpower your enemies by powering up your mobile suits and weapons. If you have lots of Gundam loving friends with PSP, I suggest convincing them to get a copy so up to 4 of you and your friends can fight each other anytime without going to the arcade.

7.0/10

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Call of Duty - World at War Review

2008-11-28T12:01:00.001-08:00

By Aaron Bryenton

Probably no other game in the entire Call of Duty franchise has come up as much as a surprise as World at War has. There has been a reason. The game is developed by Treyarch, who also developed the abysmal Call of Duty 3, after which most fans of the franchise were totally put off the series. But then the original developers Infinity Ward stepped in and bailed the series out of imminent extinction with its splendid Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. However, when it was announced that Treyarch was developing World at War, the fifth installment in the series, there was a great deal of skepticism once again. However, to Treyarch's credit, World at War wins hands down in all respects! The game has already been highly acclaimed both by the players and the critics and it really deserves the praise.

First and foremost, it is the concept that is riveting. The game is based in the World War II premise. Activision has visited this premise before in Call of Duty, so this is a revisit. However, this time, the visit is awesomely shocking! If you play the game well, you will see that nothing else - game, book or film - has ever brought out the dastardliness of the War as well as Call of Duty: World at War has. You really get angry at the villainy of the Nazis when you see them perpetrating evil on innocent persons. And then, mowing them down with the glorious arsenal you have in hand becomes such as divine pleasure. The game has a knack of making you see red and then give you the gun. You know what you will do then!

Graphics are better than anything else seen in recent times. The engine used is of Modern Warfare, which was every bit as high-performing as it is now. You are taken to forests in Europe and in the South Pacific during the game. There is also a seemingly silly but a fantastically playable level with zombies (Nazi zombies!) which has been surprisingly well received by players. This is one of the tougher levels in the game but has taken the game several notches ahead.

No review of Call of Duty: World at War can be complete without a mention of its truly outstanding multiplayer feature which takes you to play the game again and again. You can pit yourself with anyone in the universe and have hours of grinding fun with them. There is also a co-player mode in which two persons can play on a simultaneous screen. Instead of being a bumpy ride, it is great fun.

There are almost no shortcomings in Call of Duty: World at War; it qualifies as a perfect game. But if you are one to pick at things, you will probably say that the AI of the enemies is not as good. However, it is their unexpected behavior that makes the game the great fun that it is.

This one will not have you reach the history textbooks to brush up on your World War II knowledge, but it will definitely give you great insight on the War. At the end of the day, you get the message that humans can be really evil when it comes to that, but then heroism and courage comes from humans too.

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Top Wii Games That You Should Own

2008-11-16T13:10:00.004-08:00

By Tony B. Smith

Having the top Wii games is a must for anyone who wants to play the best games. There are a ton of great Wii games that you should play. However, I will only list the top games that you should own. So, here is the Wii Games List.

Wii Games List

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This is one of the best games for the Wii. If you have played any of the other Smash Bros. games, you will really have fun with this one. Make sure you play with other people, though. If you don't have anyone to play with, don't worry. You can play other people online.

2. Super Mario Galaxy. This is probably the best Mario game ever. The graphics are cool. If you love playing Mario Bros., you will love this game. This game is recommended by just about everyone who has played it on the Wii.

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. In this version of Zelda, Link is all grown up. He isn't too cartoonish. Which makes it a lot better to me. If you have enjoyed playing other versions of Zelda, you will definitely like this one.

4. Mario Strikers Charged Football. This is a great game. It's another Mario game. So, if you like Mario or if you just want to play a great game, I recommend you play this one.

This is the Wii games list. This is only a few of the top games. There are a lot of games that fall under the top games. I only listed the ones that the majority of Wii players recommend everyone play. If you want to get the full list of Wii games that you should play, check out the link below.

To download these games and thousands of other top rated Wii games, click on the link below:

Download Wii Games Now

Fitness Dash Game Review

2008-11-16T13:10:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Dinertown, the imaginary world of the Dash games, may be teeming with delicious food and hungry citizens, but they have their sense of competition too. And in the Fitness Dash game, you get to exploit this competitive spirit of the Dinertown citizens by starting a fitness center of your own and whipping these tubby nerds back to shape.

The idea for Fitness Dash started after the competitors of Dinertown for the regional tug-of-war tournament lost their crown from the challenging Donutville. Realizing that all they did the whole year was to eat the sumptuous cooking of Flo from Diner Dash, the citizens are on a quest to get into tip-top shape. Good thing that Jo is around to witness the struggle, and therefore, aims to help in any way she can and starting off by beginning her own Dash fitness center.

Just like all Dash games, this game also falls into the time management genre, where you're supposed to serve customers and profit from making them exercise. The game employs a drag-and-drop mouse function as you designate your patrons to the machines that will satisfy their needs. Use the icons popping beside your customers' bodies to know what to serve them next. Do this for all of the levels until you train the Dinertown residents enough for them to readily face the Donutville champions.

Of course, there are also additional tasks you have to accomplish when your customers ask for them. These tasks include cleaning the equipment, handing them towels and water bottles, and even changing the channel of the center's TV according to their taste. To top it all off, various disasters strike too, like faulty plumbing on the showers and sneaky vendors trying to sell your customers some fat-producing ice cream. All in all making Fitness Dash quite a hectic game, but very balanced too with a steady difficulty curve over the course of the challenge.

Fitness Dash is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Fitness Dash and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Best Rated Wii Games - List of the Best Rated Wii Games You Should Play

2008-11-16T13:10:00.001-08:00

By Tony B. Smith

Playing the best rated games for the Wii is a must. Especially if you want to have a ton of fun with your game system. So, what I'm going to do is share with you a list of the best rated Wii games you should play. That way, you will know which of the top games you should get next.

Best Rated Wii Games

1. Super Mario Galaxy. This is probably the best Mario game out right now. This game is great. If you are a fan of the Mario Bros., you will love this game.

2. The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Another best rated Wii game. You will love playing this game, especially if you are a Zelda fan.

3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This game is awesome. I would suggest you play with multiple players, though. It's a lot more fun that way. If you don't have anyone to play with, you can play people online. Which is cool.

4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Cool game. If you have played any of the other Metroid games before, you will probably think this one is much better.

5. No More Heroes. This is a great game. It's a bit gory, though. If you like playing those types of games, this is definitely for you.

This is a list of the best rated Wii games. There are a lot more games that are top rated. I just wanted to keep this list short. If you haven't played these games yet, I highly recommend you get them. Thousands of Wii players say that these games are awesome.

To download these games and many other top rated games for your Wii, click on the link below:

Best Rated Wii Games

Imagine - My Secret World

2008-11-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

By David Tube

Imagine: My Secret World is not a typical game. It is more of an interactive diary than a game. You can use it to track your mood and keep notes on day-to-day activities. Doing certain activities will unlock new activities for you to do within the game.

My 10 year old daughter has dozens of diaries. Not that she ever uses any of them other than for scribbling in. Still people keep buying them for her, probably just because they're cheap, and would be good value for money if they were ever used.

The latest diary she has been given is Imagine: My Secret World for the DS. This was a freebie that came with her new DS (after losing the last DS for several months, only for it to turn up two days after we bought her a new one). Maybe the extra interactivity included with this diary will actually encourage her to use it we thought. Well occasionally she has written "hello" on some of its pages, but not much else.

The first thing you notice when starting Imagine: My Secret World is the everything is sideway so you need to turn the DS around. This gives the title more of a physical diary feel and it is a nice touch. It's also nice that you require a passcode to use the diary, so you really can keep secrets on it. You can even put an extra password over a single page or, unusually, even a single word. That lets you show your diary to your friends without them seeing the name of your crush.

Strangely the avatars in the game can be created as male or female, but if it is your personal avatar, it can only be female. I understand that it is aimed at girls but it is as if they want to discourage boys from using it all together.

As we know young people often love customising their stuff. From mobile phone ring tones, to myspace pages, to bedroom walls. This is why customising your diary is one of the main purposes of Imagine: My Secret World. So even if the diary isn't used for writing about your boyfriend troubles, it will probably look nice (nice in the eyes of the person that customised it anyway). It can be customised with colours, design and by placing stickers everywhere and also creating a look for your avatar.

When you use Imagine: My Secret World for the first time you need to fill out your biography. What are your likes dislikes favourite animal and that sort of thing. This information can be shared with friends using the Wi-Fi connection (or by speaking to them if you prefer).

Once you do this you unlock the first quiz. The quiz is actually a personality test which asks probing questions about the likes of borrowing your sister's clothes or if you like to wear make-up. At the end of the test you are given a description of your personality.

Once this is done you can unlock the first mini-game. In this game the player must copy and imagine from one screen to the other by placing stickers in the correct places. It is a poorly thought out and dull challenge but completing it unlocks the next quiz, and the cycle continues until all 4 games have been unlocked.

As an adult male, I see it hard to understand the appeal of Imagine: My Secret World. When I saw how my 10 year old girl enjoyed the title however... I am still of the same opinion, as she gave up on it even quicker than I did. And three weeks later she hasn't used it since.

If this review hasn't put you off Imagine: My Secret World then we advise you shop around to avoid wasting more money than necessary on Imagine: My Secret World.

Top 10 Wii Games - The Top Rated Wii Games You Should Have

2008-11-14T11:45:00.001-08:00

By Tony B. Smith

The anticipation for Wii games continues to grow stronger. And pretty much every time, the games exceeds every gamers' expectation. So, what I'm going to share with you are the top 10 Wii games. That way, you will know which games are the best to play.

Top 10 Wii Games

1. The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. If you like Zelda, you will really enjoy this one. Link is all grown up. He doesn't look cartoonish. You will really like this game.

2. Super Mario Galaxy. This game is awesome, to say the least. The graphics alone will amaze you. I highly recommend this game to anyone who has a Wii.

3. Super Paper Mario. Another top 10 Wii game that's fun. You'll love this one.

4. No More Heroes. This game is a bit gory. If that's what you want, this is definitely the game for you.

5. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Awesome game. If you've ever played Metroid before, this game is 10 times better.

6. Guitar Hero III. Another great edition to the Guitar Hero games. If you love the other Guitar Hero games, this one is better. You'll love it.

7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Great game. You will have a lot of fun with this one. Make sure you play it with someone else, though. I give it an 8 if you play it alone. However, if you have someone to play with you, it's a 10 all the way. If you don't have anyone to play, don't worry. You can play online.

8. Wii Fit. Fun game. You will get plenty of exercise with this game.

9. Rock Band. Another great top 10 Wii game. If you enjoy the karaoke type games, this one is for you.

10. Mario Strikers Charged Football. This game is fun. And probably one of the underrated games. I give it a 10.

These are the top 10 Wii games. These games are rated highly amongst Wii players. They are exciting. And if you really want to get the most of out your Wii and fun for hours, you should get these games now for your Wii.

To download these Wii games and many other top rated games for your Wii, click on the link below:

Top 10 Wii Games

Best Wii Games - List of the Best Wii Games

2008-11-14T11:44:00.002-08:00

By Tony B. Smith

Having the best Wii games is a must for anyone looking to experience the most excitement from their Wii. These games I'm going to list for you are fun. And not to mention, they are rated highly by most Wii owners. So, what I'm going to do is share with you the best Wii games.

That way, you will be able to get the most out of your Wii and enjoy playing only the best games.

Best Wii Games

1. Super Mario Galaxy. This is probably the most anticipated game for the Wii. It exceeded almost every gamers expectation. If you love Mario Bros., you will love this game.

2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Another one of the best wii games. If you've played a previous Smash Bros. game, you will love this one. It's so much better.

3. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This game is awesome. I highly recommend this to anyone who has ever played the previous Metroid games before.

4. The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Zelda lovers got to love this one. Link isn't as cartoonish in this game, which to many gamers who rate this high, is a plus.

5. Wii Fit. I recommend this to anyone. This game will get you active. You will definitely get a good exercise with this one.

6. Super Paper Mario. Great game. Another Mario game that exceeded everyone's expectation. Again, if you like any of the previous Mario Bros. games, you should get this one.

7. Guitar Hero III. Another great edition to the Guitar Hero games. This is a must-have for anyone who owns the previous Guitar Hero games.

8. Mario Strikers Charged Football. This is a really fun game. You will definitely enjoy it.

These are some of the best Wii games. If you really want to have fun, I highly recommend that you get these games. You will love everyone of them.

To download these Wii games and many other top rated games for your Wii, click on the link below:

Best Wii Games

Hawaiian Explorer 2 - Lost Island Game Review

2008-11-14T11:44:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

As the name suggests for this game, Hawaiian Explorer 2: Lost Island is about an explorer off to find adventure in Hawaii, and this adventure is all about finding an island lost in Hawaii's history. But the game is about fulfilling a lifelong dream too and trying to enrich the people of Hawaii with their forgotten beliefs.

Hawaiian Explorer 2: Lost Island starts with the story of Hawaii's creation as Charlie Johnson, a famous explorer, narrates it. According to him, Hawaii was made by 4 gods who developed the country with 20 islands, having 1 hidden for the Hawaiians to find. Finding this lost island is supposedly a way for the people of Hawaii to remember their beliefs, and Charlie being an old guy that he is, wants to conclude his lifelong adventure with a possible discovery of this outstanding legend.

The mechanics of the game is for you to find hidden objects across many of the game's many beautiful sceneries. It's actually a classic hidden object game where items are listed on the top of the screen and you just have to find all the items within the time limit to beat each level.

Now, I did say that the sceneries are beautiful, but this doesn't mean that the objects are illustrated beautifully too. While it's no wonder why all the scenes are cluttered with random items not having to do anything with regards to the game's plot, the large amount of items however are just too ridiculous to ignore. Many of the items are even indistinguishable, even after successfully finding them. An example would be a pyramid that looks like a brown folded paper which isn't even shaped like a real pyramid.

On the other hand, Hawaiian Explorer 2: Lost Island also features fun mini-games to play like a mahjong game and a jigsaw puzzle. Mini-games mostly have nothing to do with the game's plot development, but are very interesting anyway, so you really have to give credit to the developers for giving you a break from all that tiresome hidden object activity.

Hawaiian Explorer 2 - Lost Island is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Hawaiian Explorer 2 - Lost Island and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

7 Wonders - Treasures of Seven Game Review

2008-11-14T11:43:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Mumbo Jumbo's hit match 3 franchise 7 Wonders is back yet again for the next installment in the series. The 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven game puts you in charge of helping human workers build nine wonders of architecture scattered all around the world. But how does it fare as a puzzle game? Well, let's just see in this review.

In 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven, you are invited to take part in the creation of nine structural wonders that are considered the greatest sights in the world. Legend has it that these structures are built upon mystic sites by the ancient builders, and together, the sites point to the City of Gods and the magnificent Treasures of Seven. You have to play through all nine sites, and complete the parts of three magical compasses, in order for you to have a chance in reaching these glorious rewards.

Each wonder you visit in the game is represented by a game cube where you have to play seven levels. Completing each cube face will mean completing six levels all in all, and afterwards, you move inside the cube in order to complete a final level. Each finished cube will reward you a one-third part of a compass, and you have to complete all three compasses in order to finish the game. Multiplying all of that means hours and hours of match 3 playing, and since you also have two objectives for each level you face, this definitely means an experience worth your money too if you chose to buy the game.

Anyway, let's just talk about 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven in a single-level perspective.

As what was said earlier, each level of the game is comprised by two objectives. Your first task is to harvest blocks for the builders to carry on the site by clearing them off the game board. Matching three or more same colored runes will chip-off the blocks underneath them, and the builders waiting below will automatically gather all of the scattered blocks and bring it to the building site.

7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Wii Music - Guitar Hero For the Whole Family

2008-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

By Bradley E

The Wii game console has expanded console gaming to the entire family with accessible games, an intuitive motion sensitive controller and a lower price point. With the release of the Wii Music game, Nintendo opens up an entirely new genre, started by the Guitar Hero franchise, to a wider audience.

Wii Music Instruments

Utilizing the motion controller that Wii has become famous for, you can expand the number of possible instruments to well into the dozens - go well beyond Guitar Hero or even the complete band set with Rock Band to play nearly any instrument you can imagine: Wii Music allows you to play the Indian sitar, as well as a wide variety of Western instruments from genres ranging from classical to rock.

Wii Music Creation

Music fans will delight in their ability to interact and improvise with musical scales in an entirely new way; rather than following a dexterity test format of other guitar rock games, the game allows you to freely explore and to simulate the creative process of music creation.

Since the collaborative nature of music creation is at the core of the process for artists, Nintendo emulates the feel of a studio by allowing you to share, remix and collaborate with other players on new musical tracks through its online Wii Connect feature. In this way, you can explore new musical ideas as well as getting the same type of feedback that you would get from a true musical composition.

For fans of nearly every genre - ranging from improvisational jazz to modern techno pop - Wii Music raises the music simulation genre to a new level, and is highly recommended for introducing children to the creative process. When combined with genuine interaction with real instruments and lessons, Wii Music can help jog the creative vibe in children of all ages.

Read a more detailed Wii Music Review and explore Video Game Reviews at iRW.com

Tradewinds Classic Game Review

2008-11-10T13:00:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

The art of trading among sailing merchants was already a thing of the past, but you really can't discount the fact that they did have many adventures of their own in those days. Good news that the Tradewinds Classic game lets you relive the glory of the 19th century Far East as you step into the shoes of merchants in search of riches in this trading adventure game.

Tradewinds Classic is all about you trying to aim for the top of the trading world by sailing the open seas in search of fortune and fame. At the beginning of the game, you get to choose between 4 adventurers each needing your help to make it big trading goods. Buying low priced goods and selling them high is just the tip of the iceberg. In this game, you earn money from collecting pirate bounties too. It's just up to you on which path to take, just be sure that you'll survive the whole adventure because the seas won't be forgiving either way.

Depending on which character you take will start you off on their respective homelands. Each character has a difficulty in handling too, with the easier ones having more money and mercenaries fighting for them, or if you want a challenge, go choose someone who doesn't even a single penny in him to start his journey. One thing's for sure - that this game is a real test of wits and cleverness, because all characters are definitely able to make the journey, it just depends on you on how you play them.

One thing I loved about Tradewinds Classic is how much freedom the game gives you on your actions toward your goals. Lending money and saving them on banks, buying and selling goods, getting tips from the alehouse and port authorities, or buying and equipping ships, it's your call on what to do. The main aim though is to make money doing all these things, and that's the main challenge presented by the game.

Tradewinds Classic is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Tradewinds Classic and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

New Wii Fitness is Not Just For Kids - People of All Ages Can Enjoy It!

2008-11-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

By Ian Pennington

Nintendo Wii is fighting against American obesity. The great thing is the new Wii fitness is not just for kids! This new video game technology is for people of all ages. Nintendo Wii has developed a method of gaming and exercise built into one fun activity. You can play fun sports or do aerobic activities while playing your favorite video games.

Nintendo Wii has developed technology that allows the games you play work with your movements. This means that you are the controller for your favorite video game characters. This helps eliminate the laziness of conventional video games. No more just sitting around with a controller and playing hours of your games. These games require you to get up and move! This helps fight the obesity issue in America by making you move while you play your games. The new Wii fitness is not just for kids because everyone can get involved with these great games. They have games that are dedicated to fitness and makes working out fun! It is getting America interested in staying healthy and adding an entertaining aspect to it as well.

Nintendo Wii also has sports games such as tennis, which really make you move and helps burn the calories that normally would not go anywhere by just sitting around. A game called Dance, Dance Revolution also creates a good cardio exercise by having you do the dance steps to your favorite songs. All of these games come with their own custom control or footpads for them. The new Wii fitness is not just for kids because they have exercises for adults that can be helpful in staying healthy. Exercises such as pilates and yoga that help stretch and exercise the muscles in ways ordinary video games could never do. This would also save tons of money since you would not have to go to yoga clubs or pay pilates instructors. You pay one price and get a permanent aerobics instructor inside your television.

You cannot deny that Nintendo Wii has developed a gaming technology that has taken America by storm. These types of games are going to be the future. Games that really make you interact and exercise at the same time. It is a beautiful thing to burn calories while doing something you enjoy at the same time. A huge problem with exercising is trying to find fun ways to do it and Nintendo Wii has cornered the market with this new technology. They even expanded their target market by not making the new Wii fitness just for kids. When parents and children can get along playing these healthy games it makes for a great atmosphere. With this technology growing you will begin to see children fighting to get their parents away from the video games.

Ian Pennington is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about new Wii fitness, please visit Sports Fitness Store for more discussions.

Mario Kart Wii

2008-11-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

By Robert A Lawrence

Mario Kart Wii is the latest addition of the Mario Kart series. Designed with the Wii in mind you could say it was designed for the Wii, So what do you get with Mario Kart Wii, well you get a Wii Wheel thrown in the package, giving you a more realistic driving experience. It is, however, compatible with other controllers as well. Mario Kart Wii still has its classic Mario Kart characters as well as additional characters.

Mario Kart Wii requires you to have 23 blocks on the player's Wii system so you can save game data. The game data can't be copied so don't bother waste your time trying. This feature prevents players from transfering game data from one wii to another. The Mario Kart Channel uses 78 blocks, but unlike the game data, players can actually copy the channel onto their SD cards.

The great thing about Mario Kart Wii is that up to 12 players can race against each other to the finish in multi-lap race around a given circuit, you can employ all sorts of tricks, shortcuts, horseplay to earn yourself first place. You can also select twelve types of vehicles, six karts, and six bikes, to compete in each of the three classes available. Your selected Vehicles will vary depending on your characters weight, as will your colour scheme, depending on which character is shown.

Tournaments

If you fancy your chances against other opponents online there is a list of tournaments available, there is a new mode in Mario Kart Wii called "Tournament Mode", the PAL version of this is called the "Competition Mode".

You can play the Tournaments on the Mario Kart Channel, but make sure the Mario Kart Wii disc is in the Wii. You will of course need an internet connection, and Wii Connect 24 to be turned on before they can be played. After a while, a tournament is archived to make room for a new one. However, you can still view the rankings of older tournaments on the ranking table.

Types of Tournaments available

VS. Race - A standard VS. race; however you will find the race courses are somewhat altered.

Time Trial - A standard Time Trial; race courses are somewhat altered.

Numbered Gates - You must drive through the gates in order, as fast as you possible can.

Coin Collecting - Here you must collect the coins on the stage as fast as you can.

Boss Battle - You must fight against a boss from Super Mario Galaxy or New Super Mario Bro.- These Tournaments are played on special stages.

There is a new feature called "Tricks" or "Stunts" and it is now a part of gameplay. When a player performs a trick, the player is able to gain a momentary boost of speed, which allows characters to do a few different things, such as grabbing an Item Box out of midair. One example of trick is pulling off acrobatics in air, which can be performed by shaking the Wii Wheel upward, but try not to shake your arms off, while doing this, ha ha ha!

Guess what, Mario Kart Wii also features a text chat in online multi-player Mode. You can send pre-written phrases to other players before the series of races starts. Unfortunately you cannot type your own message, because this facility is not available, however you can text when racing or battling against your friends or other competitors.

Robert Lawrence has written articles and game reviews on Nintendo wii games, you can get even more information on Mario Kart Wii as well as reviews of the games available for the Nintendo Wii.

Safari Island Deluxe Game Review

2008-11-07T13:04:00.005-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Mahjong will always be same old mahjong they say, and nothing can change that, but in Safari Island Deluxe, we get to see a new face in the same addictive mahjong gameplay. And yes, based from the name itself, this game features tons of wild animals and other safari-based stuff. But there's more to tackle in this game besides the theme, and that's what I aim to show you in this review.

Like what I had said earlier, Safari Island Deluxe actually plays like mahjong, but there's an outstanding twist to the gameplay. Instead of matching two tiles of the same design, you have to match tiles that combine to form a picture. For example, two tiles will separately illustrate the head and tail of a snake. You have to combine both tiles to eliminate them from the game. Eliminate all tiles and you get to move on to the next level.

Your aim is to reach the end of the island while unlocking animal clouds along the way. Each level you finish will be ranked according to how well you did on that particular game. Removing all tiles will only rank you a bronze check mark, removing all tiles within the time limit is worth a silver check mark, and beating the target score set in each level will earn a whopping gold check mark. Now, while all of that sounds good, one complaint I have on this ranking system is how impossible it is to earn a gold mark on many of the levels. The target score is just too big and you have to be god-like fast in order to attain it.

The unique gameplay of Safari Island Deluxe opens up a great deal of innovation in terms of challenge. Many of the items and animals illustrated on later levels are just too big to contain in only two tiles. This means that you'll have to contend with combining up to 5 tiles for just one picture, and if you're a seasoned mahjong player, you know that unlocking tile parts can really be such a pain.

Safari Island Deluxe is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Safari Island Deluxe and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Redrum Game Review

2008-11-07T13:04:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Just when you thought that most of the mystery casual games you've been playing are scary, along comes Redrum from Anarchy Enterprises. This game is as weird as a casual game can be and that's why I sincerely suggest only mature audiences dare try out this surreal thriller.

Redrum, in a basic sense, is murder spelled backwards. This game is about a girl named Rose whose ability enables her to see, talk and interact with ghosts. Not only burdened by her parents' divorce, she was also sent to a psychological institute led by the money-hungry Dr. Sigmund Fraud by her father, blinded by the doctor's falsely administered diseases to Rose. Now, it seems that her only hope lies upon her detective uncle, whose mission is to get Rose out of the madhouse, and upon her friends, the ghosts that Rose interacts with mostly in her dreams.

This game is a hidden object installment where you're tasked to find clues listed on the bottom of the screen. Before any puzzles are to be solved though, a mystery will take place as narrated by the local newspaper. Playing as the detective, it now becomes your job to solve these murders by trying to crack the clues supplied by Rose, and while playing as Rose, your task is to interact with your ghostly friends and solve puzzles in your dreams, later to be written in Rose's diary.

With that said, the gameplay of Redrum is just like any other hidden object game. Lists are sometimes in a form of silhouettes or part of an image you have to find from the collective whole. The uniqueness of the game though comes from the disturbing images it presents. The scenes are most of the time gruesome and just plain weird, and really, all that green in the background successfully made by stomach very queasy.

Redrum is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Redrum and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Pet Show Craze Review

2008-11-07T13:04:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

After many a time management game already focused on selling pets for profit, Pet Show Craze proves that there is much to earn from just simple pet care too. Yes, this is a much higher form of pet love, but the market is still that big considering that this is also one frantic time management game.

In Pet Show Craze, you play as Maria after you learned from your Aunt Agatha that Petsville is about to be demolished to make way for a factory selling plastic toys. Armed only with their unparalleled love for animals, Petsville citizens are already on the verge of selling out realizing that they needed the money. But Maria is set to prove them wrong. Starting her own pet care shop, she aims to earn enough money to save Petsville and make all of Petsville's pets become show material in the process.

Being in the time management genre, the game's objective is much the same as most games as you try to satisfy customers and give their pets service for profit. The aim is to reach the target profit per level, and if you want to earn bonuses, do it within the challenge time limit. As the game progresses, a higher target profit will be set, but you'll have a chance to upgrade your services as well, owing from the money you earned coming from the last level.

Serving customers involve you seating them, taking their ordered service, servicing their pets and giving them additional items they may ask for. While you may earn combos from chaining service requests, there are also heart bonuses to be made after seating compatible customers with each other. In fact, they don't even want to be seated with their own kind. And all those clicking action comes very smooth while you constantly queue tasks for Maria and her assistants to do, making the game very comfortable when it comes to gameplay.

Pet Show Craze is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Pet Show Craze and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Pet Pals - New Leash on Life Review

2008-11-07T13:03:00.004-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

My sister would always ask me to play doctor with her when we were kids, and while mostly I found treating her dolls to be boring, I still loved the whole concept very much. Surprisingly, the whole concept in playing vet is much the same too, and the game Pet Pals: New Leash on Life lets you play vet as much as you want, and without those boring dolls too, I might add.

In Pet Pals: New Leash on Life, you take the role of a rookie vet stationed for your first assignment on a local animal shelter. Here, you're about to learn many things about caring for pets and keeping them healthy, alive and kicking. And with a little bit of help coming from the senior vet and from the team of veterinary technicians and an enrichment specialist, you're off to do wonders for these sickly animals, hoping to get them back on track and ready for adoption.

For each game week you'll play, you're given a list of all the tasks you need to fulfill. First tasks involve checking up on your animal patients and treating those with sickness and injuries, but afterwards, you have to do your part in enrichment activities too, wherein you play, train and groom the animals to get them ready for adoption.

The actual treatment interface enables you to harness a variety of tools and equipment necessary for any veterinary practice. From a simple palpitation glove to x-rays and an EKG monitor, you have to utilize them all depending when the need arises, to correctly diagnose and treat the patients. Furthermore, you're guided in every step of the way too, with the operation stopping once in a while to ask you for important decisions you have to make as the vet.

Clearly, Pet Pals: New Leash on Life is really one educational game. Even though the gameplay is very linear in nature, with you asking questions first then guided throughout the whole treatment, it's nice for the game to provide such great information on all the animals with additional knowledge provided about their ailment and its particular cure. Honestly, this game is just like Zoo Vet, and both coming from Legacy Interactive, that's really no surprise.

Pet Pals: New Leash on Life is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Pet Pals: New Leash on Life and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Pakoombo Review

2008-11-07T13:03:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

When I was a kid, I discovered that treasure hunting with your siblings isn't really a rewarding experience, after ending all your efforts with just more dirt in your hands. However, in the Pakoombo game, you're off to find real treasure in a small tropical island. How do I know it's real? Well, an authentic age old treasure map is involved, and we all know age old maps mean real treasure, right?

Anyway, Pakoombo is about the story of the brothers and sister tandem of Cathy, Stewart and Leo as they try to find lost treasure within their little tropical island. After their father, Opkins was informed that the resort he was working on will be closed for good; the family is at a lost on how to keep living their fun and simple lives. Luck struck good though after Leo found a part of a treasure map by accident, which may mean unimaginable riches if this map actually leads them to buried treasure.

The game plays just like your average match 3 puzzle where you have to swap tiles and match them with the same designed tiles to clear them off the board. During story mode, you are sometimes tasked to gather objects and clear a set amount of them before the game lets you continue on the rest of the story. However, the real gameplay comes when you're off challenging enemies and the island natives on a game of Pakoombo, which is basically a match 3 battle mode.

The Pakoombo game plays very much like Puzzle Quest where you take turns in draining the life out of your opponent before he gets a chance to drain yours. Your objective is to match skulls to reduce a point from your opponent's life and if you think it's more advantageous, use power-ups called gifts against your opponent too. Remember though that gifts are mostly limited, and your enemy is most likely to have gifts equipped too, so be ready for tougher enemies as you go along the game.

Pakoombo is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Pakoombo and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Operation Mania Game Review

2008-11-07T13:03:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Filling in a doctor's shoes is real hard, especially when you are the only doctor running the whole hospital. That's not possible, you say? Well, in Operation Mania, everything seems to be possible as you try to help Dr. Humerus run the whole hospital in this wacky time management game.

Operation Mania is all about the story of Dr. Humerus as he tries to attain both wealth and fortune by being the best doctor in the whole world. Well, you might say that's certainly not a doctor-like trait, but the guy only has his skills, tools and word puns to go around with, so a little fame can be an impressive addition to his resume as well. Besides, if you're the only doctor in the world, you really won't settle for anything less, right?

Anyway, your primary objective in this game is to earn enough money for each level in order the reach your target profit per day. Reaching intern status will let you move on to the next level, but in case you want more money and prestige to come with all your efforts, try aiming a little higher for doctor or specialist status. All you got to do is to match patient colors and make service combos to reach ever higher on your career. But of course, that's easily said than done.

Funny thing about Operation Mania is the fact that Dr. Humerus is the only one available to do all hospital duties. From admission, to consultation, to even the actual operation, you'll have to manage your time effectively to see to all of your patient's illnesses. And during times of emergency or epidemic, brace yourself for more and more patients trying to get treated first in line.

Funnier still are the actual maladies that you'll confront during the course of patient operations. From actual butterflies in the stomach to a wrenched back, all the diseases are presented with their literal meanings, making the game much wackier still. Of course, you can optionally do manual operation yourself by playing mini-games, but keep in mind that mini-games get faster every time you play them, so it's just easier just to play them during emergency situations.

Operation Mania is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Operation Mania and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Miss Teri Tale - Vote 4 Me Review

2008-11-07T13:02:00.004-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Miss Teri Tale, the New York novelist is back, and now, she's finally settled in her own little home at Peeking Town after solving the mystery of the missing dog named Jason. This time in Miss Teri Tale: Vote 4 Me, it's nearing election day, and what a great opportunity it is to come snooping around the town, learning for whom the neighborhood's alliances lie.

In Miss Teri Tale: Vote 4 Me, you again put the shoes of the sleuthing writer as you try to gather clues and hints on who will the town vote as their new mayor. After the former mayor left town, his seat immediately needed a successor, and from the local neighborhood stood up Tyron Douglass and Norman Montgomery, each wanting to claim the town's mayoral throne. But these candidates seem to have their own dirty little secrets too. And what if our own Miss Teri Tale joins the race? Will it spell another disaster waiting to happen?

Anyway, all will be answered once you play the game yourself. And speaking of playing, this hidden object installment employs a classic seek-and-find nature where you have to find all items listed on your notebook before time runs out in each level. Sometimes, items are also highlighted in green, meaning that instead of gathering them, you have to put these items in their proper places for completion.

While you may get tired eventually of all that stuff-finding, the real shine of Miss Teri Tale: Vote 4 Me is actually found on its unique mini-games. Examples of these games include a time management-like game where you get to wash dogs, a find-the-same game which is basically a twist to the old find-the-difference, and even a tower defense game where you're off to fight evil computer viruses. All in all, the mini-games are very addictive and fun, and are even enough to make you altogether buy this game.

Miss Teri Tale: Vote 4 Me is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Miss Teri Tale: Vote 4 Me and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Interpol 2 - Most Wanted Review

2008-11-07T13:02:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

After apprehending Dr. Chaos and letting him escape on the original game, the Interpol have their hands full of more missions to solve in Interpol 2: Most Wanted. In this hidden object game, you again have to exercise your item-finding skills in order to track down new bad guys coming from Interpol's Most Wanted list, and hopefully, keep them behind bars this time around.

Interpol 2: Most Wanted needs your help once again as you fulfill the role of an Interpol detective. The Troika, a mad group of criminals grazing the Most Wanted list is on a rampage throughout the whole world, and it is tasked upon you to find and put them behind bars. And since the game now pits you against three criminals - The Collector, Mr. Nobody and Siren, it's certainly going to be a tough ride traveling various locations while trying to outsmart your wily targets.

Coming from the original Interpol game, this sequel actually plays just like your average hidden object game. Items are listed for you to find, and in order to move on to the next installment of the game's story, you have to meet your quota of items before the time limit expires. You're also given a limited number of hints to use on your efforts, letting you manually select a hidden item not found yet on your list.

Hidden object mini-games are also available for you to play. Made famous by the original Interpol, listed items of the same type and spot the difference make up these in-game breaks. This is also just the same as the original, so I guess in conclusion, there's nothing really new about this installment aside from its new and improved storyline.

In terms of presentation, Interpol 2: Most Wanted still has that futuristic interface showing various scenes from around the world, and coupled with the engaging sound effects and music, you'll appreciate the classic hidden object fun presented by the game.

Interpol 2: Most Wanted is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Interpol 2: Most Wanted and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

FishCo Game Review

2008-11-07T13:02:00.001-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

I've been reading some facts about home aquariums lately and I actually found out that there's much more to know about fishes than just putting some living thing inside a tank. Thankfully, the FishCo game is like a teaching tool about keeping aquariums and taking care of one. And the best thing about it all is that it's a casual game.

FishCo is actually a name of a company, a business you and your partner Tracy built from your deep love for fishes. Your aim in this newly established venture is to of course, earn money from selling livestock and aquarium supplies. Dividing up the work, Tracy takes care of coordinating with the suppliers, and you will do all the raising, breeding and selling of fish, which actually brings us to the objectives of the game.

The game falls under the time management genre where you're tasked to profit from selling fish. Before each level starts, you're given specific tasks to fulfill before the time limit expires. Basic tasks include raising and feeding fishes until they are mature enough to sell. All the challenges are easy enough to complete within the time limit, but if you would like some decorations and fishes adorning your own trophy tanks, you would have to beat the expert time limit for each level.

One great thing about FishCo is how it closely simulates taking care of real life fish. Making sure your livestock is fed and raised properly only scratches the surface. Most of the time you will also have to clean the algae from the tanks and regularly change its water, put antibiotics and other medicine into the tanks whenever your fishes are infected, and even dispose of the fishes too if for some reason they die because of neglect. All in all showing you how aquarium-keeping is really one big responsibility, but something that offers so much fun too if done correctly.

FishCo is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about FishCo and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Farm Mania Game Review

2008-11-07T13:01:00.004-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Sacrificing the summer vacation for a time in the farm is not exactly the kind of time out you'll be looking for if you're any normal teenager. But Anna in Farm Mania is not your average teen. Well, she's normal alright, but she loves farming, and this is your chance to take time out with her in this time management game from Realore Studios.

The story of Farm Mania starts after gramps from the farm asks Anna to spend her summer vacation with him. You see, he's already too old to tend to the crops and animals, making the whole farm too run-down and neglected. Good thing that Anna is much in love with agriculture, and thus, begins her goal of making the farm as thriving as possible before summer's end.

Just like the other farm-based time management games, your task in Farm Mania is to plant crops, tend to your livestock and sell all the produce off for profit. Your objectives for each day are summarized during the start of each level and are outlined for you on the bottom of the screen during the actual game. Keep in mind that you have to complete all the objectives before the timer runs out, because if you manage to beat the level within 75% of the time, you'll earn bonus money for all your efforts.

At first, you'll only have to deliver a certain number of crop types to the market through Johnny, the farm's delivery boy. But as the game progresses, the gameplay picks up as you go about raising chickens and goats to name a few, and even making flour and baking pastries too! Good thing that grandma takes care of all the baking and grandpa gathers the water and feed, so you just keep your mind focused in gathering produce and rearing animals and crops, making the gameplay pretty convenient even with its frantic nature.

Farm Mania is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Farm Mania and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Casebook Review

2008-11-07T13:01:00.003-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

Watching CSI, it's always a wonder how the investigators can easily search for clues and evidences on every impossible corner without even breaking a sweat. Playing Casebook, I now realized that I should have known better, because this game will really put you on a CSI's sweaty shoes, nothing like the ones who have it easy through the TV series.

The story of Casebook started after the Birchermann children were kidnapped for ransom. The game introduction's FMV shows their nanny trying to wake them up for morning breakfast before she realized that Harry and Greta were gone, and their room left in shambles. This is your first assignment as a forensic investigator, and with a kidnapping case, it seems that your department is really in need of more manpower.

Armed with your trusty digital camera and knack of finding evidence, your task in this game is find traces and clues leading to solve the kidnapping incident and possibly putting the culprit behind bars. The whole game will have you taking pictures of likely evidences and have them processed in the labs through a computer. The labs will be happy to process evidences for you and will keep you updated on their findings. Once processed, all you've got to do is to link the evidences together using your handy dandy case folder.

Playing CSI in Casebook also means processing clues yourself. Most of the time, you're off dusting for fingerprints and trying to find who owns them, or trying to split genes coming from the DNA samples you gathered from possible suspects. Actually, these are the mini-games presented by this adventure, and just like actual forensic work, it can get pretty hard processing evidences too, especially when you can't even visualize the print that you're looking for.

One thing's for sure, the game does have very good FMV sequences. All of the cut scenes are filmed using real-life actors and actresses playing their parts on actual crime scene locations. In fact, your evidence-gathering is also done on 360-degree views of real-life scenes. Now, that's pretty unique in itself, eh?

Casebook is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Casebook and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Far Cry 2 Review

2008-11-07T13:01:00.001-08:00

By Luke Larry

Far Cry 2 is a sequel to Far Cry. Although it is a sequel it is nothing like the original Far Cry. Instead of an island you are in the african savanna, tracking down a weapons dealer that is supplying the Alliance for Popular Resistance and the United Front for Liberation and Labour with weapons galore. Your job is to track down this dealer and kill him.

In Far Cry 2 you can choose between 12 characters, choosing what character you are will not have any impact on the storyline. When you arrive in Africa you will discover that your character has malaria and you must get medicine every so often to cope with the symptoms. In Far Cry 2 there are many weapons and vehicles to choose from, including boats, hand gliders, jeeps, flamethrowers, and much more! The cool thing about Far Cry 2 is you can play the game how you want. If you don't feel like doing a mission you can skip it and come back to it later. How you play it will also affect the outcome of the game, so choose your path wisely

Some things you should probably know about Far Cry 2 before you get it is that the game map is huge! I'm not kidding, it will probably take you up to an hour and a half to drive from the bottom of the map to the top and that is in a jeep. Another thing you will want to know how to do is use a map. When I play the game I probably have the map out for around 70% of the time I am playing. If you can't read a map you are in big trouble because as I said before the map is huge! You should also be ready to fight at any moment. One moment you will be driving down the road in your jeep, and the next thing you know you will be under fire from an enemy encampment just up the road

Now I will tell you the pros and cons of Far Cry 2. Now this is my opinion and it may differ from yours so please hang with me.

Pros

1. You can make a huge fire out on the open savanna.

2. Tons of different weapons and gear to allow you to play the game how you want

3. Loads of different vehicles to get you around the incredibly large map

4. Great graphics and audio to make your experience even more enjoyable

Cons

1.You are constantly getting attacked by the enemy

2. The map is sometimes too large and is very annoying when you must drive a car for 10 minutes just to get to your objective

3. Getting medicine to treat malaria is very time consuming.

All in all I would say that this is a great game for all of those who like a good fps/adventure game. It has a deep story with lots of twists, amazing detail and graphics, and lets face it, who doesn't like playing with fire! However if you hate driving cars to and fro across the map this game is not for you as most of your time in this game will be in a car. Thank you for reading about Far Cry 2!

Please visit my website to learn more about Far Cry 2 Review.

Tom Clancy's EndWar - PlayStation 3 Demo Review

2008-11-07T13:00:00.005-08:00

By Gabriel Chau

After playing and review the demo for Mirror's Edge. I immediately installed Tom Clancy's End War soon after. And what do you know? This game is pretty good as well! This is my first strategy game that I've ever played on a console. And you can't really go wrong with any Tom Clancy's games, this game feels like Ghost Recon + Command and Conquer.

The demo has one single player mission which takes roughly 10-15 minutes to complete. You are given a few groups of units initially, you can then call for more support using the CP (command points), the single player only allows you to control 3 different groups, and that's pretty much all you need for the short mission as this is more of a training / tutorial type of mission. In this mission you can select all your forces and attack. But you really have to learn that tanks beat transport vehicles beat helicopters, and helicopters in turn beat tanks (think of them linking together in a circle).

The skirmish is where the demo lasts longer which uses the same map as the single player mission and you have the option to play as single player or with someone online. I chose to play by myself simply because I haven't mastered the controls yet. The skirmish is pretty much securing buildings and that in turn will allow you to upgrade different technologies like air strikes, force recon etc as well as calling for more forces. You can choose from infantries, rocket infantries, command vehicle, artilleries, tanks, transport vehicles and helicopters. You will want to have a few groups of either infantries or rocket infantries to secure buildings faster. Unfortunately I did not play this using voice command so I had some difficulties controlling every single group of forces because you have to basically micro manage your forces but fortunately I got a hang of it after a while. And I really like the fact that after finishing each mission, you will need to press continue before leaving the stage, this is the perfect time to fly around and appreciate the beautiful graphics.

I couldn't find any flaw while playing the demo except the fact that you can only zoom in and out so much sometimes its hard to see the surrounding, and the only way to see further is to select a different group.

The graphics are stunning as well and capable of running in full HD 1080p. The buildings, infantries and vehicles are very detailed. And the intro movies are even more impressive. The level of detail on the space station is just jaw dropping and I am not exaggerating.

Again if you haven't downloaded this demo, go give it a shot and see if you like it or not. And finally I would like to apologize for the shaky screenshots.

Visit my blog for more in game images

Feel free to check out my site!

Project Mobius

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Mirror's Edge - PlayStation 3 Demo Review

2008-11-07T13:00:00.003-08:00

By Gabriel Chau

First I got the news from EBGames that the Mirror's Edge demo will be available on November 6th, I guess its been pushed forward by 1 week and is released today. Its always a good thing! Unlike Little Big Planet, I am still waiting for it to be shipped from Futureshop, it said "Shipped" but I have yet to see it in my mailbox.

Anyway onto the demo.

Oh-My-God, that was literally what I said to myself when I was playing this game, I have never had so much thrill for a long time! Even though the demo lasted 20-25 minutes max (unless you keep dying). The game is similar to The Bourne Conspiracy where you have to act quickly otherwise you will be captured/killed. Compare to Bourne, I think Mirror's Edge is the better one.

Faith, your character tells you the story in comic style during loading which is plus, its always better to be looking at something moving rather than the old boring "loading" text. The first part of the demo starts you off with a few tutorials of how to move around, jump, slide underneath objects, climb up. Aside from the basics, you will learn to disarm from behind or from the front, shoot or throw away the weapon. That's not all! You will also learn to do crazy acrobatics like running horizontally on a wall then spin around and jump onto the opposite side (sorry I tried my best to describe). Its basically pressing 3 buttons but you need to really time your presses. So you can chain your moves and perform something crazy. One thing I absolutely love about the controls is that most of the actions are performed using just the L1.

The second part is the real deal where you have to jump/move/climb around to deliver a package to the other runner Celeste. In between you have to run away from hostiles and/or fight your way through. Let me tell you, the second part was a THRILL to play!

Graphics are AMAZING and able to run in full HD 1080p. I particularly like the way the lighting is done. The whole city looks very realistic. I couldn't stop taking pictures while playing the game and graphics are that good. Definitely eye candy.

Can't really comment much on the music there's only one track and a good one of course. Kind of feel like the Metal Gear Solid opening music.

If you haven't downloaded the demo, please do so! You don't know what you are missing!

I really appreciate game companies releasing game demos because they allow us gamers to try out the games before purchasing them, instead of doing all the guessing and then taking the risk of buying something we don't enjoy playing. Reading reviews and watching trailers from Gamespot and Gametrailers help a bit but you can never be sure until you have played the games YOURSELF.

The game will be released on November 11th. For in game images, please visit my blog

Stay tuned for yet another hyped up game demo review - Tom Clancy's End War.

Check out my tech/game review blog

The Web Tech Reviews

Gaming Software Reviews

2008-11-07T13:00:00.001-08:00

By Caroline Becht

Have a look at the gaming software reviews on the Internet before you buy a computer game. There are many computer games out there. Get an expert opinion on the computer games before you buy, so you can make an informed choice.

I can recommend the World of Warcraft game as it has been described widely as a friendly game. Everything from the colourful art style to the endearing player animations, to the many different personalities.

The World of Warcraft is an inviting experience. Blizzard's passion for gaming joy is infectious, and its sense of humor disarming. This real time strategy game is one that you should play, no matter who you are.

Create your alter ego by choosing from a variety of colorful races and powerful classes, and begin exploring, questing, and battling in Azeroth, the setting featured in Blizzard's Warcraft real-time strategy games.

Though multi player online role-playing games have been around for years, it has taken this long for the genre's breakthrough hit to finally emerge. This is because World of Warcraft brings out all the best aspects of this style of gaming, if not many of the best aspects of gaming in general.

It also features many of the specific characteristics that have made Blizzard Entertainment's previous games so entertaining, memorable, long-lasting, and successful.

Of course, the company's past track record did not guarantee that World of Warcraft could have turned out this well. Such high quality simply cannot be expected, nor should it be missed.

You will find computer game rankings, recent releases, headlines, recommendations and video game reviews of the most popular and recent top video games on a large selection of different platforms, on the Internet.

For games on demand, news, previews and gaming reviews on a wide range of computer platforms, such as xBox, PC, Wii, PlayStation, PSP, PS2 and GameCube. Before you buy, look at Yahoo's gaming software reviews.

My personal favourite is the World of Warcraft games, but, there are many games to choose from. The Internet has changed the way the world works, learns and plays. Why not take advantage of the reviews at your disposal on the web?

Gaming software reviews

Computer software reviews

What Makes Wonderland Online Click to Everyone of Any Age

2008-11-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

By Bernadette Guadiz

When you hear the word Wonderland, the first thing that enters your mind is the story about a little girl named Alice stuck in a fantasy world. One might ask himself if there really is a Wonderland, a place where you can simply escape to and forget the real world's troubles. Actually there is.

As a part of the real world, I do know the hardships everyone is facing. But thanks to a game I recently discovered, I can actually forget my woes and enjoy life as it should. The game is called Wonderland Online and it really lives up to its name.

I have played computer games in the past which are totally enjoyable but Wonderland Online is literally incomparable to the other games I encountered. It brings together people of different ages, with different tastes, unique sense of style, different strategies, and a whole lot more.

So what makes it really click? Well, there are hundreds of reasons why a lot of people prefer playing Wonderland Online as compared to other online games. But let us narrow it down to the top best reasons I came up with.

Totally Free

Wonderland Online is an online game that is totally free to play forever. This is unlike other online games that require you to pay in order to play. This is one of the main reasons why Wonderland draws in a lot of players all over the world. People from different cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, and other aspects are learning from one another because they can socialize in the game. This has formed strong friendship bonds as well as some love connections between players.

MMORPG (3D versus 2D)

In the past, computer games are mostly made for single players but ever since the advent of internet, online multiplayer games became a reality. This enables you to play games with other players around the world. Most of the time, you can find MMORPGs in the modernized 3D graphics. There is nothing wrong with 3D games however not everyone is fond of playing these games. Some people complain about having headaches or nausea after playing them, only a few fraction of the game-playing community enjoy this 3D kind of games.

Wonderland Online caters to millions of players around the world because it is presented in highly enhanced 2D graphics. Both the young and the older generations are able to play it easily without giving them any illnesses afterwards. Unlike the typical 2D graphics, Wonderland Online developers use a unique computer language that brings about the rich vibrant colors, anime-like cartoons, and oh so lovable in-game characters.

All-In-One Game

Whenever developers make a game, they follow a certain agenda which is whether they are going to make it as a simulator game, an adventure game, or a role-playing game because they wanted the game appeal to specific kinds of players. Simulator games usually make you feel like you are in a real setting of a specific location. Adventure games are made for players who love to do some quests and explore different places. Role-playing games appeals to people who would like to pretend as if they are the in-game character.

Wonderland Online developers didn't follow this code of conduct. They made Wonderland Online an all-in-one game because the three aspects of game play are bundled up in it. As a simulator game, Wonderland Online brings you in a somewhat real world where you have to deal with different hardships one has to go through. It possesses drama, comedy, as well as tragedy just like us in real life. As an adventure game, you will be able to explore different countries, riding in different vehicles, doing some quests assigned to you, as well as discover the hidden secrets of ancient civilizations. As a role-playing game, you get to play the role of your chosen character that needed to get back to his or her homeland while saving the entire world from the impeding dangers set by the unleashed demons.

Unique Job Classes

Wonderland Online features four basic elements which include earth, wind, fire, and water as your character's attribute. Each element type is unique in its own way. Fire-built characters are great for melee and magic attacks, Wind-built characters have out-of-this-world speed, Earth-built characters are great supporters, while Water-built characters are equipped with magical qualities for support, reviving, and healing attributes.

You can also customize your character to either be a warrior or a mage. These are initially the job classes your character can obtain through your allocation of ability points every time you level up. When your character reaches level 100, you can be reborn to another six different job classes. Warriors can be reborn as Killers, while Mages can choose to be reborn as Seers, Priests,

There are some minor job classes every player can also choose to be, regardless of you being a warrior or a mage. You can be a crafter of weapons and armors, a fisherman, merchant, collector, and a miner. Everyone can have these skills by doing quests for different NPCs. These skills are upgraded depending on how much you use them.

Home Sweet Home

In Wonderland Online, you get to have your very own house which you can personally design with various furnitures and appliances. You can actually build these things with the use of the different manufacturing tools. All you have to do is collect the raw materials needed for each household interior decoration you are making. You can make beds, a garden patch, fence, TVs, game machines, desks, bookcases, bathroom furnishings, garage doors, gym equipments, and a whole lot more.

Travel Around The World

One of the greatest things I love about this game is the traveling function. You can actually make various kinds of vehicles such as a boat, jalor, steam ship, robot, UFO, spacecraft, hot air balloon, air plane, and so much more. These vehicles carry you to other countries known to our real world like Japan, China, Taiwan, some parts of South America, Egypt, India, and other places yet to be released in future versions of the game.

There are some modern vehicles as well such as the turtle car, a motorcycle, and a convertible known as cabriolet.

Human Companions And Other Pets

In some quests, you will be able to obtain different kinds of human companions that will help you fight monsters and get other quests done. They are also very important in some parts of the story as it unfolds before your eyes.

Various pets can also be obtained by playing the baby doll game in the Item Mall or by capturing one during battle. Some of the popular pets include Pandas, Polar Bears, Snowman, Horses, Fairies, and other cute monsters you encounter. You can even have your very express pet that can actually deliver up to 5 items to your other player friends in the game. This express pet function is great for players who are far apart from one another, say for example one is in Egypt and the other one is in China.

One of the greatest things about having a pet is the riding system. You can actually ride one of pets such as riding a horse, a dragon, and any other pets you choose to have.

Unique In-game Mail System

In the game, you will receive your very own email-like window that lets you send private messages to your guildmates, friends, and acquaintances. They will be able to receive your mails even when they're offline.

There are so many reasons why I love this game and I have so much more to share with you. Parents, children, adults, and teenagers all love to play this game. You should join us and experience tons of fun and excitement as well as some friendship bonds along the way. You can see the direct link below.

You can find out more about this game here.

New Video Game Releases For Christmas 2008 - Best New Games & How to Give Them

2008-11-03T13:12:00.001-08:00

By Dee J Hartlee

Shopping for the latest newly released video games for your chronic gamers this holiday season is a snap. There are great new games for everyone on your Christmas list this year, from toddlers to teens to the old folk. Some games will sell right off the shelf as soon as they come in, so you will need to be aware of the release dates for the game you want, and then be ready to go to a website that has it listed for sale and buy it right away. Set an alert for the date on your mobile device or computer to insure that you get on-line at the right time and order that cherished, must have, new release for the gamers in your family.

Tip for Giving Games on Christmas Day: Arrange for the video game 'prezzie' to get opened just before a longish unscheduled time block on Christmas day; that way your little gamer will not disappear into their game world at a part of the day that they are expected to be doing other things. Once a gamer gets on their hands on a new games, it's all over for any other festivities for at least an hour & a half.

Here's a List of the newest video game releases for this Christmas 2008 in The Order of Their Release date with the playable consoles & platforms. SEPT 23 LEGO BATMAN PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS OCT 14 DEAD SPACE PC, Xbox 360, PS3 OCT 21 FABLE II Xbox 360 OCT 24 LITTLE BIG PLANET... PC, Xbox 360, PS3 OCT 26 GUITAR HERO: World Tour... Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3 OCT 28 FALLOUT III... PC, Xbox 360, PS3 NOV 4 RESISTANCE II... PS3 NOV 4 QUANTUM OF SOLACE - JAMES BOND... PC, Xbox, Wii, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS NOV 4 ENDWAR -TOM CLANCEY... Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS NOV 7 GEARS of WAR... Xbox 360 NOV 11 CALL of DUTY: WORLD AT WAR... PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 NOV 13 WORLD of WARCRAFT: WRATH of the LICH KING... On-Line RPG NOV 14 BANJO-KAZOOIE: NUTS & BOLTS... Xbox 360 NOV 16 ANIMAL CROSSING: CITY FOLD... Wii NOV 18 LEFT 4 DEAD... PC, Xbox 360 NOV 18 NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER... PC, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3, Nintendo DS NOV 18 TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD... PC, Xbox 360, wii, Ps2, Ps3, Nintendo Ds DEC 3 PRINCE of PERSIA... PC, Xbox 360, PS3

That's it for upcoming new video game releases that are hot for Christmas game shopping this year. Just remember to be ready to go buy the game you want on the date of release if you want to be sure to get in on the always limited available of games on the shelf at Christmas time. Mark your calender, bookmark the website that is going to stock the newest games available on the release date and then, on the date of release, just go there and buy it right away. Happy Holiday Game Shopping Everyone!

http://thegameshop.mobi/SeniorsPlayingWii
The GAME Shop is an on-line video game console, systems, accessories & games for every platform. Wii, DS, DS Lite, Gameboy, Playstation, Xbox, Sega, Atari, Internet Games, Vintage Games, Arcade Games, NES, SNES, N64. Shopping for the best deal on any game or system is easy at The Game Shop; all the games, consoles & accessories are organized into platforms so that if you are a Wii player, for example, you can go to the Wii Page and see all the games, consoles & accessories just for Wii. It's the same for all the platforms. Thousands of video games & consoles for sale with store product lists updating daily on new, used & wholesale bundles of all video game gear, accessories & games.

Lego Batman Game Review

2008-11-02T11:13:00.001-08:00

By Tonia Jordan

Gotham City is in trouble, and Batman is coming to the rescue! Lego (after its success with Star Wars and Indiana Jones) is now taking on the Batman world. The game has all the characteristics that made their other games great (lots of playable characters with special abilities, intricate & colorful worlds, two-player co-op gameplay) and adds something new. In Lego Batman you can be either the hero or the villain! In fact, to complete the game, you must play as both!

All Lego games require the player to go through each level twice, first on Story Mode, then on Free Play Mode. In the first mode, you play through the game's main story. In the second, you get to play again, this time as any character you've unlocked! In most of the levels, there are secrets you can only unlock in Free Play Mode, so you have to play both modes to unlock everything in the game. In Lego Batman, they've added another whole set of levels where you then play the villains' sides of the story!

Fans of Lego games and fans of Batman will love this game! As it's rated E (10+), it's a great game for kids, and adults will love it, too!

While the game is challenging and takes some time to fully complete, it's also not too difficult. It's tricky but can be played through without too much frustration. That's the perfect game to me!

Play it all over again with someone else! The first time through, I played alone with a computer player assisting. After I finished, I got my husband to play as the second player in place of the computer player, and I experienced the fun all over again!

Lego has some great games under its belt with Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. While this game doesn't follow any movie plot like the others, it does offer some new things that are quite enjoyable!

This game is truly fun! It's challenging but a whole lot of fun to play! Each character has its own special ability and some have some pretty funny additions, too. There are tons of unlockable secrets in the game, so it's continuously new and fun!

My favorite aspect of the game is all the different characters that are unlockable. There are so many to choose from, so many favorites from the Batman Universe. This game will never lose its charm for me!

Tonia Jordan is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.

Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/spidergirl so stop by and read for a while.

Dr Lynch - Grave Secrets Review

2008-11-02T11:12:00.006-08:00

By Ruff Bismonte

A skeptic's work is never done since you'll always be trying to find a new mystery to debunk here and there. Good thing that there's no lack of mysteries in the world. As a matter of fact, in Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets, you get to play detective once again to solve a ghost story happening in one of England's most quiet towns.

In this game, you take the role of Dr. Ignatius Lynch, the world renowned skeptic famous for disproving spiritual phenomena. This time, your assignment takes you to an important archaeological dig in Brombury, England. What's happening is that there seems to be a saboteur in the team's midst, destroying equipment and causing havoc to their project. But the worst part of the scenario is the presence of a ghostly figure haunting the team's campsite, meaning that there's definitely something fishy going on, and Dr. Lynch's spider-sense is tingling like mad!

Anyway, talking about the gameplay, your role in Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets is to find several listed objects acting as clues towards the solution of your investigation. Find all the objects within the specified time limit and use limited hints if you're having a hard time locating the items. Sometimes, optional tasks are also available for you to complete if you have extra time remaining in your quest. Completing optional tasks will reward you with extra hints, and considering the challenge presented by this hidden object game, you'll definitely need each and every ounce of hint you can get your hands on.

Now, there are also various mini-games you get to play using all the inventory items you collected from the actual hidden object puzzles, but the feature in which the game shines most is its deep storyline as presented on comic strips after each stage, from clues you found during your adventure, and from Clue Cards you collect after interrogating the town's locals. This game's story is really as good as they get, maybe just lacking the super-eerie feeling I expected from the game's title, but still very engaging nonetheless.

Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets is one of the many casual games reviewed on Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets and many of our other featured games.

Cheats For Mario Kart Wii

2008-11-02T11:12:00.005-08:00

By Robert A Lawrence

Mario Kart Wii marks the latest addition to the much loved and effortlessly fun racing series from Nintendo. In this article I'll cover some hints and tips you can use to make your gameplay a little more interesting, Mario Kart Wii is a great game to play, and it's much better in multiplayer mode. In all all of us there is that competitive gremlin lurking in the dark corners of our minds, You know what I mean, we don't like to loose do we, so will try any tactic or maneuver to be the best and beat friends and family, so here are some tips and cheats to give you the edge. Mario Kart Wii cheats are littered throughout the game, so take the time to look out for them it will work to your advantage, but just to get you started , I'll start you off with a few of the most important ones . Enjoy!

The Rocket Start

Your racing success starts as early as the starting line! Keep your eye on the countdown. The "2" appears as if it comes from behind your screen. When that animation stops and the "2" is in the middle of the screen, press the accelerator. If timed correctly, your kart or bike will receive a big boost at the start and will accelerate to top speed quickly.

Tip: Getting knocked off the course is never a good time. It's a frustrating wait as you're lifted back into the race. As soon as you're dropped onto the course hit the accelerator. If timed correctly (slam it as soon as you land), your kart or bike receives a speed boost similar to the rocket start. This will cut down wait time and helps get you back in the race as fast as possible.

If you hit the accelerator before the countdown finishes and miss the rocket start, your kart or bike suffers a burnout and will start much slower than your competitors. With practice you should be able to perform the rocket start on every single race. You can also use the countdown "beep" as timing; slam the accelerator after the "2" beeps and perform the rocket start. There you go, now go and practice until you have it down to an art.

Hints:

How to get Everyone Playing the Same Character

If you and your friends want to play as the same character in splitscreen multiplayer, Check this out.

First, one person should select and then deselect the character everyone wants to play as. The next player should select and then deselect the same character. Repeat as required for as many players as you have playing. Then, go back one screen, reselect the character selection screen, and all players should have their icons on the same pre-selected character.

Here's How to Dodge Red and Green Shells while racing

To dodge red shells, put a banana behind you, by either dropping it there or holding it there. When the red shell collides with the banana, its effects will be useless, allowing you to proceed with the race unhindered.

To dodge green shells, use the same technique as above for the red shell, if the shell is heading straight for you or is bounced off a wall. In other situations, use the three-shell weapon. Red or blue shells will protect you from the green shells in these situations.

Dodge those Blue Shells

Here's a great technique you can use when trying to dodge blue shells targeted at you when you're in first place, the trick is to use any type of mushroom. Specifically, use the mushroom when the blue shell begins to rise over you to avoid its blast. You've got to time this well.

How to unlock some cool Characters

To unlock the characters listed below, complete the following requirements as listed.

Baby Daisy - Earn at least a one star ranking in each 50cc Wii Grand Prix cup races

Baby Luigi - Unlock eight Expert Staff ghost data in Time Trial mode

Birdo - Defeat 250 people in online racing, or play Time Trial mode on sixteen different courses

Bowser Jr. - Earn at least a one star ranking in each 100cc Retro Grand Prix cup races

Daisy - Win the 150cc Special Cup

Diddy Kong - Win the 50cc Lightning Cup

Dry Bones - Win the 100cc Leaf Cup

Dry Bowser - Earn at least a one star ranking in each 150cc Wii Grand Prix cups

Funky Kong - Unlock four Expert Staff ghost data in Time Trial mode

King Boo - Win the 50cc Star Cup

Mii (Outfit A) - To play as the Mii associated with your profile, win the 100cc Special Cup

Mii (Outfit B) - To play as the Mii associated with your profile in a different outfit, play through and complete all thirty-two time trials

Rosalina - Have a Super Mario Galaxy save on your Wii

Toadette - Play Time Trial Mode on all thirty-two courses.

Now go use what I have given you, and see if you can find any other hidden hints, tips and cheats in the game, I'm sure you can if you look really hard. So until the next time adious amigos. There are plenty more Mario Kart Wii Cheats you can check out here.

Robert Lawrence has written articles and game reviews on Nintendo wii games, you can get even more information on Mario Kart Wii Cheats as well as reviews of the games available for the Nintendo Wii.

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - Crosswords DS

2008-11-02T11:12:00.003-08:00

By Michelle Strait

Crosswords DS is just my speed. Why? Because I can solve the puzzles without using a crossword puzzle dictionary. The crossword puzzles in this game, at least on the easy levels, won't drive you nuts. If you're interested in Nintendo DS top games for word lovers, you might want to give this a try.

Not too Hard

So far, the puzzles are enjoyable. I say so far because I haven't solved every puzzle. There are hundreds of puzzles in this collection, so it's going to take awhile to finish them all. Plus, you have to solve all of the puzzles on the easy and medium levels before you can unlock more difficult levels.

My other crossword puzzle game, New York Times Crosswords, is a serious challenge. It can be frustrating sometimes. On the other hand, Crosswords DS is good for when you want to unwind with a simple crossword puzzle. You know, sometimes it's fun to just relax

The Other Games

There's more to Crosswords DS than just crosswords. The games on this cartridge include:

*Crosswords: There's a huge selection of crossword puzzles. You start on Easy or Medium and unlock harder levels as you go along.

*Wordsearch: You are given a list of words to find. You start on easy or medium puzzles and have to solve a certain amount to unlock higher levels.

*Anagrams: You get 6 letters and have to create as many words as you can.

How to Play

This game requires the stylus to play. You write the letter in the square to spell out the answer. It's just like doing a print crossword puzzle. The handwriting recognition is really good, unlike in some other games I've played. I've never had a problem with Crosswords DS understanding my handwriting.

Fun for Teens and Adults

Adults and kids can play Crosswords DS. Well, not little kids but maybe starting at age 13 or so. If you're into crossword puzzles, this game is worth checking out. Or get New York Times Crosswords for something more difficult.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Garnet Chronicle (Japanese Version) - PSP Review

2008-11-02T11:12:00.001-08:00

By Gabriel Chau

Today I had a chance to spend some time on Garnet Chronicle, an anime style RPG game but unfortunately its the Japanese version and as far as I know there is no release date for the English version.

Story and controls

Since its in Japanese, I vaguely know what is going on, so far! Your hero character is a knight student from a Knight academy. Your first quest is to bring a recommendation letter from the principle of the academy to the commander somewhere near the village. All of a sudden the entire battalion is being attacked by an evil looking character and his werewolf like companion, to no surprise, the entire battalion is wiped out and of course our main hero survives but barely and saves by a sexy female elf thief/treasure hunter. From then on, she joins you in the quest for the "Stone of the Evil Mind" (sorry that's a direct translation from Japanese to English). Then once inside the "Tower of Lost" you meet up with another character, this time he's a wizard class and he joins you afterwords. That's how far I am in the game.

The controls are typical walk with your analog stick, R will bring up the map but so far there is no map when venturing inside dungeons, circle is confirm while cross is cancel, typical Japanese style, the American version might have these two buttons reversed. Unfortunately there's no run button so walking around might feel slow at times. You can also save the game anytime and thankfully the menus are in English as well as the Japanese explanation, only the menus though.

Game play and graphics

Game play is pretty much the same old turn based RPG similar to Final Fantasy (up to Final Fantasy X-2 since the battle system has changed starting FF11). You and your enemies will take turns to attack/defend/cast magic on each other. Which is fine except it feels really slow and rather boring, it would make a huge difference if the attack was smoother and faster such that attacks are executed as soon as the one before finished its move. But as you gather more people on your team, the fight gets more interesting and faster so its not too bad after all. Level grinding is also part of the game but not necessary. It is surprisingly fast to level up though, at least for the first 20 or so levels which can really speed up the grinding. As you finish each battle you are rewarded with money, experience, random items and skill points. Skill points can be spent on each character's skill tree to unlock more powerful attack and support skills. Skill points are shared among all your characters unfortunately! And last but not least money you earned from each battle obviously will be for buying weapons, armors and support items. There are also cards and stones that can enhance your weapons such as turning your sword to have ice element and upgrade your special abilities. Treasure chests are scattered all over the map, inside buildings, out in the woods or anywhere in the villages. Some are less obvious as I have found one hidden one so far.

One interesting feature that I have never seen before, at least in an RPG, is the "sneak" feature. When you approach your enemies from behind without being spotted, you can deal damage to them before the battle starts. Same applies to the enemies, if they spotted you, they would run to you and if your back is facing them then you will get attacked first. You will know when your enemies have spotted you when an exclamation mark appears on top of their heads. This feature is independent of who attacks first when the battle begins, so that means there's a chance you can attack twice before an enemies can attack you, same applies to the enemies. If you can utilize this feature you can really gain an upper hand when fighting and makes battles a lot easier.

Graphics are nothing fancy but well drawn anime style. Everything is 2D based but don't let that get you because even though the characters are simple 2D sprites, their expressions and body gestures can be seen clearly depend on the situations. There are also nice flashy special effects when your characters use their special abilities.

One thing I don't like is the fact that, all enemies look the same on the map, so you don't know what kind of enemies you will face until the battle screen comes up. I don't see why the developers cannot make the enemies show up on the map as well. But then again, what if there are more than one type of enemies, which one would they show? Maybe that's the reason why.

Sound

Your typical anime music, your characters and enemies will say something before they attack which makes battle less dull. Sometimes your characters will even voice over during conversations. I can imagine the English translation will be bad and takes away the Japanese "atmosphere" just like any other games that went through the Jape to English translation. In general the music is great most of the time, but sometimes they can get a bit too repetitive and get annoying afterwords.

Final Verdict

Overall I think this game is worth a try, this type of game is nothing new but the game is still enjoyable. I had problems turning off my PSP until it went out of batteries while playing it. That should give you an idea of how addictive and enjoyable this game is, specially for level grinders like myself. Hopefully the American version will be released soon so you English speaking people can enjoy this game as much as I am now. And for those that can read Chinese, Japanese or don't care about the story, you should be able to get a copy from ebay or YESASIA.

For pictures, please visit my blog here

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Project Mobius

Art of Murder - FBI Confidential Review

2008-11-01T12:18:00.004-07:00

By Ruff Bismonte

I always envisioned being an FBI agent, but realizing now that time wouldn't permit me to be one in real life, a game making you play like one would be nice. Thankfully, Art of Murder: FBI Confidential lets you play as an FBI agent, putting you inside the shoes of a newbie named Nicole Bonnet. But how it fares as an adventure game is a whole new story, and that's what we're about to find out in this review.

Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is a third person police story about a fresh graduate of the FBI Academy named Nicole Bonnet. Just like any other cliché police story, Nicole was also given a partner named James, who was later killed in cold blood, leaving Nicole alone in investigating a weird series of murders. Of course, you would rather want learning about the assassination of your partner, but you'll soon realize that the story's string of events is tied in a tight knot as well.

Just like any other adventure game, your objective is to investigate the murders and find clues and solve puzzles until you find the perpetrator. With your trusty PDA, you gather evidences and take notes regarding all of your found clues and various interactions. And if you find yourself stuck on a certain point of the game, the handy magnifying glass is there to give you hints on what to do next. I know that it's mostly there to ruin the whole challenge of the game, but if you find yourself getting impatient already, then I guess clicking it a few times during the whole course of the adventure can spark further interest for you to continue on your journey.

One very fine thing about Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is the polished graphics on all of the scenes you'll get to explore in the game. The levels are beautifully designed and all of the sounds and voice-overs are perfectly rendered into the game, making the presentation as outstanding just when I imagined it from the game's initial preview. All of the game puzzles are quite challenging too, but not really too hard that will make you quit on your game.

Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is one of the many games featured and reviewed at Casualicious. Please visit our site to read more about Art of Murder: FBI Confidential and get to play hundreds of other games worth your time and enjoyment.

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - Clubhouse Games

2008-11-01T12:18:00.003-07:00

By Michelle Strait

You can't judge a book by its cover. The same thing is also true for a video game. I bypassed Clubhouse Games numerous times because it looked like a boring game. But I read online that it was a Nintendo DS top game, so I decided to give it a try. That was a good decision.

A Good Collection of Games

Clubhouse Games is a collection of more than 40 board, action, and card games. You really get your money's worth with this game.

There's practically something for everyone. Kids can play darts, bowling, Old Maid, checkers, and many of the other game easy enough for a kid to play. And of course, there's plenty here for adults and teens to enjoy too.

There are more than 40 games in this collection, so I won't list them all. The games include:

* Blackjack

* Texas Hold Em

* Bowling (one of my favorites)

* Darts (one of my favorites)

* Checkers

* Chinese Checkers

* Go Fish

* Rummy

* Spades

* Hearts

* Memory

* Dominoes

* Backgammon

* Turncoat

* Dot and Boxes

Playing the Games

You can play the games against the computer or with friends (with a WiFi connection). If you don't know how to play a game, that's fine. Detailed instructions are provided so it's easy to learn how to play everything. And you will need the instructions because some of the games are obscure.

The interface is easy to understand and use. Like most of the Nintendo DS games, this one requires the stylus. You drag and drop your cards or game pieces to where you want them. You also use the stylus to aim your darts, throw the bowling ball, and to line-up your shots when playing billiards.

A Minor Flaw

Some of the card games are repetitive. Sometimes you'll find yourself playing a game that seems exactly the same as another. That's because some of the card games share rules that are very similar. However, the large selection of games in this collection make-up for the ones that feel like repeats.

The Extras

In addition to a nice collection of starting games, you can also unlock new games as you progress. You can also unlock additional backgrounds and in-game icons.

A Good Collection

This game is more fun than the box cover suggests. I'd seen this game many times but practically ignored it because of the boring cover. I'm glad I finally took the time to read the box. You'll spend a lot of time playing this game.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Fallout 3 Finally in Store

2008-11-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

By Davor Puklek

Fallout 3 is an action game which is being developed by Bethesda Game studios. This game is due to release in North America October 28th, 2008 and Europe October 31st, 2008. Japan gets it December 4th, 2008. It is available for Xbox 360, PC, Playstation 3 versions also. The game has been under development since 2004, the developers are taking special care in designing all the new features and levels which is gonna make fallout 3 look more unique than its other two previous versions.

Game Play:

The set up for this game is in year 2277, 30 years ahead of its previous version fallout 2.

It is set up in Vault 101 a fallout shelter in Washington DC. The main character development starts when the mother of the character dies and the baby is being taken care of the father. In the vault the character is given a book which is used to set all the primary preferences to the character.

In the vault the character is given various kinds of machinery to train with, the outcome of the training decides the future attributions of the character. The relationship of the character with his/ her father is determined by various quests that are available for the character to complete in the vault.

The maximum level a person can reach is 20. The perks and bonuses are available in the same way as it was in its previous versions. They will be added after each level.

Along the game ammunition the character carries wares out, so in order to be ready for combat the character can combine various things at possession and use it to fire. The character also gets to choose various types of armor and hats. By choosing a particular armor the character attributes all the skills of the armor.

Inventory is another feature available for the player, but it comes with a weight limit. This weight limit is taken in a whole for ammunition, armor and other things the player wants to carry along. Player is assigned three things the character him/her self, dogmeat and an NPC. Dogmeat can be used to sniff out ammunition or armors or health hidden anywhere in the place. Usage of dogmeat is limited, it can't be used in dangerous places and if the dogmeat dies it will not be replaced. Only one NPC is allowed to go along with the character, in order to use a different NPC the former has to be disposed.

Karma is the respect that the character gains in the game. Karma is awarded based on the combat choices and conversations. Better karma will allow the character to negotiate easily with NPCs, if the character has bad karma the opposite happens.

Development:

At first the game was supposed to be developed by Interplay Entertainment, but the company has run into bankruptcy and sold the whole project to Bethesda Softworks.

Bethesda dint follow the leads of Interplay Entertainment in developing the game instead it developed its own plan to develop the game. The game is expected to attract a lot of response from the gaming world.

Davor Puklek invites you to go to Play Games to read more about this game or if this game is too strong for your PC or you don't have cash to buy it, then go to Great games and play free arcade games.

Spider-Man - Web of Shadows - PSP Review

2008-11-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

By Gabriel Chau

I saw the trailer about a month ago and was really impressed, then again, its only a trailer and probably not the PSP version. I took some time to play around with the PSP version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and I was not impressed. Another disappointment. Again for the PSP version and does not necessary imply the PS3 and the XBox360 versions are just as bad.

You start off at the top of some building, typical. You will basically be swinging around from left to right or right to left, occasionally you will get inside some buildings, you have your basic punch combos and kick combos by repeatedly pressing square for punch and triangle for kick. You shoot out your web by pressing x, as well as holding a direction and press R to perform web swinging. You can also walk on walls and I had experience a buggy situation where Spidy was literally flying up instead of walking up vertically along the wall.

Overall the graphics are...well...pass, I think Lego Batman has better graphics than this game. So far I have only seen 3 to 4 variations of enemies PLUS Venom, which is the boss for first level. Oh yea after defeating Venom, you also get infected by the black matter and you can now turn toggle between original Spidy and black spidy with different abilities / attacks by pressing select. And basically you are just moving vertically and horizontally.

After the first level is complete, you can purchase new skills by spending you good Spidy points and bad spidy points, you can't purchase good Spidy skills using bad Spidy and vice versa. Now how do you get Spidy points? When you interact with people, you get to choose good answer or bad answer, obviously good answer will give you good Spidy points and bad answer will give you bad Spidy points. You will get more by accepting quests from people that you encounter as well to gain more Spidy points.

For in game pictures, please visit my blog here

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Guitar Hero Games For All Video Consoles - Are They Any Good?

2008-10-31T13:05:00.002-07:00

By Amanda Isbitt

What could be better than living the life of a rock star? Who cares if your fans are all in your living room, you are the man, or woman! Into the world of video games has come the latest interactive game. Guitar hero takes you from the role of interested observer to full rock and roll participant. In other video games, you have a controller and varying views that draw you into game play but with the invention of the guitar controller, you get a full-on experience tough to find in other games.

Guitar Hero has come out with six different games so far for a plethora of platforms. It was made available for Playstation 2 & 3, Xbox 360, and PC and more recently for the Nintendo DS. With the exception of the DS, game play and peripherals have been much the same on all platforms. Of course, due to the size of the DS a full size guitar controller was not practical so the creators came up with a guitar grip that plugs into the second slot of the console. One major difference between platforms is that Guitar Hero 3 can be played online with the Xbox 360 console only.

Overall, the impact of this game has been phenomenal no matter which console it is played on. Game play includes different levels of difficulty, tour and arcade mode, cooperative play as well as competitive.

Guitar Hero was challenged last year with the release of Rock Band, a similar game idea but one that incorporated the whole band. You could play guitar, bass, drums or sing with Harmonix answer to Guitar Hero. The challenge would be short lived, as the equipment did not quite measure up.

Soon, RedOctane and Activision will follow up this challenge with Guitar Hero World Tour. Kids and parents alike have been waiting with baited breath for the latest release in the Guitar Hero family. The play promises to be intense as drums and vocals are added. Another plus is that though the new guitar is awesome you do not have to purchase it to play. If you have the earlier version of the game, the guitar will be compatible. They have also announced that for Xbox 360 the Rock Band instruments will also work. This is not the case for Playstation 3, though Sony says they are working on making the units compatible.

Guitar Hero World Tour may very well be on the Christmas list of all little girls and boys. If past performance is any indication that is, in 2008 Activision released that total sales from the Guitar Hero franchise has exceeded one billion dollars. The craze has led some bar and grills to have a Guitar Hero night instead of karaoke. One in New York reported that business triples on those nights.

It is obvious that Guitar Hero has just begun to make an impact on the kids that play and sounds like their parents as well. A terrific idea that has so far been perfectly executed. Look for the new release soon and expect that all the kids are going to want one.

For all of the latest products and news visit Guitar Hero Games

Dead Space - PlayStation 3 Review

2008-10-31T13:05:00.001-07:00

By Gabriel Chau

Silent Hill: Homecoming was somewhat disappointing mainly because of its outdated graphics. I know it is not sufficient to judge a game solely based on game play. Although new elements were added to the game such as new combat system and new item/weapon navigations. And I was not happy with the new navigations by the way because you can waste your healing item, mainly the serum which heals you completely, by accidentally move your L3 button and have it selected without even knowing. The game play was kind of expected and I was really hoping for graphics that are next-gen. Ok, enough ranting and time to move on.

Dead Space generated a lot, and I mean A LOT of hype with all the animated trailers, comics and game trailers. Does this game live up to all the hype generated? I would, with no doubt say YES.

Story and controls

The story is about a repair ship which crash landed on a large mining ship called ISHIMURA. And as you can imagine, all the horror begins here and almost right away. Some of the controls are rather different from say, Call of Duty, like in order to run, you need to press L3 (move) and L2. The new controls might take a while to get used to but nothing major. If you have been keeping up with your first/third person shooting skills, the aiming should not be a problem either. Again make sure you aim the hands and legs and not the body unless you want to waste ammo. You can also treat your gun as a melee weapon at close range as well as pressing L2 for some foot stamping.

Game play and graphics

Dead Space uses a new and innovative user interface for accessing your items, weapons, map and missions etc. Its actually a holographic screen that is projected right in front of you in real time. So for example, you can have the map up and move around at the same time. So far I though, I can't feel the "survival" part of this game because you get lots of ammo and healing items, I've picked up so many that I have to put them in the safe. (I'm playing on normal not easy by the way) Finally, safe points are in many places so I don't really have to worry about having to restart from far back.

Speaking of which, there is also a store which you can buy healing items, upgrade your suit, called the Rig which increases the amount of items you can store as you go, new weapons, power nodes which are for upgrading your Rig's max health(which is your health) and your weapons' damage, ammo capacities etc. Weapon upgrades using the power nodes are performed by accessing another system though.

Even though both Silent Hill:Homecoming and Dead Space are survival horror, the former doesn't really make you jump like Dead Space does. Being a survival horror fan for so many years, I'm pretty used to all the scare moments but I was constantly on my toes while playing Dead Space and got a few jumps actually.

First thing first, I'm sure everyone would want to know about this, YES the game supports 1080p high definition video output. Strangely it defaults to 720p similar to Call of Duty 4. It will only output to 720p unless you explicitly set your console, in my case PlayStation 3 to only output 1080p. And speaking of graphics, it is VERY graphical with tons of blood and body parts all over walls, floors, windows and anywhere you can imagine.

Also just to mention there's no online multiplayer component, it would be even better if there was but with this game, it doesn't really matter because the single player is just that exciting. And besides, I'm not sure how you can design the multiplayer side based on the story, hmm maybe there could be two races, the humans and those mutated humans? Just a thought.

Sound

Sound effects are top notch as well, you can hear random screams, objects banging onto other objects. One thing I dislike and makes this game a little bit less difficult and cuts some of the suspense is every time before monsters start coming at you, you will know because you will hear some "horror" noise. So whenever you hear it, you can pretty much expect to ready your limb cutting gun. But like I said before, I still managed to get a few scare from my 2 hours of play time.

Final Verdict

Is this game worth the $59.99? I would definitely think so, at least I didn't regret buying this game like I did with Silent Hill: Homecoming. For those looking for a sci-fi + survival horror and those that are into limb cutting, then Dead Space will be the game.

There may be a part 2 if I find anything that's worth mentioning so keep checking back! I will also be reviewing MotorStorm: Pacific Rift demo tomorrow so stay tuned!

For more images please visit my blog.

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Project Mobius

Game Raises Questions

2008-10-30T14:11:00.001-07:00

By William Torpey

Where there's smoke there's fire, the cliche declares.

As with all cliches, there may be something to that, but, in the words of a great old song, it ain't necessarily so.

The smoke we speak of today refers to the great plumes that have been billowing above the United States post offices since August 1986 when an Edmund, Okla., postal worker killed 15 colleagues. Incidents of "crazed mass violence" have been occurring at an alarming pace over the last decade.

These incidents hit home with me because of my hometown, Yonkers, N.Y., (remember Son of Sam?) and my present abode, Darien (remember the bra strangulations of area prostitutes, with religious overtones?) Each had postal employees who were accused of heinous crimes.

Also, my late brother was a former Darien, Conn., and Pompano Beach, Fla., letter carrier, and my daughter, who lives in Maine, once worked for the Portland post office.

All this came to the front burner recently when the Associated Press reported that a computer game called "Postal" drew the criticism of outraged post office workers.

In the game, a disgruntled, raincoat-clad man takes to the street, shotgun in hand, and shoots down police, pedestrians, a marching band, church-goers. As men and women fall, bleeding, the shooter mutters, "Going Postal." Only the title and the muttered phrase liken the game to mail carriers.

One union official pointed out that it's unfair to depict postal workers as "violent terrorists" and referred to a planned national boycott of the video game. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon worries that the game perpetuates a stereotype and does a "grave disservice" to postal employees.

Certainly, the U.S. Postal Service cannot be held criminally liable for the sins of its employees. There is, however, a whole lot of smoke, and it's probably a good idea for the top administration to look into its policies and management /hiring practices (Just look at the machinations within the Internal Revenue Service.)

I vividly recall the angst of a local letter carrier who told me on several occasions in 1970 about management practices that involved, for example, supervisors timing his route to compare their estimates to the time it took him to complete his rounds. Sounds good, but it's the kind of thing that doesn't leave employees with a feeling of good will.

Postal workers are often unfairly maligned for everything ranging from late mail deliveries to poor window service and bad manners.

"Postal," the game, is not only unfair to post office workers but it adds to a flood of undesirable video games, television shows and movies that negatively influence our nation's youth.

Sure, violence and gore sell! But that doesn't mean responsible people have to use it to make a buck. Not only is it something that wastes our youngsters' time, but it prevents them from pursuing more fruitful and uplifting activities.

Wouldn't it be a good idea for the House Judiciary Committee, after completion of its review of the IRS, to take up the policies and practices of post office management?

I am a retired newspaper reporter and editor, having worked for The Hour newspaper of Norwalk, Conn., for 32 years. I am a 1964 graduate of New York University where I majored in journalism and minored in marketing under a public relations program. I served three years in USA Army in Public Information in Germany and Colorado, 1954-57. I currently hold the position of Adjutant with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Robert F. Garrison Post 3350 in East Rockaway, New York. I am a lifelong fan of Bing Crosby, the greatest singer of the 20th Century and an Oscar-winning movie actor. I am a hubpages.com author who writes on a wide variety of topics. For more of my work, please visit my Profile Page at the following address: http://hubpages.com/profile/William+F.+Torpey

Indiana Jones Lego Game For Wii - Top Toys For Boys

2008-10-30T14:10:00.002-07:00

By Jennifer Schindel

As a mom to three boys, I'm always on the look out for great, age-appropriate games. We own the Nintendo Wii so if I can find a game that combines challenging fun with a little bit of aerobic activity, I'm a satisfied mom.

For more than 20 years now, the name Indiana Jones has been synonymous with action and adventure. With the latest release of the brand-new Indiana Jones movie, a whole new generation is introduced to the swash-buckling archaeologist. With this comes a wide range of merchandise, including the Indiana Jones Lego Game, which can be played on your game console or online.

Many of the characters found in the game come right from the movies themselves, including Indiana's father, Henry Jones Senior. You'll also discover Indy's true love, Marion Ravenwood, and sidekicks Sallah and Marcus Brody. Some characters can only be found in games made specifically for your gaming console. There are also several adventures for players to master, from finding the Ark of the Covenant to making their way through the Temple of Doom.

You'll also find many fun extras that come with the game. There are 10 different wallpapers that come with the game for your use, as well as 73 different avatars for you to choose from. And for an added bonus, you can get your own Indiana Jones: the Original Adventure stickers and coloring pages too.

Within the game itself, players can choose to be Indiana Jones and fight their way through all the cool locations from the first three movies, and can even use the trademark whip to fend off enemies and swing over dangerous terrain. And because the characters are Legos, you can mix and match pieces to make your own silly characters.

With all the violent games on the market today, it's nice to know that there is a game out there that can be played by kids of all ages. Lego has done a good job of keeping the action non-violent and have even gone so far as to keep the Nazi characters swastika-free. It's good, clean fun with plenty of challenges and adventures to entertain the whole family.

If you've always dreamed of being the great Indiana Jones, then the Lego game is a great way to get in on the adventure. With Christmas just around the corner, you want to shop early to avoid disappointment, so get more information about the Indiana Jones Lego Game at http://www.indyjonesforwii.com

EA Sports NHL 09 Review For the XBOX 360

2008-10-30T14:10:00.001-07:00

By Scott Boehler

EA Sports' NHL series has had sort of a roller coaster history. Back in the 90s, EA owned the hockey market with its NHL 9X series on the old Sega Genesis. EA had never been able to match that success with future generation gaming consoles. The NHL 2K series of hockey gaming became sort of a cult favorite for a few years in the early to mid 2000s, as EA seemed to be spiraling towards obscurity.

Then came NHL 08, and everything changed. A totally re-done game engine and revamped game play, including the introduction of create-a-play, put EA back on the map in a big way.

EA Sports NHL 09 starts where NHL 08 left off. It has excellent game play and graphics and will be easy to pick up for those familiar with NHL 08. There are many sliders that can affect different facets of the game to help different levels of players enjoy the gaming experience. Not much has changed this year to last year's version, which is actually a good thing (some companies try too hard to change what isn't broken). The have kept in the franchise modes, exhibition modes, and create a player mode is there with a new and exciting "be a pro" mode which allows you to create a player and have him advance through a team's system while you play as just him on the ice. It is quite immersive.

The skill stick innovation from the prior NHL games is back and this year the defense also gets to take advantage of the skill stick for even more realistic defensive controls.

The AI in this game is just as good as the last installment. No longer can you fly down a ring and continuously pass to the slot for one timers. After a while the AI catches up to your strategy and will adjust accordingly forcing you to adjust your gameplay.

Online play is fun as well this year with EA Sports Hockey League. Players can now join leagues online and compete with each other for the championship

All-in-all a great game. Wish the goalie play was a little more realistic, I can't seem to get the sliders to perfect that. But I truly do recommend this game.

Scott Boehler

http://www.philliesdiary.com

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - The Price is Right

2008-10-30T14:09:00.002-07:00

By Michelle Strait

I was excited when I learned The Price is Right was coming to the Nintendo DS. The show is fun to watch, and I wanted the chance to play in my own home. The game is good, but it could have been better. No one will consider The Price is Right as a Nintendo DS top game - but judge for yourself.

The Fun Stuff

Most of the fun elements from the show are in the game. Fans of the show will be able to play along with ease.

Most of the popular Price is Right games are included. You get:

Cliff Hangers (my favorite)

Plinko

3 Strikes

Bonkers

Check-Out

It's in the Bag

Master Key

Hole in One

Money Game

The announcer explains how to play each game before you start. So even if you don't watch the show, the in-game instructions help you along. Basically, you have to figure out how much things cost, which is why the show is called The Price is Right.

You also get a chance to try your luck on Contestants Row. If you win there, you play for money and prizes on the stage.

The cool thing is you get to play onstage even if you lose on Contestants Row. You won't find yourself stuck there like people on the show who never make it to the stage.

The famous Price is Right wheel is also present in the game. Like on the show, the goal is to spin the wheel and get as close to 100 as possible without going over. If you go over, you're sent back to Contestants Row. But if you've lost too many times, the whole game ends.

The Not-So Fun Stuff

This game is very slow compared to other Nintendo DS games. The loading time between games is slower than I've ever seen. You spend a lot of time waiting for the next game or scene to appear. It's seems more time went into graphics and sound than actual gameplay or speed.

Another annoyance is the in-game disclaimer. The disclaimer is long, and it scrolls on the screen each time you start the game. There's no way to skip it or increase the speed.

The Game is Fun...But

The Price is Right for the Nintendo DS isn't the best game around. Could it have been better? Yes. Is it a total waste? No. If you like the show, you'll probably enjoy the game.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - Hell's Kitchen

2008-10-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

By Michelle Strait

I enjoy watching Hell's Kitchen. I also enjoy cooking games like Cooking Mama. So I figured this game would be a good combination of the two. The game is good as a time management game like Cake Mania. But it's not a true cooking game like the other Nintendo DS top games Cooking Mama and Cooking Mama 2.

Not Exactly Like the Show

In this game, you are the owner of your own restaurant. But you also have to greet customers, seat them, take their orders, prepare the food, serve the food, and then accept payment.

This is more of a management game than a cooking game. The actual cooking is limited to clicking on ingredients and timing them to finish cooking at the same time. You never prepare anything. That's nothing like most cooking games in which you have to actually boil, cut, chop, mix, and fry the food.

Listening to Chef Ramsay's comments also get annoying after awhile. It's funny at first because he curses and it gets censored just like on the show. But it gets old quick because he says the same things over and over.

Some Cool Things

The most fun thing about this game is seeing how far you can get. And if you're like me, you won't find this game easy to beat.

The game gets harder as you go along. In the beginning you have easy recipes and few customers. But as the number of customers increase, the recipes get more demanding.

Managing the restaurant isn't easy. You have a lot of responsibility, and you must excel in everything. Mad customers are no good. If they get mad enough to leave, then you're in big trouble. Chef Ramsay will get furious and close your restaurant if you make a mess of things.

One unique thing about this game is the recipe book. The game has real recipes created by Chef Ramsay. So if you like to cook, you can copy the recipes and cook them at home.

Final Rating

If you like the show, you might get a kick out of this game. But if you're looking for a cooking game that gives you more control over preparing the food, this isn't for you. Like I said, this game is more like Diner Dash or Cake Mania instead of a real cooking game like Cooking Mama. Also, this one is intended for adults and teens.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - World Championship Poker

2008-10-30T14:08:00.002-07:00

By Michelle Strait

World Championship Poker for the Nintendo DS is one of the better casino style games available. It's on my list of Nintendo DS top games because of its wide-variety of game selection.

Terrific Poker and Non-Poker Game Selection

The best thing about Nintendo DS World Championship Poker is its variety of games. Many poker players think Texas Hold Em is the only legitimate form of the game. Perhaps people who think that simply watch too much television.

It's almost impossible to turn the channel without seeing a televised poker game. But if you think Texas Hold Em is the only game in town, then you're missing all the fun.

The Games

My favorite poker games are Omaha Hi/Lo and 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo. So it was a surprise to learn that the Nintendo DS version of World Championship Poker includes these games. And even better, there are twelve games in all on this one cartridge. The games are:

* Texas Hold Em

* Double Flop

* Pineapple

* Omaha

* Omaha Hi/Lo

* 7 Card Stud

* 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

* Baseball

* 5 Card Draw

* Deuces Wild

* Video Poker

* Blackjack

Playing the Game

The fun starts when you play career mode.

In career mode, you walk around the virtual casino in search of a game. The top screen offers a 3D first-person view of where you are in the casino. At the same time, the bottom screen displays an overhead view of your location.

The casino tables each have a different game. You find a table with the game you want, and then tap the table with your stylus to play.

Some tables have quick games that allow you to win a quick buck and move on, like the video poker game. For more involved play you'd pick a tournament table to compete against computer opponents.

Your Opponents

The computer opponents in this game are 3-D models. You see them while they play, and each has their own name, face, and body.

Your opponents are also animated and make certain movements and sounds each time they play a hand. This is fun at first, but gets annoying and repetitive the longer you play. It also makes each hand longer than necessary. Luckily, you can turn the animations off under the options setting.

Thanks to the wireless networking function, you can play the Nintendo DS version of World Championship Poker with friends. Of course, this only works if your friends are within range, and also have a Nintendo DS and the World Championship Poker game. Once connected, everyone can play most of the games together. The only downside is you're unable to name your player in wireless mode. So you have to remember which character is yours.

Overall Rating: Five Poker Chips

I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys portable gaming and poker. You can practice your skills without sitting in front of your computer or waiting for a live game.

It's also a great way to pass time while waiting in line or stuck in a waiting room. So if you're interested in portable poker gaming, get a copy of World Championship Poker for the Nintendo DS.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Nintendo DS Game Reviews - World Series of Poker 2008

2008-10-30T14:08:00.001-07:00

By Michelle Strait

I almost didn't buy "World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets". When it comes to Nintendo DS top games, there usually isn't a casino game in the bunch. Why, you ask? It's because most casino games are disappointing. This is not a casino game, but I figured it would be more of the same. Thankfully, I was wrong. This game is a union of portable gaming and poker that actually delivers the goods.

World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Your Home

The Nintendo DS version of World Series of Poker is based on the famous World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament. Hundreds of poker players compete for a seat at the final table, with dreams of winning big bucks and a coveted gold WSOP bracelet.

Just like in real life, the game allows you to play against virtual versions of some of the top poker players. Annie Duke, Jennifer Tilly, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth are a few of the top poker players in the game.

Playing World Series of Poker 2008 for the Nintendo DS

The object of the game is to become a champion Texas Hold Em player. You reach the top by squashing your competition and winning all the tournaments.

Unless you're great at Texas Hold Em, you'll spend more time starting over than gloating over your victory. I'm not that good at Texas Hold Em, and you can tell by the number of times I go bust in this game.

There are different modes of play in the game. If you're successful in Career Mode, you'll eventually reach the main event. The main event in the game is like the final table in the real life tournament. I've never made it that far, so good luck to you.

After you have a few wins under your belt, professional players begin inviting you to various Vegas casinos for cash games. And there's also a heads-up option where you compete one-on-on against six professional players. When you manage to beat all six of them, you face Phil Hellmuth. I've also never made it this far, so once again, good luck to you.

Playing Options

In addition to career mode, there are quick play and multiplayer options.

Quick play allows you to play short games without affecting any games saved in career mode. So if you've kicked butt in career mode, but tank during quick play, your career mode rating remains intact. And the quick play option lets you play with others nearby using a Wi-Fi connection.

Quick play is fun because you can customize your game. You can choose the number of players, pros or amateurs, starting cash, limit or no limit game, blinds, and location.

The Downside: Limited Poker Variations

If you're looking to play poker games other than Texas Hold Em, this isn't the game for you.

There are plenty of poker variations, but this particular game only includes Texas Hold Em. To play games such as Omaha or Stud, check out World Championship Poker, which is another good selection.

World Series of Poker 2008 also includes a helpful training option. This is great for people unfamiliar with poker, but who want to learn the game. Phil's Poker School is a tutorial narrated by poker professional Phil Hellmuth. While you play a hand on the bottom screen, the top screen has a video of Phil Hellmuth giving you instructions.

In-Game Options

Other options under training include Same Hand Jam, which let's you pick two hole cards (your starting cards) and play nine rounds with them. There's also poker hand rankings and a Texas Hold Em guide.

Overall Rating: Five Poker Chips

I recommend World Series of Poker 2008 for poker players who love Texas Hold Em. The lack of game variation was a bit disappointing, but the superior training section made up for it. Overall, this game deserves a spot with other Nintendo DS top games.

Visit http://nintendods-topgames.com/ for all your Nintendo DS needs. Check out the current recommended game and find the best Nintendo DS top games and accessories.

Mercenaries 2 World in Flames - Great Game, Fantastic Theme

2008-10-28T22:06:00.004-07:00

By Simon Bailey

Mercenaries 2 World in Flames is a new third person shooter from EA which was developed by Pandemic Studios. The game is the sequel to the 2005 hit: Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

Set in an open world environment in modern day Venezuela during a war broken out as a result of an oil dispute in the South American country. As a mercenary, the hospitable climate creates a great many opportunities.

The in-game story follows the main character, hired by a guy named Solano to rescue the top Venezuelan Army General, Carmona. However, once rescued, the person who hired you makes an attempt on your life to avoid payment.

You manage to escape, taking a bullet to the behind in doing so. The games focus then shifts to you planning revenge on Solano.

Taking control of a great many vehicles (thought to be around 170) and weapons, your character has the chance to build a private military company, recruiting your own mercenaries to help fight your cause.

The game is absolutely fantastic, but the them to the game, which came out of the media campaign is truly fantastic. Reminiscent of a hip hop style musical, the song talks about how sweet revenge will finally be. Performed by the Wojahn Brothers, the song is available on the Mercs 2 website and is called Oh No You Didn't.

Interestingly, on release of the game, EA took over the Last Stop petrol station in Finsbury Park London, where they transformed the station into a military bunker and gave away £20,000 worth of petrol.

Simon writes for the Online Spy Shop who offer spy equipment, including voice recorders, spy phones and internet monitoring solutions.

Review of the Upcoming Resident Evil 5

2008-10-28T22:06:00.003-07:00

By Musa Aykac

The newest episode of the survival horror series Resident Evil 5, has now been scheduled for release in March 2009, after being pushed back by Capcom from its original release date in October 2008. After the major success of resident evil 4 in 2005, there is much higher expectations this time around for the horror genre game, although information on the game is very shady at the moment (not much being said I see, great to see that they want to keep there users in suspense!) it evolves around the main characters Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as well as a few other team members.

The game itself is set to start in a shady alleyway a bit like the beginning of resident evil and then make its way to Africa, there will be some new aspects to the game such as a predicted split screen mode in which you can play, besides this it is said that the game will not only be set in the dark. The franchise is now looking to also bring the game to lightness, not to mention the different types of weather conditions. The game somewhat has a starching resemblance to Black Hawk Down.

The outbreak is set to be in full swing by the time Chris Redfield and his fellow team get into the action. The zombies will be a lot wiser and will be able to use weapons, a bit like in RE4. Chris will basically be looking to discover the origins of the progenitor virus seen in resident evil code veronica.

The combat will be more or less similar to what we have seen in older versions of the game with shooting, stabbing and fighting.

We all know that this will be a major hit for Capcom, since the rejuvenation that RE4 brought to the dying series. Resident Evil 5 looks to have the same concept as its predecessor, but with that extra bit of humph. It will be interesting to see Resident Evil being based in another country and we all know how big Africa is and the developers can take major advantage of that.

Already looking likely to take the best game of the year award for 2009. I would just like to warn you that RE5 will be telling one great heck of a story and with the combined processing power of the PS3 and Xbox 360 we look to in for a zombified treat!

Compared to all other horror games such as dino crisis or silent hill, this beats them hands down.

Looking for Heating Oil Suppliers and Central Heating.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Vs Fifa 2009

2008-10-28T22:06:00.001-07:00

By Musa Aykac

Well the time of year has again approached where the two rival football games go head to head in the Christmas war. Who will come out the most successful? Who knows, only time can tell. But let's have a look at both games and rate each one.

Fifa 2009

First we take a look at Fifa 2009, the game which is highly anticipated every year looks to have improved itself on the game play side of things. From the start Fifa have this time wanted to get the game completely right, they begun the creation of Fifa by gathering criticisms from gamers and critics and it has sure paid off.

The game is much more improved then as of previous years, including ball physics and the collision system. You can also switch the camera view to any specification that you would like. But it does not end there, Fifa have made some amazing additions to the game such as the Be a Pro Seasons mode, the Adidas Live Season, and the 10-on-10 football. This all sets Fifa up to potentially dominate the football games industry once again.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Well pro evolution soccer look to have put its gear stick on full throttle, and have realised they needed to bring back the game that won so many peoples hearts on the PS2. The game play is very much similar to that of its golden days, but it looks as though PES have not really considered the graphics side of things very well.

But the positive site of things is that the game play is very natural in itself and not to mention that they have the UEFA champion's league licence, they also have Manchester Utd's and Liverpool's licenses, but besides from that the rest of the players have obscure names.

Conclusion

Well in my eyes there can only be one winner, Fifa's new revamped look and game play over the last few years has set them up to dominate the gaming industry. There graphics completely trumps over those on PES, and with Fifa owning a lot of the unique licences, PES still has a long way to go. The once dominating football game for the PS2 has been outwit and outrun by the all so mighty Fifa.

This being said though, the overall game play of PES does still grow on you after a while, but as technology progresses that just is not enough and more needs to be done.

Compared to all other football games these two knock the socks off the rest.

Looking for Heating Oil Suppliers and Central Heating.

What Are the Most Popular Car Racing Games?

2008-10-28T22:05:00.004-07:00

By Mike Selvon

Thirty years ago, you could actually find individuals who could not explain what a video game system was. Today, virtually everyone has heard of an X-Box or a PS3. With the popularity of these gaming systems came the advent of many popular video games.

One of the most popular genres is the car racing games. These games depict very realistic characters and vehicles. Age does not seem to come into play, as everyone loves them. However, there are certain types of sports auto racing games that are more popular with certain age groups than others.

One of the auto racing games that has stood the test of time is the Need for Speed series. The series first appeared on the car auto racing game scene in 1998. It has been a gaming favorite ever since. All of the games in this series are similar in one aspect; they offer no frills thrills to the gamer. The gamer is offered a variety of races and then attempts to win.

By winning through the different races the players are able to unlock different vehicles, different tracks and even special features that will allow them to extend their game play and give them even more exciting gaming play. This very popular series of car racing videos has won the hearts of many gamers and continues to grow in popularity.

One of the most popular car auto racing games with younger individuals is the Mario Kart series. This series of car racing games has truly stood the test of time. Many older individuals remember playing the original Mario Bros games, and Mario Kart keeps those characters alive and up to their old tricks. The game combines some of the old familiar types of play, such as collecting coins with driving go-karts and facing new challenges.

Mario Kart can be great fun for even the gamer that really isn't into auto racing games. It provides lots of action and fun and the continuing amount of titles keep you longing for the newest game to play in this fantasy auto racing category.

Car racing games seem to appeal to individuals of all age groups and even to people of all walks of life. Some individuals love to play all types of games, while others are more into car racing sports games. Whatever type of game the gamer loves to play, there are many different auto racing games available on the market to keep them paying for hours.

A free car auto racing gift awaits you at Mike Selvon portal site, where you can enrich your knowledge further about the car racing games.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed - Ups and Downs

2008-10-28T22:05:00.003-07:00

By Joe L. Peyton

Ups

First off, the game had amazing graphics. The characters, the environment, and the CGI cutscenes were very detailed and clear. Walking around in the different worlds it took you too I could not help but admire the background scenery while I was slashing up rebels.

As far as the game play goes, it was fun running around cutting up Imperial robots and cloners. Most of the game was about getting to a specific place and in the process half the galaxy was in your way trying to stop you. If you're into the constant saber slashing, this game is diffidently for you.

The storyline was good. It was a remake of the graphic novel that followed after the third movie where Anakin turned to the dark side. You play as Vader's unknown apprentice the whole time. Quite a few plot twists and the ending left off to the beginning of the fourth movie.

Downs

Although the game play was fun, it wasn't as outgoing as I hoped. Killing hundreds of Imperials over and over using different combos, powers, and lightsabers was cool, but afterwards it just became redundant.. I would of preferred more of a role playing environment that gave you more freedom to walk around and speak to the people around you. The customization of your outfit, lightsaber, and different spells were as close to an RPG that this game was going to get.

The game was too short.

Excellent story line, but it just seemed to abruptly stop. The gameplay levels were not long, and the cutscenes were not much longer. The game should of had more levels and cutscenes. I feel like they might have cut to much out of the graphic novel that the designers thought were irrelevant. But like every Star Wars fan, nothing Star Wars is irrelevant...

Overall I believe it was worth the time to play the game. I enjoyed beating it and others who have done the same will probably say that as well.

Joe Peyton is a webmaster of http://www.nutz4art.com/ where you can view our large selection of Star Wars prints and posters.

Fable 2 Review

2008-10-28T22:05:00.001-07:00

By Cameron Bankord

Introduction:

Fable 2, the long awaited sequel for the massively popular RPG 'Fable,' on the original Xbox. Massively denounced for its promised features and ridiculed developers, Peter has publicly stated that he has learned his mistakes and will offer a fully dynamic world this time around. Unfortunately, the only aspects of this game that are dynamic is the economy. There are a few things that might change the world depending on your alignment and reputation, but these subtle changes do not make a huge impact on the game environment. For example, you have a choice later in the game to destroy 'Oakvale,' if you decide to slaughter the town, you will eliminate the 'Temple of Light,' which almost ruins your chances to become good later in the game if you are fully evil. However, if you go with the good decisions, the 'Temple of Shadows' will be destroyed. This is predictable later in the game and there are very few moments where events like this occur. Unlike the first fable, this game offers two different schemes for alignment, corrupt or pure, and evil or good. Fortunately for these schemes, they do factor in neutrality and change your looks throughout the game in 9 unique appearances. Some of these look amazingly cool and you will either feel like a hero in the game, or an evil warrior that slaughters innocent children like no tomorrow.

Story:

You start out in the streets as a poor boy with your sister, looking to make money for this special device that grants a wish. Once you have received this item, your one wish is to live in a castle, due to the oncoming winter that you may not survive being homeless. You are awoken from your sleep as Lucien "the evil dictator" orders you to stand in a magic circle in his castle. Lucien shoots your sister and you because you are one of the four heroes of Albion. Your whole mission is to stop Lucien from resurrecting the spire and exacting revenge for killing your sister.

Gameplay:

Boy with a sword

The Game-Play aspect is much improved over its predecessor. It's fluent and simple to switch styles of combat, between ranged, magic, and combat. The targeting in the game is amazingly simple to use, and very accessible later in the game. Once you upgrade your characters styles, it is possible to auto-aim and sub target specific points on your enemy. The melee combat is deep and hard to master, but simple to use and efficient. The game allows you to button mash if necessary. Will combat was somewhat annoying to me; you must charge your spell up which takes around 5 seconds minimum. This process only allows you to use one spell at maximum capacity during a battle. Spells in this game do not offer enough variety, only taking back a few from the first game, some of the fan favorites are lost and offer no buffs whatsoever. After a battle is over you are rated on how well you dispatched your enemies and receive bonus experience, if you did well and used advanced techniques. You are able to create a combat style unique to your own character, by either ranged (skill), magic (will), or melee (strength). These three attributes encompass your characters abilities and create your hero in Albion. However these abilities can be maxed-out within a few days and do not offer variance or limits when playing, so your character cannot become specialized when playing with a buddy or various people over Xbox Live. This was the same with Fable 1, but it wasn't a co-op experience back then. The multi-player portion of the game is a huge let down. You are unable to use your unique character you've built in other people's games. This will promote players to stay in their world and play alone. Furthermore the camera of the online portion is ridiculous, you are unable to move it and both of the players must stay on one screen. I have played multiple games with friends and this camera has ruined the entire experience for me. Sometimes you are unable to move due to the camera, so they have integrated a teleport button just incase this happens. Fortunately the online experience has a few good things going for it. You are able to change the settings of how the experience and gold are distributed between the two players and the innovative way to the games lobby. The whole lobby is the world; you are able to chat to players in almost an MMORPG like experience. This is refreshing and a letdown due to how the games online component could possibly be great.

Fortunately you are able to do practically everything in the game with your buddy, If you are able to get someone to join your world. Unlockables in this game are difficult and unrewarding. I had spent over 4 hours looking for 50 silver keys around the game and received 50,000 gold for it. All of which is useless because the games economy is extremely easy to take advantage of. If you buy out every house in the game you will make 20,000 gold every 5 minutes. You are also able to cheat the game by changing your Xbox system clock and receiving billions. This ruins the whole experience of the game and is aggravating due to the crappy reward for all of the hard work. Most of the rewards earned can either be bought from the shop, or are inferior to equipment that you have already earned by doing a simple quest. Silver keys are easily found throughout the game and more than 75% of the chests only require 20 keys at most, and all of these chests have junk in them. Unfortunately the game is also cheated in other areas, such as experience. You do not have to fight one bit in the game to max out all of your abilities. All you have to do is become rich and buy your way to the top, due to the unbelievable experience potions that offer nearly 70,000 exp for only 4,000 gold. Once you have bought up the stock, you are able to sleep a week and re-purchase the potions again. This ruins the whole game because players who cheat the game with the system-clock can also just glitch their characters to the top. The dog in this game is fairly smart but sometimes has trouble navigating over obstacles and you will find yourself running in circles trying to find its dig spot. This will become painfully obvious when you follow it and all of a sudden the icon stating, "dig spot" disappears and you are 100 yards off the beaten path. There is no mini-map in the game, instead a breadcrumb trail was added that leads you to your current quest. This is accommodating, but the trail sometimes doesn't know where its going and you will find yourself running the wrong way multiple times and asking yourself "WTF Q+A?" The environment has its ups and downs; you are able to explore 90% of what you see in the world. I sometimes get lost in it and I've spent around 30 hours in the game.

However, you are able to fast-travel, and not that it's a bad thing, but players who do so are missing out on the great game world. All of the buildings and shops are purchasable, even little cottages you find throughout the game-world can be bought out. The civilians of Albion are at the mercy of your doing, you are able to set rent, and evict npcs if you will. It's great watching bewildered citizens roam the streets, asking themselves why and where they will get their next paycheck. Surprisingly one thing that I thought would be in bulk in this game was the amount of clothing and appearance options. Unfortunately this isn't the case, it actually has less options than the original Fable. This is horrible due to it being an online experience this time around. I for 1 would love to have a unique looking character with rare loot received from a dungeon. However fable isn't that type of game, and appearance options are secondary to the actual game, it would be nice to actually have something others would have a hard time getting though. Not be a pessimist, but the only accomplishment this game offers game play wise is the innovative world lobby that is almost like an "MMORPG," and the lush free-roaming landscape. This game is far better than the current RPGS on the 360, but the game is just riddled with bugs and could be so much better than it is in its current form.

Graphics:

Graphically the game is great, very smooth, and the environment only extends to that fantasy immersion. It's no Elder Scrolls IV, but it is up there in the graphics department. The textures through the world look amazing and the art direction is top notch. Every square foot of the world feels like a piece of art. I couldn't have asked for a better world than what was given in this installment of the fable franchise.

Sound Design:

Sound design in the game is horrible; there will be delayed sounds and expressions. This will make the game feel like it's skipping on your 360. It's because it is, the game skips like no other, sometimes actually freezing the game for a few moments when trying to navigate to your start menu. Personally this game made my Xbox sound like a generator with a fan and a few rocks inside. Although the voice actors are done quite well, every person in the game sounds like they're from Great Britain for some reason. Sound effects in the game are perfect, it's almost hard to tell like sounds and it doesn't sound repetitive.

Man with dog

Final Thoughts:

This game has many flaws that would scare away most gamers if they knew them, but it also provides great entertainment. It is fun, but not necessarily worth a buy unless you enjoy replaying games. The replayability for this game is great due to the astounding amount of ways you can play it. This is not a game that you play by yourself for hundreds of hours, it is a game that you get on once in a while, do a side mission, and hopefully it doesn't get boring. The game doesn't reward you enough to keep playing once you have unlocked everything the game. I regret buying it just because of these reasons. I have completed the game 100% and I don't see myself playing it anytime in the near future. Once and if 'Lion Head' fixes the online play, it is definitely a buy.

Source Material: http://www.gameogasm.blogspot.com

Gaming - The Next Big Titles in the Video Games Scene

2008-10-25T09:22:00.001-07:00

By Rich Thorp

In the constantly chaotic world of video games, it is easy to lose track of what will be the hottest titles on release, especially in a time where there are simply so many to choose from. Let's take a look at some of the big titles that are going to be making waves in the coming months.

Gears of War 2

Marcus Fenix and crew return in the eagerly anticipated sequel to the massively popular Gears of War. The adventure continues with our heroes utilizing bigger and better weaponry, fighting it out in breathtakingly detailed environs. Take the battle online with Xbox's unparalleled Live Network introducing new modes, maps and weaponry. Excitement regarding the return of the Xbox 360 powerhouse game has reached fever pitch ahead of its November 7th release!

Dead Space

Teaser snippets and leaked info on this space survivor have got fans looking forward to a new breed of horror gaming. As with the best from this genre, you play an everyman hero stranded aboard a space vessel, struggling to combat the lurking terrors with what little equipment you can scrape together. Early reviews have been glowing, putting the scare factor of this title on par with the notorious Silent Hill series. Apparently banned in some countries, this game promises to take you to the extreme!

Little Big Planet

This strange offering on the PS3 is actually being touted as one of the most innovative games of all time. Seemingly a simple platformer, this game actually draws its appeal from massive online capabilities, allowing players to create their own character and environments and share them with other players around the world. It's fun, looks cute and promises to keep players hooked with endless possibilities.

Tomb Raider Underworld

The first lady of gaming returns in November, with Lara Croft's next generation debut already looking better than ever. Continuing the story arc that began with Tomb Raider Legend, Lara is on the trail of Thor's mystical hammer, leaving no cave unturned in her pursuit. Crystal Dynamics promise us environments on a scale never seen before, and Lara has been developed further to be more realistic and potent than ever!

Final Fantasy XIII

Oh c'mon, I had to throw this one in. It's probably still more than a year away, but the next installment of the world conquering franchise is keeping fans hooked with trailers and info leaked at the notoriously teasing rate. What we've seen so far looks unsurprisingly excellent, and the mere concept of Final Fantasy coming to the Next Gen consoles promises a gaming experience unlike any other.

Rich is a gaming expert who writes for the pop culture/memorabilia site Starstore.com and its blogs, covering the latest and greatest in film, video games, TV, music and comics merchandise and collectibles.

Yes! You Can Replace Your Gym Membership With the Nintendo Wii Fit!

2008-10-24T07:07:00.001-07:00

By Peter Sicoli

You have paid a good sum of money for your gym membership fee for a year, but you can hardly make it there once a week, let alone three times a week! Whatever reasons or excuses you have for not being able to go to the gym, here's good news for you. Introducing Nintendo Wii Fit, the ultimate game machine for those who want to exercise and have fun at the same time. Wii Fit uses a balance board called the Wii Balance Board peripheral. This is where you stand on, in order to start playing the various games. The Wii Fit comprises of 40 different activities, such as yoga poses, balance games, muscle-toning games and aerobics.

Wii Balance Board is a better choice than going to the gym, especially for those who are extremely busy. By purchasing your very own, you will be making a lifetime investment. There will be no need for gym membership fees or renewals, and there is no need for you to drive to the gym. You will save a lot of money by saving fuel or money for transportation. You don't have to buy separate gym equipments for different needs because you can use Wii Fit for all your exercising needs. Whether you are trying to lose those extra weights or tone your body muscles, you can achieve your goals by using the cardiovascular activities.

The Nintendo balance board game allows you to exercise in the comfort of your home and therefore, keeping you safe. There is no risk of being chased or bitten by dogs when you are jogging around your neighborhood. You don't have to worry about being robbed or being a victim of any crimes. There is no traffic to watch out for and you can focus on your exercise routine without any interruptions. For those in countries with extreme cold or hot weather, Wii Fit is perfect as you can exercise indoor. Even if it is snowing outside, you can still break a sweat in the warmth of your living room.

Using the balance board game as a fun and interactive game as a motivational tool, you don't have any excuses to avoid exercising. You can exercise alone or with your friends and family. Make it as a compulsory family activity or a weekly fun activity with your best friend. It is better to exercise with someone who can motivate you and keep you going on. Even if you don't have a home exercise room, you can always play your sports games on your Nintendo Wii in your bedroom or living room. Since you will be having so much fun on your Wii Fit, there is no pressure of trying to exercise. This is excellent for those who are self-conscious or shy about their appearance. You can sweat all you want at home without worrying about how you look. After all, as long as you're exercising and keeping fit, that's all that should matter.

For months this game has been very popular and it is sold out everywhere. Perfect for health buffs and those who are just getting started on their exercise regimes, Wii Fit Balance Board Game is an absolute must-have. For the new age in you, try the yoga poses, which include various balance and stretches. There are also aerobic exercises, muscle-toning games, and balance games. From rough football actions to delicate yoga stretches, the the Nintendo Wii offers a little something for everyone.

The author of this article is Peter Sicoli. Peter owns and operates JP Global Games a successful video game information marketing company.

The Scoop on Free MMORPS

2008-10-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

By Lee Desormeaux

Free role playing games online. Oh so sweet!

It used to be not too long ago that when you wanted to play a really cool RPG, (or any game for that matter) you had to have a console, a game, an extra controller for that extra person, etc. And you'd probably play solo for the most part.

Then the event of online games came, where we were enabled the power and the fun and exciting experience of playing our favorite pastimes with others... and not just in the same living room or basement!

Now, there are thousands and thousands of games on a variety of topics in this theme, and the best part is, for a good many, you can have literally hours upon hours of fun for no money at all.

Free online MMORPGs are a fad that are going nowhere, they are here to stay, and that is a fact. They are easy to download, and all they cost is your time. Sound to good to be true? Well, 'tis the world in which we now live. :)

Online gaming--and even better, online gaming for free!--is more than just a personal sport of sorts, in which you can play in your spare time, but it is a phenomenon that has swept the world of video gaming off its feet in a variety of ways. We're talking whole communities, of thousands--and in cases millions!--of peopel brought togetehr to adventure via the online system.

Free online games, where you learn not only how to kill dragons and giant insects, but life skills, cooperation, sharing, humbling and being humbled--and let's not forget the joy of faction and guild wars!--the whole shabang!

Because it used to be that it was all fine and dandy to go on live chat with a friend or two--or your own small group of friends and whatnot, but now whole entire worlds are available with common goals--tons of "strangers" to meet, and even the odd "enemy" to make, if it ever comes to that. (Lol).

Playing these games gives people a chance to make a multitude of friends, and learn things of value, believe it. The economy factor on some games is taken so seriously by some people, that actual jobs have been created as a result! Well, those are at least for the big boys anyway...

This author has been playing online for a while himself, and I can tell you I've learned a thing or two about people and about the market life with these games! And the neat thing is that these mediums act as so much more than that, as briefly mentioned, and yet for most people, (those who don't want to take it too too seriously ;) ) you will hardly notice that you or your kids are learning real life lessons...you're too busy having too much fun.

So why did I write this? To let people know that you can play online games, for free, and enhoy yourself in the process.

Create a hero! Conquer! Have endless hours of fun.

And pay nothing!

This author recommends two really good free games at this exact moment for you. Got free time? Got little to spare?

Fly For Fun (FLYFF) will dazzle you.

Rappelz, another massive and long game, bedazzle you.

In both of these, you will be kept occupied, challenged, and will make friends, join guilds, fight real life peoples' enemy characters if you like, or simply solo around and laugh at or with other persons' comments.

Have a blast, all for free!

For more, visit: http://video-game-reviews-libra.blogspot.com/

Lee Desormeaux is a reviewer and author on many subjects, who tries and tests (often with his equally fun-loving wife) a variety of hobbies and interests.

Lee Desormeaux is an online and soon to also be offline author, as well as reviewer, affiliate business marketer, freelance worker, and general philanthropist. His motto is: "If you yourself do not try or indulge in that which you proclaim to know, shame on you!" Online since the internet came out, Lee lives in Canada with his wife and are a couple proud to say what they mean and stand being their words.(And we honestly just have too many interests!)

So What is Guitar Hero?

2008-10-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

By Colin Dorman

Have you ever played an "air guitar"?

I have.

Many times when listening to my Sex Pistols, Sham 69, or Stranglers records (Yeh, I know, I'm showing my age now).

But playing the "air guitar" has often been looked upon as a bit "geeky", yet it's something most of us have done and still do.

Well, Guitar Hero brings the art of playing the air guitar literally screaming and kicking into the 20th Century and out of the closet.

Playing the air guitar is now actually seen as cool and hip, especially if your good.

I was first exposed to the game at my local Mall when I saw groups of teenagers round a video game machine thrashing away on a "guitar" shaped "instrument".

So what is Guitar Hero?

In the "game" players flail away on guitar-shaped controller and try to replicate the moves of the guitarist playing a popular song.

In essence its a bit like guitar karaoke.

What makes it unusual and unique is it comes packaged with a guitar peripheral modeled after a black Gibson SG rather than using the console's standard controller.

The game's guitar has no strings; its fret board features five colored buttons that you press with your left hand as you hit a plastic strumming bar with your right.

Its appeal is in the ease of playing and "learning" to play the guitar to recreate your favorite bands and songs.

It "makes you feel like you're a guitar player without having to practice for years and years," says Ted Lange, an associate producer and in-house guitar expert at Red Octane, the company that makes "Guitar Hero."

Published by Red Octane in partnership with Activision it has become a huge success and has achieved cult status already amongst its many loyal "followers".

The development of Guitar Hero was inspired by Konami's Guitar Freaks arcade game, which at the time had not seen much exposure in the North American market.

In total, four games have been released for video game consoles, while games have been released for mobile phones and the Nintendo DS hand held gaming system.

But I predict there is more to come as the game garners mass appeal.

The Heroes

Another popular element of the game is its characters, or the Guitar Heroes featured.

Each character has been given a rich and believable history making the characters more "real" and "alive". Add to this some real Guitar Heroes such as "Slash" and suddenly the line between real and unreal becomes blurred.

Popular characters included Johnny Napalm, a punk rocker looking not to dissimilar to Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten.

Then there's God of Rock, Axel Steel (any guesses to his "true identity?), Izzy Sparks, Slash, Judy Nails, Lou, and Metalhead to name a few.

What makes it different?

Guitar Hero is different because guitar playing is seen as a showy and flashy thing to do.

It's always been revered and the worlds top guitarists are adored and emulated by their millions of fans who aspire to play like them.

Everyone has, at some time, played the "air guitar" usually locked away in your bedroom with just you and your records.

This is what has given the game its mass appeal and popularity.

It has tapped into this and dragged the practice of playing the air guitar out into the open and made it mainstream and "acceptable".

Add to that alcohol, members of the opposite sex, or the same sex, and it becomes like going to a party in your parents' basement

In New York Guitar Hero nights have quickly become a hit in some bars and pubs and competitions are a regular event.

In fact McFarlane Toys, makers of the Guitar Hero action figures, recently sponsored a Guitar Hero competition prior to the Metallica concert at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz.

The competition was open to everyone and took place near the fountains adjacent to Jobing.com Arena on the huge video board.

There were loads of cool prizes given away, including t-shirts, Guitar Hero video games and McFarlane's own Guitar Hero action figures.

There is already a huge amount of merchandising surrounding the game with custom guitar consoles, soundtracks, statues and now action figures.

McFarlane Toys, one of the USA's biggest toy manufacturers, has announced that they have signed a deal in partnership with Activision to produce action figures based on the hit video game.

Some of the most popular characters in Guitar Hero are to be represented in McFarlanes series of Guitar Hero's action figures and they will even be producing packs of individual, customizable guitars for them.

So it looks like 2009 could be the year to brush the dust off your air guitar break out that old pair of torn jeans and t-shirt and head to the local Mall.

If you haven?t seen or heard of Guitar Heroes yet you will.

Because, with the right marketing and product placement I predict this could become as big as Karaoke was in the 80?s.

Until next time

Keep rockin' :-)

Written by Colin Dorman

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Have You Seen Gears of War?

2008-10-22T10:54:00.001-07:00

By Colin Dorman

Gears for War is an Xbox futuristic third person shoot 'em up game that has won over 30 gaming awards since it was released and has a huge base of loyal fans.

The game was released in 2006 exclusively for the Xbox 360 and quickly became one of the most popular and talked about games on the console.

It succeeds in delivering one of the most heart-pounding and graphically thrilling experiences available for the Xbox but if that isn't enough to hook you there's always the team-based multiplayer online game.

In 2007 the game sold over three million units worldwide, and was the fourth best selling game of the year.

In Gears of War you are thrust into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's struggle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet, bent on the destruction of humankind.

Out numbered and outpowered you and your ragtag squadron of soldiers have to defend humankind from the ever present Locust Horde.

You are Marcus Fenix, the Delta Squads reluctant war hero and leader who leads the Delta Squad on a series of perilous and adrenaline-pumping missions against the onslaught of the Locust Horde.

The game is has now become so popular that it is available across multiple platforms with the PC game looking even better and sharper than the original Xbox 360 version.

All in all with its great choice of weapons, an excellent multiplayer package, and an action-packed story with cinematic quality graphics Gears of War is a terrific action game with great interactivity.

Not Just A Game

With its excellent cinematic quality graphics it was only a matter of time before Gear for Wars would get the movie treatment.

New Line had planned on a summer of 2009 release but realistically it looks more likely to be the summer of 2010.

Gears for War Action Figures

NECA Toys recently announced that they have granted Amazon.com the exclusive retail rights to their licensed Gears for War Bundle Lancer Replica and 'Headshot' Locust Drone Action Figure for the USA and Canada.

Any customers who pre-order the Lancer replica will also receive a free copy of the standard edition of the Gears of War 2 game for Xbox 360™ and be eligible to upgrade to the Limited Collector's Edition of the game for an additional $10.00.

The Lancer life size replica gun and Gears of War 2, developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, are scheduled for simultaneous release on November 7, 2008 and will be available for $139.99.

But that's not all, also scheduled for release is NECA's exclusive "Headshot" Locust Drone action figure with metal COG tag replicas, which will retail for $19.99.

With its signature chainsaw bayonet The Lancer Assault Rifle is one of the most popular weapons in the Gears of War universe.

NECA used 3D data direct from the Gears of War 2 game in order to produce an accurate and detailed electronic Lancer replica, which is 36 inches in length and runs on three "C" batteries.

The Locust Drone is a nasty enemy in Gears of War, and the "Headshot" Locust Drone has is a new version of the original action figure depicting the merciless foot soldier taking an unfortunate Longshot Sniper Rifle blast to the head.

The "Headshot" Locust Drone comes complete with real metal COG tags, a nod to Gears of War's intrepid Delta Squad.

As with any popular game the amount of merchandise and collectible memorabillia will only increase in bith quantity and value as the game gains in popularity and with the upcoming release of the new game and and movie it seems likely that Gears of War will be with us for some time.

My advice, if your a collector get collecting now.

If you're a gamer, get the game and try it.

I don't think you'll regret it.

Have fun and happy gaming!

Written by Colin Dorman

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QueenAlice - The Site for Casual Chess on the Web (A Review)

2008-10-17T12:38:00.003-07:00

By Timothy Trimble

I've been playing chess since I was 15 years old. I was in the Chess Club in school. And I remember the big media blitz on chess during the Boris Spasky versus Bobby Fisher matches. Whew! That was a long time ago. But I'm still a big chess player. As such, I'm always on the lookout for a good internet based chess client where I can hang my chess hat. In my initial search I tried many different sites. I even paid for membership on one of the sites for awhile. But then I came across www.queenalice.com!

QueenAlice is a web based chess site that provides correspondence chess playing in a very laid back and non-intimidating environment. What attracted me to QueenAlice was the need to be able to play some chess with some of my remote friends, by making moves when I had the time. Which is where QueenAlice shines! When a player makes a move, QueenAlice will send an email to the opponent, letting them know that it's their turn to move. Moves can be spread out for up to 14 days per move or up to 90 days per game. The email message contains a layout of the board and a history of the game moves.

One of the features that I use the most on QueenAlice is called the "Think" gear. When you click on this, you can move pieces around the board and try out different move combinations, without affecting the actual game. Then when you're done trying out your "what if" positions, you click on the gear again and go back to the original board setup.

Currently there are just a little over 600 players, from all around the world. There is support for multiple languages and players can contribute to new translations if their language is not currently supported.

Players can play rated or nonrated games. Ratings are provisional during the first 25 games, and then the player gets an "established" rating. The rating calculations are posted on the site for review. There are also ongoing Round Robin and Swiss System tournaments.

The ART of Software Development in QueenAlice is in the feel of the site and the dedication of the author Miguel. The theme of the site is taken from the book "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll. The site itself is very easy to use and does not promote the "pretentious" attitude found on many chess sites. It's the perfect place to go for a "casual" game of chess. Miguel has done an excellent job of putting the site together. He's always avalable to listen to comments and recommendations made by the users. Much of the feel and functionality of the site is due to comments from the players. There is an active forum on the site where players can discuss chess tatics, site functionality, or just life in general topics. I have found QueenAlice to be an excellent location for playing chess with many of my friends who are not computer or internet experts. It's very easy to register and begin playing without having to jump through a lot of techical configuration hoops. And the site is currently free to use. It has been during the past few years that I've been using it. There is a minimal amount of advertising on the site, but it does not get in the way of playing or using the site.

Now if you're looking for high end chess discussions with international chess masters and advocates, then you'll be happier on other sites like The World Chess Network, The Red Hot Pawn, or The Internet Chess Club. If you want a casual game of chess, with some very friendly folks, on a very easy to use site, then QueenAlice is THE place to go. Now if they could just figure out how to serve expresso with each game. Check it out at www.queenalice.com

Timothy Trimble, The ART of Software Development

Timothy Trimble is a award winning, freelance writer, and software developer. He has written a book for Microsoft Press, articles for significant computer industry trade magazines, and is currently working on his second computer technology book to be published in early 2006. He is the Blog publisher of The ART of Software Development which can be found via his web site at http://www.timothytrimble.info

Proud member of http://www.WordBrains.com

N - Classic Gaming with a New Twist (A Review)

2008-10-17T12:38:00.001-07:00

By Timothy Trimble

If you've ever wasted hours or even days on playing a video game on your old Commodore 64, then chances are it was a game called Load Runner. Well, it's amazing how this genre has come back full circle. "N" is such a game. Developed in Flash by Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard, of Metanet Software Inc.

My first sight of this game was from watching my son play it on his computer. I instantly became mesmerized by it's smoothness and the intricate details in the movement of the main character as it moves, flys, jumps, and falls thoughout maze after maze of enemies and bonuses. I especially took note of the simplicity of the game. Finally, someone has released a game that one can sit down to and play without having to crack open a 20 page instruction guide. But don't be fooled! There are over 200 levels to get through! And what amazes me, is that after watching my three sons play this during the past few weeks, they've yet to finish the game! They're totally hooked. The family PS2, with its adrenalin pumping shooters, 3-d ray traced, real-time graphics, and total game play immersion - sits cold and alone. Only to be touched if one of the boys is waiting for their time on the PC with N.

The ART of Software Development in N, is not just in the finished product and its ability to capture the gamer. Its also in the fact that Raigan and Mare have published source and tutorials on their web site, which explains the technique and process of developing this wonderful game. And we not just talking a few rapid paragraphs here! This is a full blown tutorial on Collision Detection, Physics, Movement, Geometry, and Mathmatics. With pictures and diagrams too! For anyone who wants a full blown education on the science of game design and development, this is the place to go!

I can't say enough about this amazing game, the Metanet website, and the kindness of the developers. There is heart in the offices of Metanet Software Inc.! I have no doubt that we'll be hearing more about Raigan, Mare, and Metanet! You'll find this quote on their web site: "We're not professional -- that's our strength." That pretty much sums it up.

You can check out N at: http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet

Timothy Trimble, The ART of Software Development

Proud member of http://www.WordBrains.com

MMORPGS: World of Warcraft, a Review

2008-10-17T12:37:00.008-07:00

By Stefan Pratter

Introduction

If you're into computer games, you probably have heard of World of Warcraft, the latest hit produced by Blizzard Entertainment, and you're probably aware what an MMORPG is. If you're not, let me explain it quickly. A MMORPG is a massivly multiplayer online roleplaying game that allows thousands of players to play in a persistant game world.

World of Warcraft currently entertains close to 7 million people world wide. It has drawn many of the mmorpg veterans but also introduced a lot of new people to the genre. Why is world of warcraft so successful? Well. I think it comes down to more than one thing.

First of MMORPGs are usually not that easy to get into, often the player is presented with a akward interface, tons of options and a lot of things going on around them in general the first time the log onto the game. Blizzard has done a pretty solid job in keeping the interface simple and stupid, allowing even newbie players to get into it at a quick pace. Hints and Tips help guide the true MMORPG newbie along as well. When the developers of the game created the interface, and gameplay in general their goal was for it to be easy to get into it, but to be hard to master.

They have definitely accomplished the first part, the second part can be argued about. What defines a good player in an MMORPG basically comes down to two things.

1) Does he know his character and the abilities

2) Does he pay attention

There are no twitch skills involved, and in my opinion if youre looking for a competitive game, current mmorpgs - including WoW - are not the place to look at. If you want skillbased competition stick to RTS and FPS games.

The second thing that makes wow so successful is mostlikely the name of the producer and their huge fanbase - which they deserve by all means - after having released such great games as the diablo and warcraft series, which were all huge hits.

Let's get to the review part :)

Character Creation

Like every MMORPG or MUD out there the journey always begins with the character creation. You get to pick your site - alliance or horde , your race and a few visual features. Character customization is definitely one of the game's weakest points, the diversity and amount of features to select and change for character remind of Everquest which was released almost 8 years ago. You get to chose

* between a handful of faces

* skin tone

* between a handful of haircuts

* between a handful of facial hair styles

* hair color

It is probably not a huge deal, and its certainly nothing game breaking, a bit more would have been nice though.

First steps

As you take your first steps within WoW, getting used to the user interface, you will quickly notice that the game is very quest driven. You can earn most of your character's experience via quests, you will still be grinding mobs for exp once in a while though.

The starting quests also lead you along nicely, out of the starting area to the bigger towns and into the deep dungeons

The world

The amount of detail that was put into the world of warcraft is amazing and stunning. The cartoony style may not be everyones cup of tea, but whether you like it or not you cannot dismiss that the world has a lot of character. It is filled with content too, and you will find yourself stumbling from point of interest to point of interest.

The dungeons

The dungeon instances, which are zones that belong to you and your group, while pretty linear most of the time are also amazingly done. The boss encounters are fun, and the best loot is gotten from doing instance runs. The dungeon instances are supposed to be the group part of the game (aside from pvp) and it would be unwise to enter them alone unless youre like 20 levels stronger than the mobs inside the dungeon.

The way to 60, and beyond

Most people ive talked to tell me they have the most fun leveling their characters to level 60, because it is quick paced most of the time, and only slows down rarely. The quests are done well, and there is just so much to discover.

Once you hit 60 youre basically stuck with three things to do though

a) do instance runs (raids) for items

b) grind monsters for money

c) pvp

Now this might sound as if it should be enough. But the core problem is this: there is no character advancement beyond 60 other than getting items. These items are gotten by raiding elite dungeons with your guild, playing the bazaar game or by gaining rank while pvping.

Right now, if youre a raider, you raid so you can raid more. There is no reason to take that super dagger of stabbing into a normal 5 man dungeons and just carnage stuff left and right, other than for the sake of carnageing - is that even a word.

The game at this point, 2 years after its release, direly needs some alternate advancement, luckily the expansion (The Burning Crusade) is right around the corner, so that should help out some for now.

Server Issues

This is were i have an axe to grind, so pardon my rant

Ever since wow was released , the game has had severe sever stability issues. I guess they did not expect the kind of amount of people to buy the game back then and got surprised. Not a big deal, most of the MMORPGs face server issues the first few days of the game's release, even if is not as popular as wow.

But even after 2 years of development it is sad and annoying to see that the same server problems still exist, while not as severe, and the servers need to go down for maintenance weekly.

Content Updates

We all know it, Blizzard likes to do things correctly, and they always take their time. The thing is, that this is a MMORPG. People need to be handed new content almost constantly, waiting 3-4 months between content updates that deliver content that was promised to be in the game when it was released just seems weak. Then again i can certainly appreciate the amount of work that must be needed to create the content. It wouldnt be so bad if there was actually some way of alternative character advancement.

This review may sound a bit harsh and dont get me wrong, WoW is an amazing game, and what the artists did is just mind boggling. I leveled 3 characters to level 60, and as i was progressing along through the vastly different world zones of the game there was always this thought on mind.

Wow is an amazing online world, but it is as if they do nothing with it. Where is the dynamic world, that i imagined when i first read about WoW in 2002. There has been a world event of the opening of a raid instance that involved the players gathering resources for a month or two and then battling in a war like scenario to unlock the dungeon. While this is definitely a step in the right direction it is not enough. Next generation MMORPGs need to be developed with dynamic behaviour in mind. The world needs to change and feel less static.

Fazit

World of warcraft is a great game, and you will definitely enjoy leveling your character. After that it is uncertain, you will have to see for yourself. Doing raid instances can be fun, unless you dont like to rely on people. PVP can be fun too if youre into that kind of thing. Heck, even trying to amass huge amounts of virtual money can be fun to some people.

Stefan Pratter is a developer of the free browser based MMORPG Lands of Kazram - http://www.landsofkazram.com

Enigma: Rising Tide Review

2008-10-17T12:37:00.007-07:00

By Neal Stevens

SINGLE PLAYER REVIEW

Enigma lives! Tesseraction has released a single player offline version of their upcoming massively multiplayer naval game and it lives up to its potential and then some. Playing Enigma offline gives you a chance to see what this game is all about and train for the upcoming Virtual Battle of the Atlantic (and Pacific, since the Japanese/British are part of this).

Enigma is set in an "alternate history", "one that begins in 1936 but in a world as it might have been had Germany won World War I". The Germans drove the British Empire from Europe and into alliance with the budding Japanese Empire. Together, the Nippo-Anglo faction faces off against the German monarchy and an expansionist United States joins the war to make a unique three-sided conflict. No Pearl Harbor, no Hitler, no Nazis, no Soviet Union. With each mission you are kept current with newspaper headlines and briefings from HQ.

There are over 35 single training missions and six separate campaigns in which you play as a destroyer, corvette, PT boat, or a submarine, for a total of over 90 missions with two difficulty levels, easy or difficult. The campaign structure is scripted and to progress you must complete each mission and live to tell. Each mission is an instant encounter at sea. There is no Aces-style hunting or tracking. The mission starts just after your lookouts make contact and the action is about to begin. The single player version does not have time compression, nor an in-game save feature. When you start a mission, you have to finish it. Getting pinned by escorts and waiting them out can take hours--real life hours. Like any good captain there were occasions where I was forced to take her deep, cut the engines, and trust my luck while I was away from the room.

Enigma makes no pretensions about being a full-blown simulation and it isn't. Be that as it may, the level of combat and the essential elements needed for an authentic naval game are there. Enigma is no arcade game by a long shot. Enigma allows first-person control of guns but all other stations are integrated in a command-style interface. Firing torpedoes is done by casual aiming, there's no TDC to operate. While I personally would be more satisfied with some kind of tangible input into target-motion analysis other than just "eyeballing" it, with all the pace and lethality of Enigma battles, it's sufficient. No player-controlled method of damage control is present, nor can you send radio messages. Aside from this and the lack of TDC, Enigma gives the simulation player most of what he could wish for in a naval game.

Enigma has AI that makes you say, "Ouch!"--enemy ships can put the hurt on you. Poke your periscope up in the middle of an armed convoy and you are plastered with tracer fire so dense, you can feel the hate and desperation of the crews aboard the merchants. Destroyers behave aggressively with tenacious, if somewhat predictable, tactics. The ships and planes are based on historical models with some modifications. Subs carry a realistic loadout of around 22-26 torpedoes. They reload much quicker than real WWII subs could, usually in a couple minutes. However, being that this is an alternate history, that can be explained by hydraulics that were actually employed on the German Type XXI U-boats that were developed at the end of the war (the real war). Destroyers, corvettes, and PT Boats (motor torpedo boats) have varying kinds of armaments-depth charges, torpedoes, hedgehogs, and guns.

All ships contain a small radar/sonar screen that gives you updates on surrounding vessels. When you play as a submarine, the screen can be interpreted as the sonar map usually found on subsims like Silent Hunter and Aces of the Deep. I was pleased to note that the indicated positions while submerged are not precise and the closer the range, the better the contacts. Tesseraction did a good job on finding the middle ground between giving the player information and withholding information he should not have depending on the tactical situation. Combined with the alarm bell that rings every time your sonar guy detects an incoming torpedo, you are equipped with fair and accommodating sensors.

Enigma has an easy mouse/keyboard interface to learn and it has the best voice control I've ever experienced in a subsim (in the same league as Sub Command). With no special mike set-up I was able to change speed, headings, depth, fire weapons, and more just by muttering into a mike. It allows you to keep one hand on the mouse, one on the keyboard, and simultaneously issue helm and weapons orders.

Graphics are a strong point for Enigma--especially the ocean wave effect. It is as close to looking out a porthole in a real ship as anything I have ever beheld. The ocean surface has very good textures, motion, and definition. The waves have sharp, white crests that are several notches above Silent Hunter II. Your sub or ship is a constantly moving platform on the surface and adds to the challenge of hitting targets with the guns or holding your binocs steady. The ocean battlefield varies from calm seas, to heavy seas, to flat-out gales with rain and blustering wind sounds. Just incredible.

Ships and subs are rendered with great detail. Not only are lifeboats, guns, portholes, screws, and antennas illustrated with inspired detail, but the decks, windscreens, and surfaces have a weathered look that straight away adds to the sense of watching a real ship in a real ocean. Hard-charging escorts part the seas with a frothy bow wave and subs leave foam on the surface when they dive (although the foam lingers too long, as if it is designed as a targeting key). Along with the voice control, Enigma graphics earns high praise.

An ample sound suite accompanies the good graphics. I enjoyed the whistling of falling bombs, changes in engine sound linked with vessel speed, ocean sounds, interior sub sounds, especially the sonar pings, and ricochet sounds. When your sub is damaged by depth charge attack, you can hear breaking glass and light bulbs and threatening water leaks. Sounds are directional, too, a plus. I noticed enemy screw sounds when in a underwater submarine were missing. Some of the best sound effects include the death scene, when your boat is fatally wounded. Water rushing in, rivets popping, and hull creaks accompanied by the slowly dimming lights... the effect is appropriately stark and eerie. Finally, you’re treated to a musical score with different anthems for each faction.

This wouldn't be an adequate review without noting the physics of the Enigma. It's easy to see that Tesseraction put a lot of effort into making the ships interact with the ocean in a convincing fashion, and they succeeded. Ships appear to be engaged in a constant dance with the ocean surface. Smaller boats such as the PT boats require a constant hand on the helm--they are pitched about by heavy seas. I also noted that when you are using the binoculars and en enemy ship hits you with a round, your view is drastically jolted, requiring time to readjust your sighting. Same for the sub cabin under depth charge attack. The display is visibly shaken after near misses. That's realism, simulation or not.

One thing Enigma has going for it in spades is ambience. The graphics are so good and the action is so compelling you will not mind repeating the same missions over and over. Some scenes caused me to marvel--watching my sub advance on a squadron of distant escorts and seeing the flash of their muzzles followed an instant later by a streaking, smoke-trailing, death-tipped shell and an audible whi-zzz! The color and moodiness of the stormy skies and towering waves touches the seadog in you. When the action really gets going with circling destroyers, skulking subs, merchants burning--planes dive bombing! torpedo bells ringing! shells splashing!--Enigma rules the ocean. While it is an action game, in some ways Enigma is more simulation than Silent Hunter II. When you are in the control room, you really are in a control room. Executing a crash dive makes the room tilt noticeably. Tesseraction knows how to suspend your imagination.

With the development emphasis on the eventual multiplayer action, there is no random mission generator, scenario editor, or dynamic campaign. Offsetting this is the implied assurance that since Tesseraction will be releasing upgrades on a three month cycle, that could include new mission packs. And when they get the online version completed (Dec 2003, we hear and hope), most players will be facing off on the Internet.

It's funny but much of what separates Enigma from Fleet Command is the first-person view from the bridge; and Enigma is distinguished from Fighting Steel by a vastly superior representation of the ocean. Yet, a host of other details and engineering touches make Enigma superior to most naval games that have come before it. The AI is better, the pacing is geared for action, the voice control works, and the environment is thoroughly engaging. Enigma promises fun and action in a superior ocean landscape and the single player version delivers completely. If Tesseraction is able to forge ahead and bring new versions and enhancements to Enigma as promised, including the massive multiplayer component, Enigma will have a lock on the naval game community. If you like naval games in general, you'll like Enigma. If you love good naval games, you'll love Enigma. This is truly a good naval game.

Neal Stevens is the editor of Subsim.com and contributing author of the coffee table book United States Submarines.

Half-Life 2: Episode One Game Review (Avg Ratio: 89.2%)

2008-10-17T12:37:00.005-07:00

By Murat Dikici

One thing you can say about the team at Valve Software: they don't like to rush. After taking six years to craft the sequel to Half-Life, it's taken another eighteen months for the first mini-expansion, Half-Life 2: Episode One, to arrive. As the initial installment of a trilogy to be offered in episodic format, the good news is that Episode One is a welcome return to the world of Half-Life 2, with the same great graphics and gameplay that helped that game win numerous awards in late 2004 (including GameSpy's PC Game of the Year).

Episode One starts off exactly where Half-Life 2 ended: with you (as scientist/killing machine Gordon Freeman) atop an exploding Citadel, with your sidekick, the spunky Alyx Vance, about to be toast. Without spoiling things, let's just say that Alyx is kept out of harm's way, and the two of you are quickly reunited outside at the base of a smoking Citadel. After establishing an uplink with old friends Dr. Kleiner and Alyx's father Eli (once again voiced by Robert Guillaume), you discover the Citadel is about to go kerplooey, and in order to give yourself, Alyx and countless other citizens more time to escape City 17, you'll have to go back in to try and delay the meltdown.

There's a good deal of exposition at the start of Episode One, as characters are quickly reintroduced and tasks are laid out before you. The intro includes a reappearance by Dog (Alyx's pet robot), who makes your re-entry into the Citadel a memorable one. Once inside, you and Alyx spend a lot of time exploring the deteriorating monolith, giving you a chance to get reacquainted with the gravity gun. Before long, you'll be flinging around Combine soldiers just like the good ol' days. As you work your way to the Citadel's central reactor core, you're confronted with a healthy dose of puzzles, which start out simple enough but require more imagination to solve as you proceed.

Once you've delayed the Citadel meltdown (and picked up some extra intel on what the Combine is up to in the process), the second half of Episode One focuses on Gordon and Alyx's efforts to haul ass out of City 17. Of course, the escape is anything but simple, as you're first forced underground where you have to deal with headcrabs, zombies, and ant lions, and then you make your way onto the streets where you get knee-deep in combat with Combine soldiers, who are none too happy with the information you pilfered from the Citadel.

The gameplay in Episode One never strays too far from the familiar Half-Life formula: levels are kept pretty linear as you're steered from one challenge to the next, with lots of scripted events to move the plot along. The opening levels in the Citadel feel the most unique, due to the heavy emphasis on storytelling, the gravity gun, and all the puzzles involved with stabilizing the reactor. Things slow down a bit once you go underground and start fighting zombies, although there are a few interesting scenes where you have to shine your flashlight on enemies so Alyx can see and shoot them in the dark. Once you get outside with a full complement of weapons, things move along much faster, although it can sometimes feel a little too familiar, as if you're replaying the later sections of Half-Life 2 instead of new content.

Probably the biggest change introduced in Episode One is how Alyx fights at Gordon's side for the majority of the game. Plenty of shooters have tried this and failed, with NPCs who get lost or get in the way or are just plain annoying. Valve strikes just the right notes with Alyx; she doesn't nag Gordon, she can competently follow you around, and even provides useful support a lot of the time. There's a fun sequence in the later chapters where you're free to run ahead and fight alone, but it's far more fun to draw enemies into Alyx's line of sight so she can snipe them from afar. Aside from her use in combat, Alyx is also effectively used to put a human face on things and keep the story moving along, and Episode One is a better game for it.

As was the case in Half-Life 2, the graphics in Episode One are drop-dead gorgeous; there may not be another graphics engine today capable of consistently producing such attractive scenes in so many different settings. From the dramatic sights outside the crumbling Citadel to the shimmering reactor core to the dramatic lighting effects when fighting zombies in the dark, it's almost impossible to take a bad screenshot in Episode One. The NPCs are once again rendered with amazing detail and animations, and Valve has included the advanced HDR lighting effects that it showcased last year in the Lost Coast tech demo. Best of all, Episode One appears to be every bit as hardware-friendly as Half-Life 2, and ran without a hitch at 1920x1200 on our test machine (a 3.4Ghz CPU with 2GB RAM and a GeForce 7800 GTX video card).

One of the most unique features in Episode One is the addition of developer commentary, which, once enabled, can be accessed via chat bubbles sprinkled throughout the game. There's a healthy amount of commentary, with Valve developers mainly offering insights about design decisions that influenced sections of the game. The commentary offers a fascinating look at why parts of the game turned out the way they did, and while Episode One isn't the first game to try this (the PC version of The Chronicles of Riddick had a commentary feature as well), it's a feature well worth checking out once you've finished the game, and something we'd like to see more of.

The biggest question you'll probably have about Episode One is whether it's worth the $19.99 price tag. With about four to five hours of new gameplay, it goes by really fast, which is all the more disappointing when you consider we've waited so long for new Half-Life 2 content. (Episode Two is currently scheduled for the end of 2006.) There's also the Steam factor: so far, Valve's download service appears to be holding up okay, but the game is also in stores now for the same price for those of you (like me) who like having a box and a disc. (For the record, Episode One is a standalone title that doesn't require Half-Life 2 to play, and includes access to the previously released Half-Life 2 deathmatch.)

Half-Life 2: Episode One delivers exactly what you'd expect from a Half-Life expansion: it returns to the intriguing setting of City 17, delivers lots of tight action sequences and well-crafted puzzles, and is arguably the best-looking shooter out today. At $20, it goes by pretty quick, but the developer commentary adds some replay value, and it's impossible to imagine anyone who enjoyed Half-Life 2 passing it up. It's exciting to see developers finally embrace the idea of episodic content; the big question now is whether Valve can keep up with the demand.

Go to http://www.zopcuk.eu/en/game_reviews/half-life_2_episode_one.asp to read the full article.

You can find more articles on http://www.zopcuk.eu

A Review of the Return to Castle Wolfenstein

2008-10-17T12:37:00.003-07:00

By Morgan Hamilton

The classic computer game Castle Wolfenstein has became one among the most popular first person shooter games of all times. I used to play Castle Wolfenstein as a 2D shooter game, before Castle Wolfenstein 3D came out. There is an unmistakable influence of Wolfenstein Castle 3D on almost all other games of the genre.

I was delighted at the news of the arrival of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a sequel to the much cherished shooter game. I was convinced that Return to Castle Wolfenstein would offer me much thrill and fun and capable of taking me back to the shooting paradise. I felt it like a visit to Nazi shooting ground.

Wolfenstein games put Nazis as bad guys deserving to be shot at. Their demo suggested they have not moved away from the track I was pretty much used to. It is going to be pretty good shooting festival.

What waited for me with the full of Return to Castle Wolfenstein disappointed me. I hate the bizarre bugs associated with newer games. What to do with the patches? I don’t like to go through the routine of cleaning up the files and my system as a whole. The end is also too plain, with little to no special feeling attached. Return to Castle Wolfenstein does keep up to mark of today’s shooter games. But I always expect them to come up with benchmarks that others are follow.

Though I disapprove Return to Castle Wolfenstein sticking to the norm, I personally would recommend it to my friends who like to experience the fun and thrill of shooter games. Or it may be my special love to shoot Nazis? Or am I so much biased, against them?

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning computer software. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting Return to Castle Wolfenstein

A Review of Bejeweled Deluxe

2008-10-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

By Morgan Hamilton

Do you like to play online games? Well, I do and I used to spend most of my time playing games on my computer. I play a lot of games, but Bejeweled Deluxe is one of the games that I like to play the most. However, I haven’t played it in a long time because when my computer crashed the game went along with it. I didn’t want to pay for a second time so I decided not to download it again.

The gaming company refused to give me a new license key when I informed them that I lost my old one. I didn’t hold this against them because I’m sure that a lot of people are trying to do this all the time. There would no way for them to know if these people are honest about it. Anyway, it’s not really a big deal for me because I had played the game for so long that I was ready for something new.

I’m sure that you are going to love Bejeweled Deluxe if you like the original. It is a great game, and it greatly improves on the original version. However, you should not start playing this game unless you have a few free hours to give up because you can easily get lost with playing. Bejeweled Deluxe can be very addictive that you might neglect to wash the dishes or make dinner because you are too busy playing it. I have been so involved in the game in the past that people have shown up at my house to make sure that I was fine.

There are plenty of free versions of Bejeweled Deluxe on the Internet, but these free games will only be free for a very limited amount of time. These are only trial versions, so you have to pay for the rest of the game when the time of the trial expires. The trial version of Bejeweled Deluxe can help you decide if you would like to purchase the full version or not even if it may not be long enough of a trial.

There are also free versions of Bejeweled Deluxe online, but these come with expensive costs because they are not legal. These free versions are often infected with spyware, malware, and a ton of viruses that can cripple your computer. These games are for free but they also allow hackers to mess with your computer. Of course, the creators of Bejeweled Deluxe will never do this to you because they are honest businessmen who want to earn an income in an honest manner.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Bejeweled Deluxe. Visit our site for more helpful information about Play Bejeweled Online and other similar topics.

A Review of Backyard Football

2008-10-17T12:36:00.007-07:00

By Morgan Hamilton

To play a game of football with your buddies or with the family doesn’t mean the same thing any more. Probably you still remember the time when we all played full fledged football in neighborhood skirmishes, and if you don’t it’s not so bad as you can still have some fun on your computer while playing backyard football. The game makes a great Christmas or birthday present for you children also. You just have to cover the hardware requirements and learn to play.

Having the chance to choose from more than 30 professional teams and of course all of their players, and to even modify every single player in the game, will be great fun for your little treasures. The fact that it allows players to change what they don’t like makes that game really great. And you don’t have to worry about your Backyard Kids standing up against adult players of Gannon and Bledsoe. Both you and your kind will get excited when you see the junior-sized characters of those real professional footballers in your copy of Backyard Football.

Another strong point of the game is that even offering so many options for the play itself it does not require having a super computer as some others do. In the computer age that we live in, even if the game is having problems to run on your computer it will be easy to upgrade it. It only requires a standard version of Windows – 2000, 98 or even 95 will do, your processor speed should be at least 166 MHz and you’ll need at least 32 MB of free space on you hard drive, and you’re ready for kick off. In case you decide to save all your teams players and scores in the tournaments you’ll need some more free hard drive space too. And of course the better the SVGA video card you have the better you’ll enjoy the game on the screen.

It will be great fun for you too if you give it a try. Nobody knows what a competition you may start. And you kids will be very happy with that if you finally found the time to spend a few hours with them playing Backyard Football on the PC. It will definitely leave you with some nice memories too. Sharing all the emotions of your children around that great game can even bring some of your memories about the days of real backyard football back.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning games. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting Backyard Football

Starwars Galaxies - PC Review 2006

2008-10-17T12:36:00.005-07:00

By Misty Pathster

Starwars Galaxies (SWG) is an ambitious Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) from Sony Entertainment. It is a game surrounded by history and controversial views. The actual product itself has been around now for a number of years but has been significantly re-invented by Sony twice since going live.

These large changes that Sony made have often been open to fiery debate by both old and new players. For the purpose of this review I will treat the game as new and try only to refer to the game in it's current form.

The Starwars Galaxies starter kit has everything a new player needs to get up and running. You start by choosing from a set of races and then pick one of the available iconic careers. They are iconic because each career is based on a starwars character. A career may have you searching the galaxy as a bounty hunter or if you prefer learning the path of a Jedi. You can even customize the look of your character and give them a name.

Once your finished with the character generation you can launch into a specially designed training level that helps teach you the basics of your chosen class. During this level you will run into the likes of Han Solo and even Boba Fett.

Your character develops by gaining experience levels. With each level new skills and rewards become available. The maximum level is 90 but even with a regular player it will take many hours of gameplay to reach this.

The galaxy itself consists of planets from the star wars films and books. A recent addition was the volcanic planet Mustafaar which was seen in the final Star Wars film. To play on this planet you will need to purchase the online expansion.

Each planet has it's own eco system and day / night cycle. As you grow within the game you will eventually be able to purchase your own home and vehicles. As well as the land based game you also get to fly around in space. The vehicle you fly in will depend on both your alignment (Rebel/Imperial/Neutral) and your piloting skill level. You can upgrade various components on your starship such as it's engines, shields and weapons.

Both the land and space areas contain a wide range of missions. Some are short while others are lengthy but all will give some kind of reward for completing them. One way of completing difficult missions is to create a group with other players.

Starwars galaxies is set at a time somewhere between the first (A new hope) and the second (the empire strikes back) films. Throughout the game you will come across reminders of the clone wars. In one mission it is even possible to obtain some old clone armour. There are rumours of the time frame moving on for the game but so far nothing offical has appeared.

Combat takes place in real time whether it is ranged, melee or force powers. The combat system shows by a simple colour icon as to whether or not you are likely to win a fight.

For myself the verdict is not out yet on this game. I know that Sony are planning on making many improvements and additions in the near future. Star Wars fans will be at home in the SWG universe. All the favourite places are there like the Mos Eisley Cantina and the waterfalls at Naboo. The social aspect of this game creates the potential for all kinds of adventures. Although it's good to make alliances in SWG it also works just as well if you prefer to take the single player approach.

I would like to give this game a higher score but as I feel it is still yet to be improved I shall lower it.

MMORPG fans may find this a disappointment where as hardcore Star Wars fans are more likely to stick with it.

Misty Pathster's Score - 7/10

Gamers Diary

My current in-game experiences.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 - PS2 Review

2008-10-17T12:36:00.003-07:00

By Misty Pathster

I have played an awfull lot of Starwars games over the years right back to the early days of the wireframed arcade game. Battlefront 2 has brought back to me some of that early fast paced arcade excitement.

As a youngster I also enjoyed the toys so being able to jump into multiple starwars vehicles and ships is just brilliant.

I never played the original Battlefront but can see why it was so popular.

The game has a lot of content and is based across the starwars universe at different times. You can play during the clone wars as well as the later period. What makes the game particularily appealing is the use of special hero characters.

Battlefront 2 has been given more emphasis towards the single player as well keeping its multiplayer roots. Both work well and the AI of the bots in a single player game is quite good.

There are three distinct game types you can play. A training game set during the clone wars, a galaxy conquest game and the instant action games.

New to Battlefront 2 is the ability to wage war in space. This is very exciting as you have the option of taking down an enemy capital ship from either space or by boarding and sabotaging it's systems. This is not one sided though as the enemy can do exactly the same to you.

The more competent at combat you become then the more strategies you discover. You start to use the landscape, weapons and vehicles around you.

Taking control of a lumbering AT-AT and blowing that rebel scum to pieces is just sheer fun. The AT-AT are a unique unit in this game as they act as a mobile base capable of spawning troops.

I do have some grumbles though and one or them is certain missing vehicles. The Millenium Falcon and B-Wing do not appear to be flyable vehicles in this game. I would have also liked to have seen bigger Star Destroyer, Rebel Cruiser interiors as these massive ships only have a limited area in which to fight and explore. If there is ever a Battlefront 3 then maybe some of these elements would be considered.

All in all this game is well rounded and entertaining and it should keep me occupied for sometime to come.

Misty Pathster's Verdict - 8/10

Gamers Diary

My current in-game experiences.

Kingdom Hearts Review

2008-10-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

By Matthew Boyd

2002 Kingdom Hearts was released, many fans of Square-Enix games were drawn to it as it contained many of their favourite FF characters such as Cloud and Squall. But when people found out that the game contained many Disney characters and worlds also it became something that many people laughed t you for if you owned it.

Now it’s the year 2006 and the majority of the people that laughed at you before now own the game, it was so successful that a sequel is now coming out at the end of the year.

The main part of the game that drew many people in was the interesting storyline, a boy named Sora having his home world destroyed away from him and slowly finding out that he is the universes only hope fighting against the darkness that was about to destroy it it. The Storyline is not something that is easily written down so you’ll have to take my word it’s a good game and buy it to fully understand.

So far it sounds like a sci-fi game but it’s not quite that simple as the game contains many elements that make it an action game as well as an RPG, you can interact with other characters choose where you go, also fight huge battles harnessing your skills, magic and strength. Kingdom Hearts also possesses many of the elements that most games developed by Square-Enix have such as a storyline that will take you well over 50 hours to fully complete and also many of the abilities in FF games: summons, HP&MP, Abilities, Items and special enemies to fight when you think you have done it all.

Even through all the benefits there are still flaws that you will most likely notice. As with most games there are camera angle problems and once you’ve played the game for about 30 hours you’ll find that the battles are a bit repetitive and start to get tired.

Boydies Overall Score - 9/10

Matthew Boyd - Geekazoid Writer

For more Games Reviews and Free Online Games Visit http://www.geekazoid.co.uk

Final Fantasy VII Review

2008-10-17T12:35:00.008-07:00

By Matthew Boyd

Since its release in 1997 this game has set the benchmark for all other RPG games, since its release there have been up to FF XIII so far in the series but as the number in the series gets higher there seems to have been some loss that has been making FF games less popular. So Square-Enix has been going back and reproducing their previous FF games for hand held gaming, but enough of the facts let’s talk about the game.

When FFVII was released it was the first of its kind, a 3D RPG game that had one of the most detailed storylines of its time, the main source of evil and enemies in this game comes from the Shinra company that controls a city where most people live called Midgar. The Shinra company mainly supplies electricity to the city and other places round the world with reactors, but the catch is that it they make this electricity by taking the life-force of the planet (It basically takes today’s problems with power to the extreme), but as well as supplying electricity Shinra has an army of troops the strongest being the 1st class SOLDIER who are genetically modified humans who have been exposed to the planets life force and injected with alien cells.

These alien cells come from an almighty being called Jenova, which crashed on the earth hundreds of years before FFVII. Shinra found Jenova and took her into captivity and performed various experiments even creating a human being from Jenova’s cells.

As every game has an evil guy in it this game has Sephiroth who was the best SOLDIER there ever was, during a routine check up of a reactor Sephiroth goes into the Shinra mansion nearby and starts to read some books from the secret laboratory underground, one book mentioned a child of Jenova who has super human physical abilities and being the best fighter in the Shinra corporation Sephiroth believed this child to be himself and took it upon himself to free Jenova from captivity and destroy the planet, but he was stopped by two Shinra SOLDIER’s Zack and Cloud (the hero of the game) and when Shinra learned of their victory they captured the two SOLDIERS and performed various experiments on them until the day they escaped. But during their escape Zack was killed.

FFVII takes place five years after Sephiroth was killed and you take the role of Cloud, as you progress through the story you meet new friends and even some old ones from Cloud’s past throughout the game, these friends will join you in the fight against Shinra and Sephiroth. The battle system is time-based meaning that you don’t have forever to think of what you want your character to do which keeps the action and the pressure coming time and time again. During battles you have a wide choice of moves that are updated as you progress through the game. The main factor that affects your moves is ‘materia’ which will allow you to cast a variety of magic spells, steal and even summon monsters. Also there is one factor that can turn the tide of the battle in the blink of an eye, this is called the limit gauge and fills accordingly to the amount of damage that your character receives, when the gauge is full you will be able to perform a special move that deals great damage. Your limit move will be upgraded depending on how many enemies you kill and also how many times you use it, each character has about 8 different limit break moves and are very different from one another, I'm sure FFVII fans will understand when I say “Omnislash destroys all!!!” google it if you don’t know what Omnislash is.

As you can see from the length of the review FFVII was a very long game but entertaining none the less. Most Playstation games usually have one disc but this game had three and since its release there has been what is known as a ‘Compilation of FFVII’ and in this compilation there is a fully animated movie (Not Cartoon looks more like real life) that was a huge success and also games that tell the story of the past and future of Final Fantasy VII and also other characters stories, FFVII was so successful there have been millions of requests for a remake of the game.

Even though it’s a Playstation 1 game it is still worth buying and is better than most of the games out today. It's also my favourite game of all time, and Cloud rules!!!!!!!

Boydies Overall Score- 10/10

Matthew Boyd - Geekazoid Writer

For more games reviews and free online games -> http://www.geekazoid.co.uk

Devil May Cry 3 Review

2008-10-17T12:35:00.007-07:00

By Matthew Boyd

Developed by Capcom, which is famous for such Titles as Resident Evil, Street Fighter and my personal favourite Megaman. The first Devil May Cry was released in 2001 and ever since has gained a huge reputation as the sword & gun kick ass bloodlust demon slaying death defying game.

Now that the third in the DMC series is out the game has had time to be fine tuned and ways have been found to take out the annoying bits for example the camera angle has been fixed, a wider selection of moves has been put in and your demon slaying arsenal has been upgraded. Unlike the second DMC this game was hugely successful as you only have one character and the awesome story line has been told from before the begging, that’s right this game is the prequel to them all, but is also the best of them all.

At the start you see the infamous Dante sitting in his chair eating pizza when he his visited by some bald guy who delivers a message from Dante’s brother Vergil, next thing you know Dante’s attack by demons and starts to kick some serious ass in a cut scene before letting you have a try at it. If you didn’t already know Dante is a half human half demon person, at first he looks like an ordinary guy but when you see him fight he aint so ordinary any more. About half way through the game you’ll get to see Dante turn into a demon for a short time and also use this ability in battle.

The battles in the game are virtually tireless as just as you think your getting bored another weapon is handed to you and you can unleash yet another devastating combo. The storyline is pretty unbelievable as well what could be better than Dante wanting to stop his Evil twin brother Vergil from opening the gate into the demon world and absorbing their fathers demon powers?

Boydies Overall Score - 10/10

Matthew Boyd - Geekazoid Writer

For More Games Reviews And Online Games Visit http://www.geekazoid.co.uk

Warhammer Mark Of Chaos GamerZ Review

2008-10-17T12:35:00.005-07:00

By Matthew Baldacchino

Warhammer Mark of Chaos is the eagerly awaited RTS (Real Time Strategy) game by Namco Bandai. Based on the Games Workshop tabletop wargame, Warhammer, one can fight alongside the evil Chaos or the mighty Empire. The game itself is amazing, graphics are top-notch and the AI is stunning. It captures the whole Warhammer experience greatly and has pretty good multiplayer action. Although there are some disadvantages (such as multiplayer technical issues and a fairly basic campaign) its well worth buying this game.

The game is fairly simple to get used to (after about half an hour you will probably be used to most of the basic controls) Basically, its mostly drag and click but there are some useful rotating/zooming options (all explained in the tutorial, which is a must for first-time players) and if a quick view reset is required, all you have to do is tap the Space Bar on your keyboard.

The battles are very similar to the Total War games (only instead of just humans, these include Orks, Elves, Skaven, Chaos and other creatures/armies from the popular fantasy wargame) The battles are amazing to watch and at some points I just zoom in and watch my men fight. Unfortunately the campaign-mode is nothing special. The player has a choice of two campaigns, the Chaos campaign and the Empire campaign. Even though Mark of Chaos and the Total War games feature the same type of epic-battles, the same can't be said for the campaigns. The Mark of Chaos campaigns are nothing close to the strategic depth of the Total War campaigns, but they both feature the same turn-based style.

Both the Empire and the Chaos campaigns are very similar, you move along a pre-determined battle path and fight battle after battle, meet and help a besieged town, duel an enemy hero and defeat and encampment of enemies. Occasionally you may come across a crossroads leading to an optional battle, but other than that, there aren't really any random events. You are able to buy your own army's units, upgrade them with better armor, weapons, siege equipment, banners, musicians and unit champions and even bless your troops in a temple, granting them various battle benefits. When you decide to fight a battle, you can obviously choose which troops to take with you and this is were the decision making and strategic planning begins.. do you want an army full of ranged weapons, such as muskets, bows or axes or would you rather rely on a force made up of swords and spears? The choice is up to you..If you lose some units in the battle, you can replace these (for a cost) at your army camp/town(eliminating the whole "resource gathering" process that may make other RTS games boring). You also get to control various heroes throught the game. These can also be upgraded with unique upgrades, they can collect armor and other items from dead units and use special skills to boost their/their regiment's fighting/defense skills. These heroes can duel enemy heroes in one-on-one combat. Speaking of battles, these involve quite a bit of strategic thinking and with the right tactics, it is possible to crush the enemy with minimal losses from your side. The fighting isn't like most RTS games, it isn't "fight to the death", units have morale and if a significant amount of that unit is killed, the survivors will break ranks and flee, giving you (or your opponent) the chance to regroup and chase the remainder of the enemy's army until they're forced to surrender.

Multiplayer battles are often huge and exciting (that is, if you manage to connect..) Unfortunately there are some connection problems (even after patching) but thankfully, these will eventually be fixed and Mark of Chaos supports multiplayer play over a LAN so its not THAT big of a problem.

This game is a fine example of a modern day RTS and any future expansions should be interesting..

I give this game an 8.5/10

Matthew Baldacchino - Admin/Webmaster http://game-aid.awardspace.com

PC Game Review: 'Telltale Texas Hold 'Em'

2008-10-17T12:35:00.003-07:00

By Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Poker Ladies. The sinuous ladies, that haunted my early youth. A sexy coin-op money-sink, that forced me to (illegally, according to my age at the time) enter seedy arcades in order to see badly-drawn manga-styled nude ladies doing naughty stuff. I did learn to play the American 52-card version of poker though, and I was only 13. Now, that’s something I call a good start in my life. And I owe it all to Poker Ladies. I could have of course waited for something more than a decade and enjoy their dancing for free in MAME, but that would have been too late. No one can pull through high school and university without decent poker skills, just like nowadays nobody can avoid stupidly watching Texas Hold’em tournaments on TV.

Telltale Texas Hold’Em is not on TV, it’s on the PC instead. It was actually the first game released by the (hopefully) adventure maestros of Telltale, and has been around for quite some time. It is apparently a poker game. Of the Texas Hold’Em variety. This of course is neither a serious gambler’s tutoring software instructor, nor a hardcore/ultra-powerful simulation. Even though Telltale Texas Hold’em does play a decent and varied poker game, its great appeal is the atmosphere and the characters. Characters and atmosphere in a poker game I hear you say? Well, yes. You’ll be playing against four lovingly animated and fully 3d characters, each sporting a unique personality and thus a unique playing style. Their mid-game banter is excellent, amusing and at times downright funny, their facial expressions are great, and the whole thing is well directed. The camera pans, cuts and zooms correctly, the players look suspiciously around, move their chips, Grandma talks about her dead husbands and Boris tries to be a quite desperate bully. Voice acting is superb, and really helps flesh out those four quirky characters you’ll be gambling against. Characters that are a testimony to Telltale’s origins: none other than the 90s Lucasarts adventures.

The most impressive part of this game is the variety and quantity of the dialog included. You’ll need to play for quite some time before some expressions start feeling overused and even after 25 hours of poker action you’ll still hear the odd unexpected line and/or joke. Great writing and smart programming make all this possible in a download that’s less than 20 megas. Unfortunately not much else is included in those less-than-20- megas. There is only one mode of play, only 4 characters to play against, one room to gamble in, one possible screen resolution and a too simple tutorial/introduction text.

On the other hand, Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em only costs $12.99,and will definitely provide you with hours and hours of mindless entertainment. After all, you will quickly learn when to fold, when to raise your bet, when to bluff or when to call the other characters’ bluff.

Visit the official website (at http://www.telltalegames.com) and have a look. Download the demo; it’s the least you can offer yourselves.

That’s a (seven) out of (ten)

the Gnome... a specialist time waster, trying to save a little time for his phd...

Online Game Reviews Make People Buy and Play

2008-10-17T12:35:00.001-07:00

By Kevin Dark

Information along the lines of performance ratings, genre, review on the actual game play or special features of the game, the positive and negative aspects of the game, what console it plays on, who created the games, and the overall rating for the audience it is initially targeted to.

The gaming industry has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise, which has infected everyone from, every known aspect of society. From rich to poor, child to adult, everyone has had come in contact at on point in time with video games, so much now that there is a need for these reviews to act as advertising to the masses. Also for the amazing amount of different genres and more realistic video games being produced monthly, it has become so much easier for adult content, violence, and even nudity to find its way to the wrong type of audience, say children.

That type of mishap has happened before and to a grand scale. The many video game bodies of America and the world have been given ultimatums by the censorship boards that have to clean up these sort messes, and tighten their grip on what is the correct thing to do. They now have a tougher criterion when handing out these ratings for Mature, Everyone, Teen etc. And there are now stiff penalties for anyone choosing to stray from the rules that have been set by these boards.

These reviews are done by any number of individuals, websites or business that revolves around the innumerable characteristics of the gaming industry. And reviews on every single game has to provide some kind of useful information to not only the users of these games, but also the reviews work as an advertising post and putting the game out there for potential new gamers that may be interested in the games.

The majority of these reviews are done for online gaming sites, and various e-zines that relay that information to a wide number of people. Some examples of these sites and search engines are: Tech TV, Game Spot, Game Zone, IGN Games, Game Rankings, Computer Games Online, Business Week/Game Room, Gamers, Review Center etc. And these are just a few of the popular reviews that are available to the public. There are actually millions of sites on line that give out this information, and the games are reviewed by a lot of players also, so you always get great feedback on the games of your choice.

These games are reviewed by any and everyone and are for the many consoles out there; Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation, PS2, Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo DS, and even for the PC. Games are already being tested and reviewed for the highly anticipated PS3. I just shudder to think about it, such grandeur. Anyway these ratings are very important, it lets you know what to spend your money on, what games are right for children, if you highly awaited game sucks, or scores, or if you just want to know what the competition is up too.

Kevin Dark is an online marketer. You may find more information on game reviews on his new site.

Downloadable Game Review: Diner Dash

2008-10-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

By Keith Blake

Playvue.com Editor's Rating: 8.0

Storyline

Diner Dash brings us the story of Flo, an office lackey fed up with the monotonous, unchanging pressures of everyday life and work in the big city. Thus she hucks everything out the window and runs off to find something better to do with her life. As it turns out, that is starting a restaurant chain in suburban America.

We are taken right into her quest as a restaurateur as Flo herself; an energetic, enthusiastic owner who fulfills every role from hostess to server, bartender and busboy (thankfully, cooking is provided by a overworked dark figure behind the counter).

Beginning with her very first diner, and ending with an upscale surf and turf joint, we take on Flo's every activity; seating her guests, handing out menu’s, delivering breadsticks, taking and delivering orders (not to mention cocktails), clearing tables, and seating the next guests. All this in the pursuit of money with which to improve her existing restaurants or even open up a new one!

Navigation

The navigation is easy enough to pick up on the first try; it’s point and click (click on a dirty table, she runs over and clears it, click on table awaiting their food, she delivers it from the counter). This does get quite challenging in the later levels where it becomes necessary to click on other activities while Flo is executing the current one (the game creates a queue of activities which Flo will execute one by one until they are complete).

Ease of Use

In terms of ease of use, this game is fantastic. I wasn’t surprised when I was able to pick it up rather quickly, however I was surprised when my grandmother was flying through at a faster pace then I managed to muster. While easy to get going, it does require a master’s touch to reach the highest scores at the end of the levels where constant motion is a must. But this just adds to the playability, and is a welcome change to contemporary games which prove easy to complete with no added challenges.

Playability

I found myself wanting to complete this game all the way through the first time I played it; which would worry me as to whether the game would hold my interest a week or even a month later. However, these worries are relieved with the Endless Shift feature: a score building endless level which “keeps 'em comin’” and provides extras like super ovens, bobcat-fast tennis shoes, and a super podium 3000 to help you along the way.

Full Version Features

The free trial includes unrestricted access and allows you 60 minutes of play; which just got me started. The full version includes 40+ levels of gameplay, 4 different chains, 5 different types of customers, two modes of play (Career and Endless Shift) and high score tracking. At only 10MB, it’s not a hard drive buster, nor will it clog up your dialup line for too long. And at $19.99 its not a wallet buster either: cheap enough to warrant casual play throughout the year.

Pros/Cons

Pros:

Appeals to the rest of us (non-hardcore teen gamers)

High repeat playability

Easy to use, navigate

Cons:

No multiple player support

Little high score competition (score posting available on publisher’s website)

Bottom Line

A busy restaurateur provides a nice change of pace to card and puzzle games for those of us who aren’t interested in shooting up aliens, goblins, or terrorists for 12 hours on end. Definitely high repeat playability, even after beating the Career portion of the game. Low price and download size are a real plus. Lacks in competition and multiple player support, however this only matters if you’re interested in such things. One of my top 10 games of the year.

Editor's Rating:



Storyline: 8

Ease of Use: 9

Playability: 7


Overall: 8

Game Specs:

Publisher: PlayFirst

Full Version Price: $19.99

Download: 10 MB

Windows 98/2000/Me/XP

Processor: PIII 600 MHz

128 MB RAM

Free hard drive space: 12MB

Video Card

Sound Card

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Download/More Info: http://www.playvue.com/pv/downloadablegames/casual/dinerdash/

Keith Blake is a Featured Editor at Playvue.com, an up-and-coming online games website specialing in providing online games, game downloads, and multiplayer games in a rich, immersive, one-of-a-kind environment.

Source: http://www.playvue.com/

Playstation 3 "Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution"

2008-10-17T12:33:00.001-07:00

By Camilla Bertelsen

One of the finest game strategy games on PC s are produced by Sid Meier. They make one of the most engaging civilization simulation video games around. Popular titles like Railroad Tycoon and Civilization have always continue to deliver the most heralded game play. Thus it no surprise that the company move their popular titles from the PCs genre toward PlayStation 3 platform. And a good job they did, 2K and Firaxis together manage to translate that PC experience successfully towards the Playstation 3 Platform.

In Sid Meier Civilization revolution game play, the idea is to take a civilization in the stone ages and through strategic planning built it up to the Space Age. When you choose which civilization will be your base, the leader of that civilization also have added bonus for your game play. For example if you chose Cleopatra, you might get additional interest on gold reserves, at the medieval age, population growth is increased by two additional percentages. There five difficulties level in this game. Use the first level as a guide. As you get more proficient, try the more difficulty level.

To play this video game, you can choose multiplayer mode using LAN or Single player mode. For those who had played this game under PCs, you will know the game can take several weeks to complete. But under Playstation 3, it doesn't last as long but not in the least as unsatisfying. In the Playstation 3 version. Micro managing of the game has also been removed. The graphics are good, bright, colorful and engaging with animation to the characters. The sound track are satisfying as well. Overall the transition form PCs based to the Next Gen game console like the Playstation 3 is well executed.

The controls of the game are also simple. You don't need to be a computer engineer to understand how they work. Though the game didn't have the depth of the Pcs platform, the game play in the Playstation 3 version is as satisfying and as well as entertaining.

Article by Camilla Bertelsen and the owner of http://popularvideogame.com

Battlefield 2142 Review by a Newbie

2008-10-16T05:21:00.005-07:00

By Egon Vennik

The basics of Battlefield game play is that there are two huge teams running around a huge map in order to try to retain control over 5 specific places (flags). To achieve this objective, each player can choose from a variety of specialist functions, and each team has a number of vehicles at their disposal.

Previous Battlefield games revolved around the Conquest game play mode, which in 2142 remains unchanged insofar as I can tell. Although there are a few variations, the general theme is that each team starts with a limited number of times it's players can respawn, and holding more than half of the flags steadily depletes your enemy's number (as does killing them). I immediately disliked it, and still only enjoy a select few maps in this mode.

Boarding titan via APC Titan mode is fundamentally an evolution of Conquest - you are still running about trying to capture flags (now in the form of missile silos), but this time they are used towards a more tangible objective. Each team has a huge Titan airship as a primary base, and captured silos fire missiles at regular intervals to slowly destroy the enemy Titan. This gives a much better feeling that your actions are achieving something - capture silo, witness missile launch, notice a definite dent in the HP bar of the enemy Titan. After you have inflicted sufficient damage on the Titan, you can press the victory by boarding it to attack from the inside. I found this action- and objective-orientated game play much more satisfying.

Troops safely exit a air transport. Players should be aware the learning curve in Battlefield is quite long and steep, exacerbated by advantages from obtaining unlocks (discussed later). Don't expect to install and blast away like some shoot-em-up, initially movement can feel clumsy, fingers search among the myriad of key bindings and everything is best approached with a bit of patience. Don't be too apprehensive about joining in on-line, there is a single player mode to obtain basic experience but unlike smaller team play games ineffective players are absorbed by the large numbers, so provided you're not crashing loaded troop transports nobody notices. But seriously, please stop flying the damn troop transports.

Don't exit vehicles hastily. It takes some time to learn to minimise the highly frustrating deaths that can seem outside your control, "favourites" being spawning in an air transport a second before it plummets into the ground, stepping out a vehicle just as it moves an inch more, being blasted to smithereens while failing miserably to free your tank from some minor foliage, walking into the overpowered yet minuscule sentry guns, or the sudden appearance of "respawning in 10" with no apparent cause even in the console. If you can control the initial desire to scrub your PC of the bastard game and gleefully torture the disk with a lighter and penknife, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had.

There is a heavy bias towards the vehicles. BF veterans frequently comment the combat is much less vehicle biased than previous games, where it must have been really bad. They are vastly more powerful than infantry, who (particularly on the demo) have little at their disposal that can cause any damage to armour at all. Whilst the full game allows experienced engineer players to acquire weapons which are much more effective, infantry combat is still reserved for the immediate area around objectives.

At the objectives things are much more balanced, to the point that a vehicle is a liability against sneaky engineers. There's cover to use while targeting the weak spots on armour, obvious places for mines and heavy gun emplacements even offer other infantry classes a chance. However, it remains that you have very limited use without transport. If you lose your vehicle in any of the empty spaces, expect to be useless for a long, long time. Thankfully silo areas spawn vehicles in Titan mode, and there is a suicide button on the class select screen.

The most effective vehicles, the gunship and the walker, are also the most popular ones - with 16+ players on your team and usually only one or two to go around, the best men do not get the job very often. BF games are frequently touted as a "sandbox" experience, and certainly players can find a wide variety of ways to make themselves useful, but it can also be restrictive as to what extent players can exercise specialised vehicle skills in any given round. Instead, players should approach it with the aim of achieving objectives, making use of whatever is available at the time - pity then that the vast array of available medals (which can award substantial points towards an unlock) are rarely objective orientated, it's notable that there is no "number of titans destroyed" medal, but there is one for spending 10 seconds in a parachute (incidentally, surely a Halo medal should be awarded for the free-fall time...)

With the large number of objectives and people to complete them, games can turn into a scrabble of a skirmish, which can leave the player feeling a little aimless. It is quite a contrast when you get a good game going, with the well designed squad system dividing players into small, effective teams - teamplay is heavily rewarded in BF2142, both via results and via the artificial points system. Clans from other games, typically limited to a pool of 8 players at most, scoff at the huge clan armies that exist in Battlefield. Clanning in Battlefield is often more public-server focused however - it rapidly becomes clear that any loose affiliation of players will more regularly be able to find a solid squad to join. A good squad makes the difference from a game that can be quite fun and a game that is a lot of fun.

Additionally, each side has a single Commander player who can issue commands to the entire team, as well as perform other functions like move the Titan around, call in air strikes or supply drops. A good commander gives the team leadership and cohesion, greatly increasing he odds of winning. Unfortunately, the position doesn't always attract good leaders, and Commanders getting high points does nothing to help. The voting system should eventually alleviate this, currently votes usually fail due to lack of participation, something that should improve over time.

Graphically, the visuals do the job plenty well enough, and are probably deserving of some credit if you're into aesthetics. Any reader can make up their own mind from the various screenshots*, movies and demo, but it's worth pointing out performance is actually pretty good. Using a 7800GTX, 3700+ AMD64 with 2gb RAM everything works fine at the high settings, which might not be spectacular but big open spaces can have a lot going on when servers can have as many as 64 players. I did however end up turning them down to a mix of medium and low settings as visibility is notably better (there is no significant config tweaking in BF2142, and note absence of widescreen options). The two teams should also be more distinguishable, for infantry it's black with a little white vs. black and slightly less white. In practice, friend or foe is identified from the colouring of the name floating above them.

Creative's X-Fi range of cards are promoted with the game, and from the options screen it appears you require one to obtain the best sound effects. Sticking with my old Audigy however, the audio is unimpressive yet hard to fault. Gunfire sounds sufficiently meaty, vehicles sufficiently... motorised, perhaps positioning could be better in stereo mode.

Lag can be a problem, but considering the amount of stuff that must be getting crammed down my measly 512k connection, I have to say the netcode generally isn't bad. game play does not rely heavily on 'twitch' skills, so a small amount of lag does not have the consequences it might in other games. 32-player servers are my mainstay and provided you select carefully, lag is rarely a problem, on 64-player insanities it gets a lot worse but still better than I had expected.

I am not a big fan of "experience point" systems bringing artificial advantages for experienced players to pwn n00bs all the easier with, so you can probably guess my opinions on making them permanent under the guise of "unlocks". Further, a significant time investment is required before you can be fully versatile. Some "unlocked" weapons are significantly superior to those initially available, so adapting to requirements carries a penalty. The concept does however mean you get continual rewards for your efforts, and maxing out the options for one specialist class is pretty easy. Crap round? At least it got you a few points closer to the next unlock.

With any major franchise, every new release brings much moaning from some quarters of the incumbent game. BF2142 is no different, with the main criticisms being that BF2142 is little more than a major modification or expansion pack for BF2, a game which they feel has been inadequately supported. As a Battlefield newbie, for me the game play is quite fresh and it is not a case of whether it is better or worse, but rather whether it is good entertainment or not. I cannot evaluate the veteran's arguments beyond the evidence that BF2142 itself does not feel complete and polished.

A press release admires the "nearly 18 months of development", but this is a short time for a triple-A title, and it shows. Many aspects of the game give a feeling that it needs a good six months more work to put it together properly. Titan mode is particularly afflicted, once inside players often stick out of what they're hiding behind, bullet tracers whizz through walls, mines float through solid floors, "injured" players drift through the titan, making them difficult to revive. I don't want to moan on about every bug, partly since bugs can be patched away - most of those I find most infuriating are already noted for patching, though some of these issues surely could not have gone unnoticed during QA testing.

A cynic might wonder if, on day of release, there was a grin or two in the offices at id Software. BF2142 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, two obviously competing games, were due to be released at roughly the same time. Did id throw in a red herring release date and watch EA rush to be first to market? BF2142 was released as announced but clearly several months too early, while ETQW endures a delay of several months - perhaps it will arrive when it's done? PC game makers, id Software included, generally seem more concerned with the state of the platform than competing games, but if I had to bet on anyone falling for such a ploy I'd place all my chips on EA.

Battlefield is a cash-cow franchise for EA, and they milk it hard. When you first open the box, you are confronted by the famously alarming slip of paper, a leaflet advertising Creative X-Fi, and a booklet which is a 21 page advert masquerading as an "Official Gaming Guide" (the manual is 24 pages). During game installation, you are invited to install some GameSpy software, and if you choose not to it still puts files on your disk and slips an invitation to install it on the Start Menu folder. Then you're invited to register the purchase with EA by handing over your personal details, and fill out a marketing survey. The survey promises a freebie of some kind - this isn't a free unlock, but a trivial tip.

All angles are covered in the pursuit of revenue, for most games there is a free dedicated server program, but here server operators have to pay for a licence if they want to run ranked Battlefield servers. Obviously this cost is passed onto their customers, who provide the public servers that the game is completely reliant upon.

The slip of paper previously mentioned refers to the monitoring of in game advertising, a subject which deserves an article in itself. I'm not ecstatic about adverts within games, and it is difficult to imagine them being thematic, given it's supposed to be the year 2142 during an ice age and everybody at war. The adverts haven't been activated yet but there are a significant number of billboards that look likely positioning, my impression is they will detract somewhat from the theme but otherwise not get in the way. Server hosts must have awfully sore backsides by now, they pay for all the hardware, bandwidth and maintenance (not to mention the EA Rank tax) that is utterly crucial to the game and yet who is getting paid from the advertising being displayed to players on their servers? Consumers should be wondering why they are being bombarded with marketing and yet receiving no price discount.

Copyright protection is further evidence of the focus on revenue. CD-Keys are required for installation, and on-line authentication, so it is excessive to require that the DVD be in the drive for on-line play. How much does all this copyright protection cost anyway?

Battlefield 2142 game play is fun and interesting, despite it's flaws. Take any review site that breaks scores down into categories and I'd have to give it a good 7 or 8 out of 10 for each, it deserves it for graphics, sound, game play - all the usual categories. It's a multitude of other things that drags it down, has you sighing when you should be grinning. Granted, some of these issues are the fixable kind, but if comments from BF2 players are anything to go by I'm only so optimistic, despite the promises. One can't help wondering if this would have been a really great game if there was less focus on revenue and more on development.

Orignal article: http://www.gamersnation.co.uk/Core/article/sid=948.html

A Battlefield 2 Player's Review of Battlefield 2142

2008-10-16T05:21:00.003-07:00

By Egon Vennik

A Battlefield 2 players review of Battlefield 2142

I was lucky enough to secure a invitational beta test from EA very early on in the Battlefield 2142's development. Some might say "unlucky enough" but I remained confident throughout the beta testing phase that the games complications would be ironed out in due course. EA/Dice have indeed had a rough ride from the Battlefield 2 community throughout due to Battlefield 2's chequered history, so scepticism regarding Battlefield 2142 was rife with a fair proportion of the community stating "Its simply a mod of Battlefield 2". Indeed Battlefield 2142 does share the same engine as Battlefield 2 although changes and optimisations have been made for improved performance and in game effects which I will elaborate on later in this review. Although Battlefield 2142 is a stand alone game and not a mod of Battlefield 2, comparisons will and are inevitably made as both games share the same engine (albeit optimised for Battlefield 2142 in various aspects) although the reader of this article must bear in mind this is NOT Battlefield 2 and most certainly doesn't play like Battlefield 2.

Gimme game modes!

Excluding the blatantly obvious differences between Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 such as the futuristic setting, Battlefield 2142 offers the same Conquest mode familiar with the Battlefield 2 community in which players must secure as many flags as possible, or control more than half the flags on the map to slowly deplete the enemy's tickets to secure a win. Along with Conquest is now a mode called Titan. Titans are considered the motherships of each team and if your team is successful in destroying the enemy's Titan, you are granted the win. Destroying the Titans themselves consists of capping ground based silos. Each time a silo is capped a missile is launched at the enemy's Titan. That same silo will launch missiles intermittently to deplete the enemy Titan's shield, unless the silo is re-captured by the enemy. Once the enemy Titan's shield is disabled from the continual barrage of missiles, the teams have a choice of to continue capping silo's until the Titan is completely destroyed or go for an early kill by boarding the Titan. Players can board the enemy Titan by pod or other means such as flying transport. Once you are within the Titan, your task is to reach the reactor room. Before you can successfully reach the reactor room you must disable FOUR consoles that lower internal force fields one by one, thus allowing you access to the next console respectively. Once all consoles are destroyed the Reactor Room door blows and allows entry to destroy the Reactor. Destroying the reactor can be achieved by weapon fire or explosives to secure a win.

Titan shenanigans

Due to familiarisation with Battlefield 2142's environments and weapons, Titan mode was hectic during beta with people seemingly wondering around the map, although as time went by you now see concerted efforts by both teams to destroy each others Titans. The mixture of open map combat to close quarter corridor fire fights makes for a varied game play experience that also opens up the realm of tactics considerably such as, do you go for an early kill by boarding the Titan or continue with missile attacks via capturing silos let alone what squads and classes that are best for the job at hand. When located within the enemy Titan you invariably find yourself facing a well dug in defence as a large percentage of the Titan is composed of corridors and chokepoints making for some fierce firefights with many casualties on both sides accordingly.

Overall, Titan mode is refreshingly new and implemented into the Battlefield universe very well, while maintaining that crucial balance issue that is required of any FPS game.

Graphics and the Battlefield 2142 engine

Battlefield 2142 shares the same engine as Battlefield 2 although it has been optimised for better frame rates and eye candy with some other code changes to accommodate the vehicles such as the Battle Walker. As a seasoned veteran of Battlefield 2, I can see a marked increase in performance with Battlefield 2142 in relation to Battlefield 2. Due to PC specifications and the variables involved, this might not be the case for everybody, although I can confidentially predict if you run Battlefield 2 I would say this would perform just as well, if not better on your current rig. You certainly notice the eye candy graphics in action when within the games environment, most notably the temporary vehicle force fields and massive explosions. Buildings and landscape are complex in construction although sensible in design offering you good cover in many situations. The landscape itself does indeed look like a battlefield with craters and half destroyed buildings on fire adding to the expected battlefield atmosphere. The overall "tone" of the game is implemented very well with weaponry and mechanics suitably detailed and coloured for the games futuristic setting while providing a large selection of maps offering a varied battlefield experience and environmental setting.

Sound

As the year is 2142, you certainly notice the difference in tone with weapon use. The sound effects are considerably more "meatier" than Battlefield 2 in every aspect. Explosions are the most impressive with a pleasing bassy rumble coupled with the lighting effects added from the game engine itself makes for pleasurable frags. Indeed, explosions of all types are one of the most impressive aspects of the game purely because of the sound coupled with graphics. The clever use of background radio use adds to the futuristic theme of the game while not interfering with the job at hand. Each sound seems to fit the situation perfectly from pod launches from APC's to reloading your weapons. They seem to have spent a lot of time in the sound effects department in the construction of this game and its certainly noticeable by the quality. The musical score for the game itself lends well to Star Wars in its orchestral mix and is much more pleasing to listen to when connecting to servers or navigating the games options. Many FPS games have failed to deliver within the realms of creating that all important atmosphere to suit the setting. A good example would be firing the primary weapon on a tank only to hear a wimpy "boom!". Battlefield 2142 delivers in every respect regarding sound by providing that all important "BOOOOOM!".

Weapon handling!

This seems to also be a controversial issue within the Battlefield community. I have always felt Battlefield 2 was influenced by the wrong people within the patching process and a little to much was nerved to accommodate those people who are either just to lazy to learn specific skills or are simply to stupid to play Solitaire let alone Battlefield 2. I know this is a controversial comment but I have been part of this community and have read many posts within this subject with have never felt the weapons to be inaccurate. I can say I have indeed emptied an entire clip into someone only for them to turn around and kill me, although this experience is few and far between and is also present in Battlefield 2. Bullet spread overall seems more concentrated towards the center of your crosshair than Battlefield 2's and just s Battlefield 2, burst fire or single shot mode often alleviates all issues of accuracy. Because weapon accuracy is seemingly better in Battlefield 2142 I usually experience much less enemy proning unless at distances.

Gameplay feel:

My first impression was the immediacy of mouse movement in comparison to Battlefield 2. Mouse movement seems much more responsive and accurate which is certainly an aspect that I personally thought Battlefield 2 lacked, possibly because I'm an old school Enemy Territory player. It has previously been mentioned that Battlefield 2 didn't allow the option to disable mouse acceleration so maybe this has been disabled as default? Please do NOT presume that Battlefield 2142 is similar to Battlefield 2 regarding gameplay speed. After the initial familiarisation with weapons and its Titan game mode, you will immediately realise Battlefield 2142 is considerably faster and fierce in gameplay than Battlefield 2, and you generally find yourself in combat situations much more frequently than Battlefield 2. Although gameplay itself is faster, the soldier movement does seem pretty accurate to that of Battlefield 2 although ever so slightly faster in your average run speed although run length is shorter but fixable via an unlock. As expected from a seasoned Battlefield 2 player, vehicle handling initially felt unfamiliar, primarily with the hover tank, but as with any game it is soon mastered and perfected to devastating effect. Flying is very much easier than Battlefield 2, although balance has been maintained with suitable ground support weapons to counteract the airborne menace and certainly doesn't present the same problems experienced in Battlefield 2.

Badges and Toys!

Battlefield 2142 has a stat system of its own with a large and varied selection of unlocks per soldier. It has been argued a small number of unlocks should come as standard on certain soldiers such as the defibrillator kit on Assault class and universal sprint speed length throughout all classes as opposed to an unlock, which I tend to agree with, but other than that the selections are well chosen and provide for extensive variation in gameplay from the A12 Enforcer Sentry Gun to the IT-33 Optical Camouflage for Recon class soldiers. Unlocks feature heavily in Battlefield 2142 and must be chosen carefully to avoid all those "doh!" situations in which you say "I could have used that!". Upgrades also consist of smaller items such as sniper scope stability upgrades, ammo clip upgrades and of course the controversial stamina recovery charge as well as providing further battlefield team communication methods such as reconnaissance drones. Overall your not stuck for choice although players are advised to choose their unlocks carefully to accommodate their play style and requirements. Badges are awarded as Battlefield 2 although now there is extra incentive to use the knife in combat as you are awarded the enemy's dog tags for each kill as bragging rights, a very good addition to the game and is most amusing when the enemy is your friend on coms.

Game options

There is everything you would expect within Battlefield 2142's options as you would see in Battlefield 2's, although there are a few changes for the better. Most notably is the addition of a buddy system within the join server screen. This option allows you to add your "buddys" and then you can ascertain exactly which server your friends are playing on without obtaining that annoying IP address or server name (ALL on-line games should have this simple option btw).

Round experience:

The initial onslaught is magnificent as both teams scramble to cap the silos. In one sense you dont want to be the first person on scene as you usually find pods of personnel dropping left right and center to your position itching to take you down although this is why its beneficial to work in squads to prepare for such situations. Indeed the pod drops could be right next to you or if carefully navigated (difficult) on top of you killing you instantly. Sometimes you find yourself in a face off with a tank. I tend to throw EMP grenades (unlockable) while a Recon class soldier moves in with an RDX Demopak (C4 equivalent) although again this is if your team is working AS a team. Once you have capped the silo you find a few vehicles spawning which tend to be different depending on which silo you've capped. Once you have secured the area you have a choice on how to move to the next silo. You find a buggy will spawn on all captured silos, these offer a very fast means of transport around the map although weak in armour. Alternatively you can launch yourself from an APC pod and navigate directly to the next silo or possibly land yourself at a clever vantage point to cause disruption and offer covering fire while the rest of your team move in. After a while you find the enemy Titan's shield is depleted, from this situation you can reach the Titan by air transport or pod. I usually navigate an APC which my team can spawn and use a pod to land on the deck of the enemy Titan.

When within the Titan,

you generally find a well dug in enemy who will stop at nothing to take you down. It's generally a good idea to move in slowly and use your iron sights regularly to spot movement or a prone solider waiting with a support class gun. Corridor fire fights are intense and many people die. One situation I experienced was a stand-off with the enemy located within the Reactor Room and my team outside throwing everything we could at them. I noticed a blurry outline of a solider exciting the Reactor room briefly and thought nothing of it until I was stabbed in the back by a Recon class soldier using active camouflage. I assign a droid (as squad leader) who begins shooting into the Reactor room and a few grenades later we move in for the kill successfully taking down the last few remaining enemy soldiers. We begin shooting the reactor core and when critical we run for the exit to bail.

Overall:

I generally find intense battlefield experiences on Battlefield 2142 much more frequent than Battlefield 2 in the sense there's numerous transport options and your never far from the battle unless spawning, and even then you can spawn within the very Titan your defending. Overall I think the game although not massively dissimilar to Battlefield 2 regarding game modes and the principles of unlocks and stats, offers a fresh gaming experience in speed and intensity that certainly warrants the space on your hard disk.

Article Resource: http://www.gamersnation.co.uk/index.php?name=Core&file=article&sid=918

Counter Strike Source Game Review

2008-10-16T05:21:00.001-07:00

By Dominic Acito

The long awaited sequel to counter-strike, counter-strike source has finally hit the market. This multi-player only game is simple and consists of a Terrorists force and a Counter-Terrorists force. Their are two types of game objectives and game maps. Their are bomb maps in which the Terrorists are trying to bomb a target, and their are hostage maps in which the Counter-Terrorists are trying to save hostages.

This game is similar to the original, but is using a whole new, impressive engine. This engine allows for realistic gravity, life like graphics, and objects spread around the maps that act as they would in the real world. However, because of this new graphics engine, you will need a good processor and solid video card to see the full effects. This new graphics engine also includes something called HDR lighting. High dynamic range imaging (HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e a large difference between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDR is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.

Counter-Strike Source uses familiar weapons and maps. The weapons are made to resemble weapons from real life like the glock, the m4a1, the ak47, and the awp. All of the same maps such as de_dust2, cs_office, cs_italy, de_nuke, and de_inferno can be played. However, these maps are all new and improved and the detail and graphics on these maps is impressive compared to the older versions of the maps.

Overall, I give this game a 9/10 and would say that this game lives up to precedent set forth by the original counter-strike.

Find strategy for counter strike at counter-strike

Chameleon Gems Game Review

2008-10-16T05:20:00.005-07:00

By Denis Snow

The Zuma style games are very popular. And the more and more developers create more and more games using the similar gameplay. One of the latest games which combines Zuma gameplay with some new features is Chameleon Gems. It’s very addictive and not so easy game and everybody must play it!

Most of you probably know the basic rules of the game, but if anyone do not I’ll tell it for you. On game field color balls (they are called ‘gems’ in this game) move from one point (called ‘hole’ here) to another one.. Your main objective is to destroy all color balls by shooting differently colored balls at them and creating the groups of three or more balls of the same color. And a number of various bonuses like fireball or slowing down of balls moving are usually given during the game.

As I already wrote earlier in Chameleon Gems you must destroy all gems not allowing them to fall into the hole. The main creature in this game is Chameleon – you control him and shoot colored gems . You can get a number of different bonuses, the most interesting one is the Rock Gun (it’s interesting because none of similar games has it). When you take it you get ability to shoot small rocks at gems and destroy them. The game is fully 3D and has one interested feature – sometimes the gems are moving above other gems on two or three levels , and when you destroy underlying gem then upper gems fall down and you must destroy them too. It gives to a player more opportunities to destroy gems and to create chain reaction for gems destroying. You even can complete the level having shot only one gem , but you must be extremely lucky for it! ;)

Another one very good game feature is the Shop. When you destroy gems or end up the level you get scores and some money. You can spend this money in the Shop after ending up any level. Here you can buy different bonuses that will be working on the (next - ???) level for a certain period of time (for example you can buy Fire Ball and on next level you will get this bonus every 45 seconds ). You can buy bonuses for one next level only and it will cost less money. For much more money you can buy different Chameleons. The Chameleons have different abilities – for example standard Chameleon you start playing with is Azure skin Chameleon and he hasn’t got any special features. But you can buy Gold skin Chameleon and you will get by 20% more money on a level. You can buy many different skins for Chameleon but only one of them can be used for a level, and you can choose the skin for the level in the shop. The shop has very many positions to spend your money, but to buy them all you should earn loads of money! ;)

This game has at least 107 levels to play; it can be seen on the very nice game map. The game unique features combined with good graphics and effects and mixed with suitable sounds and music make from this game the truly gem of latest games releases. If you like Zuma or Tumble Bugs games you must try to play Chameleon Gems. And I proud – you’ll fall in love with it!

Play Chameleon Gems!

Find more games on GamesPlasma.com.

Super Dragon Ball Z Review

2008-10-16T05:20:00.003-07:00

By David Allison

There are those that are thankful that the Dragon Ball Z series continues to continue, and there are those that wonder how the hell it can continue since it doesn't seem to evolve. There really is no need to wonder anymore my friend. As long as the first group I mentioned continues to buy the continued series, the series will continue to continue. How many more Dragon Ball Z games can we expect in the future? To be continued…

Those that do appreciate Super Dragon Ball Z don't need any excuses. They are a diehard bunch that won't be satisfied with just any old fighting game. Even if they aren't into the whole anime thing, Super Dragon Ball Z is built on a solid fighting platform that few games can match. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles such as tons of different modes and unlockables that a lot of games rely on, but fans appreciate this game for what it has and that seems to be good enough for them.

It's not enough for me however and while I can appreciate the responsive controls and the depth of combat, the game lacks magic. I want more than just a fighting game, in fact, I demand more. Dragon Ball was already established as a great fighting game years ago but little has changed with the series since the start of the millennium. You could almost say that some things have regressed with this title. There isn't as much combat depth as was seen in some of the earlier titles, even though this version is taking a slightly new course and focusing more on close-range combat. You would expect more moves with such a format but moves such as counters and reversals are the exception and not the rule.

In all there are 18 characters. A dozen of them have been ported from the arcade version and six are exclusive to the console version. Goku and Gohan are back, of course, and you can also expect the androids, but no particular character stands out in terms of personality or ability. The ability issue I can understand because you can upgrade each character much like an RPG, but the lack of personality is unforgivable. Did the developers think that we're already too familiar with the characters and that anything further would be overkill? Imagine overkill in a Dragon Ball Z game. Ridiculous, I know.

Using the core of a particular character you can upgrade him by acquiring moves with points that you are awarded in combat. This will give you some flexibility with the characters but you can end up with the same result regardless of which character that you begin with. The moves are basic and the super moves are relatively easy to pull off. The combos require some quick button configurations which gives the combat more depth than your average button masher. With the trend toward more close-range combat you will spend less time in the air doing aerial combat, and the two main combatants will be within striking distance of each other so there will be more a focus on fists and feet than long-ranged power beams. You also won't see a lot of the dramatic, special attack animation that has been a staple of the game and cartoon series. Super Dragon Ball Z attempts to distance itself from the cartoon by paying homage to the comic book style which is a little more mature, which means it's less colorful and over-the-top.

The 3D environments can be used strategically for cover. They are interactive and destructible and add some more dimension to the gameplay as they add multiple levels that you can jump up to or down from. The collision detection system however makes things a bit messy. You will hit the odd invisible wall that hinders your movements and occasionally you'll get trapped between these planes and find that you can't attack your opponent even though they can attack you.

Regarding the AI in the single-player mode, you won't be disappointed by how convincingly they are programmed. They put up a good fight that is natural and best of all, unpredictable. Each character has some special attribute that is exploited. It's not enough to give them a nuanced personality; they become a stereotype, or caricature of a character. The two-player mode is more than just the icing on the cake, it's the main ingredient. The single-player mode is just a prelude to the multi-player mode, but only if you can find a worth adversary. Playing against someone that lacks the passion will be an agonizing experience. You'll find yourself yearning for the challenge of the single-player mode.

The music is an amalgam of remixed old and new tunes. The sound effects are decent but nothing special. The voiceovers are functional but do little to further the plot or define the characters.

Overall Super Dragon Ball Z would be best described as "slightly different" than "new and improved." Not everyone will agree that this is a waste of money but be sure to rent it first if you have any doubts.

Check out Cheat Code Central's full review of Super Dragon Ball Z, which includes our scores and screen shots for the game. For tons more reviews, previews, and cheats for PS2, Xbox, PC, Xbox 360, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, and more, check out Cheat Code Central.

New Super Mario Bros. Review

2008-10-16T05:20:00.001-07:00

By David Allison

He's been reincarnated in various forms and formats but this time the Mario that we all know and love has been resurrected in true classic, plaforming action in the latest DS game, New Super Mario Bros.

New Super Mario Bros. returns to Mario's roots. We haven't seen a Mario game like this in over 15 years, and even longer if you consider that the N64 version was rendered in 3D. This version is a 2D side-scroller but it does incorporate some excellent 3D graphics. Mario is rendered in 3D as are many of the enemies and environments, although you can't explore them like you could in the N64 version.

Right from the first few seconds of play you can tell that you're in for a good time. The game just reeks of quality. It looks great, sounds like nostalgia, responds brilliantly and is great fun - and that's just the first minute of game play. You can tell that Nintendo has done their homework on this game. It retains the look and feel of the side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. series but manages to update and upgrade it with new moves, enemies, booby traps, puzzles, bonuses and secrets so that you will always be mindful that you are playing a new game and not some reheated rehash. There are plenty of nods to its heritage, including goombas, Koopas, question mark blocks and flagpole jumping at the end of levels but these are classic elements that I believe must be included to give us a sense of familiarity. Maybe this wouldn't have worked five or ten years ago, but enough time has passed so that we don't perceive these elements as hackneyed.

With today's games we tend to take the storylines too seriously, when in reality the story can't fix a terrible game. The Super Mario Bros. storyline is about as basic as they come, and we don't really expect it to be any different. Come to think of it, it doesn't need to be any different. It's all laid out for us. Are mission is to rescue to Princess from the clutches of Bowser, in this case, Bowser Jr. He's kidnapped her and taken her to the castle at the end of the first level. Once you reach that castle, Bowser Jr. takes Peaches to the next castle. This continues on through numerous levels. There are eight worlds in all, and an overhead map allows you to see all the different levels in each world. It's quite easy to get through the entire game since there are plenty of power-ups and extra lives, but you'll miss out on the whole experience if you just go barreling through the levels without stopping to smell the piranha plants.

There are a couple of hidden worlds to unlock. You should explore all areas thoroughly to find all of the unlockables, secrets, surprises and shortcuts. There is also the added challenge of collecting coins. Not only will you earn extra lives by collecting coins but there are three huge coins in each level for you to locate. This challenge isn't easy and I didn't find them all yet but I'm intrigued to return to the levels where I missed them. The replay value is tremendous if you decide that you want to find everything in the game and take part in all of the challenges.

Mario has plenty of moves this time round. He will still run, jump and stomp but there are a few more moves that give him more flexibility, and he'll need it to negotiate his way through some of the more deadly platform elements and enemies that he will encounter. A butt bounce will allow him to smash the blocks he's standing on. He can grow large enough to take up the entire screen, which allows him to smash tons of blocks and take care of smaller enemies by trampling them. A mini-mushroom will make Mario tiny and allow him to enter into small places. It will also let him walk over water. A wall bounce lets him scale walls to reach new heights or can be used if he falls into a pit.

Platforms will twist, bend, warp, shrink, expand, hover, fall, elevate and destruct. I don't think the developers left anything out. Even the ground will undulate, causing Mario to experience a rippling effect not unlike a ship on a stormy sea. Despite all these new elements and moves, the game doesn't take full advantage of the DS's unique control system - not the touch screen control system or even the dual screen for that matter. The bottom screen is basically used just to display your progress in each level. The touch feature is used almost exclusively to access your power-ups. In other words, there's nothing that you would really miss, control-wise, if this game were released on the GBA. However, the graphics are what really matters and this game would never look this great on the GBA simply because of the DS's uber-powerful processing capabilities. This version not only looks 10 times better than the Super NES version, but it's just as big. Think about that for a moment. That should tell you how far Nintendo has come.

But wait, there's more…The game also features a two-player verses mode featuring Luigi. The premise is a race of sorts, to see who can be the first to grab five stars in a platforming obstacle course. You can purposely attempt to injure the other player by banging into him. This will cause him to drop his star and allow you to claim it for yourself. This mode can be played via sharing with only one copy of the game card. The same mini-games from the Super Mario 64 DS game are also included but they can be played with other players, requiring only one copy of the game. These mini-games make better use of the touch controls but they aren't incredibly exciting.

The sounds are fantastic. It's like having an arcade in the palm of your hands. "Is that an arcade in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Mario has a voice in this game and repeats a few Italian-soaked clichés. Thankfully he avoids saying, "That's a spicy meat-a-ball-a."

New Super Mario Bros. is new in looks, feel and gameplay but thankfully we still get to visit Mario's old super stomping ground. This game is reason enough to purchase the DS system if, gosh forbid, none of the other killer Nintendo titles have tickled your fancy yet.

Check out Cheat Code Central's full review of New Super Mario Bros., which includes our scores and screen shots for the game. For tons more reviews, previews, and cheats for PS2, Xbox, PC, Xbox 360, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, and more, check out Cheat Code Central.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Review

2008-10-16T05:19:00.004-07:00

By Carl S. Richardson

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was hailed as the "killer PSP game". The popular GTA series had to make its way onto the PSP sooner or later, and it's PSP debut is great.

The game takes place, as the title suggests, in Liberty City, which is the city that Grand Theft Auto III (the series' first 3D game) is also situated in. Rockstar Leeds simply converted the city onto the UMD, and changed a few things to make it look more modern, as LCS is set after III. Having said that, the only real changes are shops, which have different names and styles, which is quite disappointing. A new city to explore would have been much better.

You play as Toni Cipriani, a no nonsense guy who's willing to do anything and remove anybody in his way. Unlike GTA III, he can talk, which makes the cutscenes better. The basic story mode consists of missions that do tend to get repetitive. You'll go to a guy on your map, he'll give you a mission that usually involves killing someone, and you get paid once you're done. Once you've completed enough missions, you'll move on to the second island of Liberty City. There are three islands in total, and you unlock them over time. It's a good incentive to complete the missions, but for people who have played GTA III, there's nothing really new.

Though the game focuses on missions, the free roam ability is truly magnificent. You may find yourself playing it over and over again, and rarely getting tired of it. There is no free roam mode, in fact there are no modes, the game simply loads when you turn it on. Whether or not you choose to engage in a mission is up to you. If you choose not to, you can roam freely around the city, causing havoc, or just exploring. You can also collect a number of weapons, ranging from pistols and UZI's to rocket launchers, flamethrowers and sniper rifles. You'll also have melee weapons such as knives and baseball bats. Or, if you want to do some damage from a distance, use a grenade or Molotov cocktail.The amount of weapons in the game is similar to the PS2 versions, which means there's loads.

The cops are still present, so if you blow off too many heads, you'll get some heat on you. The cops are divided into levels with the usual system. You have 1 star at the beginning, and if you keep blowing things up, eventually it will increase to 6 stars, and you'll have the army after you.

The vehicles in the game are again similar to previous versions. Veterans will remember the Patriot, Cheetah, Infernus, Banshee and so on, although some have redesigns which look more modern. You can also have motorbikes, which have never been seen around Liberty City before Motorbikes are generally faster and have better handling than the cars, and make it easier to perform unique jumps, and such. There are no bicycles in the game, which was a nice addition to San Andreas. As you progress through the game you will also have the chance to ride boats. It's not as fun as it sounds, and it never really has been in any of the GTA games. Boat handling is sluggish and it's not fun to drive them. You can no longer fly. Anything. Not a thing. The Dodo was a plane on GTA III that was located in the airport, which you could fly, or at least try to. This time there is no Dodo, no helicopters, no planes whatsoever. It really feels like a missing factor, although in one of the missions it is possible to steal a helicopter, so the physics and controls are still technically in the game. Why there are no planes to fly is confusing. The police still have choppers following you, so watch out.

A new mode of transportation is the ferry. It's basically a slow boat ride and you don't get to drive the boat. You even have to pay for the service. It is a quick way of getting from island to island though, and you do get to keep your car.

The general controls of vehicles is good. Sports cars have great speeds and handling, and slow cars have reduced turning capacity. The controls on foot have been changed dramatically. You use the small analog style stick to control Toni, and vehicles. The directional buttons are used for changing weapons and starting various side missions. Of course the PSP has less buttons than the PS2 controller, so condensing everything was not an easy task. Sometimes the controls do feel very fiddly and it can be frustrating when you need to target things quickly.

Adding on to the "Toni Can't" list, is the ability to swim. Implemented in San Andreas, this feature is absent. It's only really missed when you fall off a cliff into the water, as you could swim to the side and get out. Instead, Toni simply drowns. All of the abilities to increase stats are no longer present, but it's not particularly missed.

Toni can change clothes, and there are some nice options. He is unable to change specific body parts, instead you choose from full suits. Though changing clothes is a small part of the game, you probably would never notice this option if it wasn't required for some missions.

If you don't want to do any main missions, you can engage in some of the side missions. Famous in all PS2 GTA games, these usually involve Taxi missions, in which you act as a taxi driver and deliver passengers before time elapses. Ambulance missions, where you take sick people to hospital. Firetruck missions, which involves putting out fires like burning cars. A new side mission is the dump truck mission. You simply need to collect all the green trash cans within the time limit. All these missions are basically the same repetitive actions. The rewards are worth the effort though.

There are also hidden packages throughout the game in various locations. Nothing new to the series, but collecting all 100 adds weapons to your hide out. Unique jumps are large jumps where the camera changes and it goes in slow motion. When you successfully complete a unique jump, you'll get money for your effort. While these things are by no means new additions, they are nice to have, and it expands the game.

We all know that the PSP has wireless capabilities, and Liberty City Stories takes advantage of that. The wireless multiplayer action is staggeringly good. You must have friends with PSP's and copies of the game, but if you do, you're in luck. The game allows for total free play with your friends. There are many different game modes which adhere to the capture the flag premise. Most of the games work in this way. Liberty City Survivor allows players to play against each other. This is the mode you'll be playing none stop. Even after you have finished the game, it is unlikely that you will get bored of the multiplayer action.

Liberty City Stories has the same radio themed soundtrack. When you enter a vehicle you can choose from a number of radio stations, all of which have different styles of music. The soundtrack has some known tracks from the era, but nothing too impressive. In comparison with the Vice City and San Andreas soundtracks, this is sub-standard.

The graphics throughout the game are fairly cartoony. The series was never meant to be a simulator, but some smoother graphics would have been nice. Sometimes it can seem that Toni has several legs when you are running. Also, at times the frame rate has trouble keeping up, but only when there is lots on the screen at once. For the most part, the frame rate holds up well. The loading times are acceptable. There is a loading period at the start and then as you cross between islands, a loading screen will appear, but only for a few seconds.

Overall, it's a great addition to the Grand Theft Auto series, and the PSP line up. You can't help but feel it's just a watered down version of a PS2 GTA, or simply an expansion pack, that doesn't expand on much. Nevertheless, the action in single player, and in particular, multiplayer, is well worth the purchase.

http://www.articlecore.com was created to provide articles on a number of different subjects ranging from PSP game reviews to Science.

The site is owned and run by Carl S. Richardson and Joe Denison, who are also known for a number of other websites including http://www.rawpulse.com a Playstation gaming website.

God of War Review

2008-10-16T05:19:00.003-07:00

By Carl S. Richardson

Since God of War was first demoed back in early 2004, it's been on the wish list of many action/adventure fans. God of War begins with a suicide, that of the main character. While this may sound like an exceedingly short game, it becomes clearer over time. Kratos, a tough Spartan warrior, throws himself from the highest cliff in Greece. As he plummets, you see the events leading up to the suicide. Essentially, Kratos was transformed into a killing machine by Ares, the God of War, who then tricked him into committing a sin. Kratos seeks vengeance on the Ares. This begins the combat, and the emotional tale that surrounds the action.

The setting in itself is powerful, with vast open environments that can be quite beautiful. The detail in some of the locales is quite spectacular, and the same applies to the creatures that you will encounter. Each have a number of variants.

The camera is fixed. A term which may (and probably will) put some gamers off, due to the unspectacular fixed camera in other games. However, Sony have evaded all the problems that arose from previous games, and it works tremendously well. It zooms in and out at certain times, making platforming objectives so much easier. Sony have made it seem almost beneficial to the standard manipulative camera view.

Kratos comes armed with chains that are attached to his wrists. At the end of these chains are sharp blades, for swinging and building up fierce force and power. The viciousness of the weapon fits Kranos's character neatly. Not only visually satisfying, but the sound of the swinging and clanging together of these vast blades is quite terrifying. Athena also loans her giant blade to the warrior, but most of the time it seems so much easier to just use the chained blades.

As mentioned in the Rawpulse Preview, Kratos can sweep enemies into the air, and follow with a series of juggling attacks, for an effective combination. Once enemies have been eliminated, they break up into glowing red orbs, which can be traded for upgrades. One slight problem with the AI, is that it seems to be more aggressive that smart, but you don't really notice, as you'll be battling your way through.

Button sequence attacks make a truly exciting element of the game. When an enemy is worn down from the basic attacks, Kratos can move in and perform a finishing move, or instigate a mini game fatality, which involves a series of buttons to be pressed when prompted. The tougher opponents will require a more complex series of buttons, but the reward is great. Kratos will perform some spectacular moves, complete with flips, stabbing, and a finishing move that is disturbingly violent.

Not only do creatures leave the red orbs for trading, but also some drop orbs to increase your health. Some creatures deliver magical energy, or a combination of several orbs. If you press the wrong button during a sequence attack, you will leave Kratos open for a violent counter attack. While it may be simple to just avoid this kind of attack and kill the opponent with a traditional attack, it's so tempting to unleash a damaging series of splendid attacks.

As you progress through the game, other powers are given to you by the Gods. Ripping the head from Medusa delivers her evil gaze; Poseidon donates an electrical attack, Zeus his thunderbolt, and Hades, with an Army of Hades power. These powers can be upgraded, similarly to weapons, with advantages to higher power levels. Additionally, Kratos can release the rage of the Gods, which offers invulnerability, and enhanced attack power. Combined with some of the previously stated powers, Kratos is deadly.

For an action game, God of War contains some of the best puzzles. They make sense in terms of the story and settings, and they seem to fit in with the current level position. The puzzles may not be complex, but the main theme is action, so it makes the game seem more whole and complete.

God of War provides an unprecedented thrill, and is a real pleasure to play.

http://www.articlecore.com was created to provide articles on a number of different subjects ranging from PSP game reviews to Science.

The site is owned and run by Carl S. Richardson and Joe Denison, who are also known for a number of other websites including http://www.rawpulse.com a Playstation gaming website.