Super Smash Bros Brawl is a Blast! - Review

By Eric Ha

Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been out for a few days and after having played it plenty of times, I'd have to say this is the best Super Smash Bros. yet. However, that doesn't mean everything feels improved over previous versions but almost everything is. I'm referring to the characters especially. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way about the characters they like to use. There is always some kind of change to your favorite character going from one installment to the next. It may be better and it may be worse.

One of my favorite characters from previous installments is Donkey Kong. He seems slower now and less effective than before. On the other hand, his charged up power punch can be released sooner like how it was in N64. Mario's water spraying fludd pack also seems useless to me for now until I figure out how to use it better. Bowser is now faster than in Melee and is actually fun to use. I'm sure there are a lot of character changes that you like or dislike, but I think we just have to get used to them again and we'll discover the new advantages that were added to each character.

A gameplay change that affected me in a major way is the lack of the ability to easily drop down from a platform while running. I enjoyed using this ability to drop down real quick to deceive the opponent into believing that I'm actually going down, but then I'll jump back up and attack. Throws are not as strong as before, so the focus wouldn't be on trying to grab all the time like I did with Melee. These changes may be to balance gameplay, but I sure do miss them.

There are now tons of items you can use to your advantage. We all know about the final smash ball that gives you a tremendous advantage over your opponents. Depending on who you use, the final smash can be fatal. Link can take care of you quickly if you get caught in his triforce attack. The fun part is when everyone is fighting for the ball and you are the one that gets it. If someone else gets it though, it's cheating and not so fun. There is also a clock that slows down time, an assist trophy that spawns a helper to fight for you and a whole lot more items to affect gameplay.

Characters are abundant now so you can always find someone you like to play as. There are many to choose from in the beginning and many to unlock. The new characters are balanced and fit well into the game and the veteran fighters went through some changes for better or worse like I mentioned. Each character is different and have their ups and downs. You'll have to get used to the characters' moves and find out the advantages and disadvantages of each move so you'll know when to execute and when and what your opponent will execute.

The graphics are better of course, but not by much. Sometimes the game will even remind you of Melee especially if you play in a Melee level. The stages and the characters are more detailed and you'll see cool effects that's not possible in Gamecube during a final smash. Super Smash Bros. Brawl will definitely remind you of Melee, but there are enough changes and enhancements in graphics and gameplay that you'll know you're playing Brawl.

Multiplayer is a feature that wasn't available in previous Smash Bros versions and is a blast to play in Brawl. You can now test your skills against the world and see how good you really are. There are plenty of good players out there that can humble you. You can easily find friend codes on the internet if you don't have many friends. Lag can sometimes be a problem when someone has a slow connection and that's when you're not able to play at your best. The positive is that if you lose, you can blame the lag.

Besides playing with your friends through friend codes, you can also let the system search out a match for you. This is great for people with no friends or for older folks who are too embarrassed to ask friends for friend codes. One feature I wish they would have added is online tournaments. This feature would make it easier for friends to set up tournaments without leaving their homes. Tournament is available in offline mode however, but who goes out these days when you can easily communicate over the internet? I'm joking, but tournament on Nintendo WFC would be icing on the cake.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a great game and one of the best on the Wii. It can be a great party game or even to play alone with all the unlockables and Nintendo WFC. It's not a dramatic upgrade over Melee but it's enough to warrant a purchase. The Nintendo WiFi mode alone automatically makes this game a must have. Add in all the cool new characters, levels and items, plus enhanced graphics and this game will be a solid fighter that will last for several years just like the previous Super Smash Bros. games. Melee was already great and you can't go wrong building on that and you can't go wrong buying Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

By Eric Ha at nHotspot.net, a Nintendo WiFi Games Site Get Super Smash Bros. Brawl Friend Codes

Xbox 360 Live Call of Duty 4 Builds Relationships

By David W Miller

This past Christmas my son's purchased me an Xbox 360 and the Call of Duty game as a gift. My son's are all older and living across the country and this has been a great way for us to spend quality time together on Xbox live. I am really amazed at how we are able to play people from around the world and build friendships. I enjoy meeting and making new friends and this has been a great opportunity to meet people.

There is no visual contact with the persons you are playing, only speech. This really breaks down any barriers and you are able to see the person for what he is and not what he looks like. These guys could be people you would see in line at the grocery store and not give the time of day too. I enjoy playing with a person from El Salvador whom speaks very good English. I play daily with a soldier in the army whom was wounded in Iraq and is now recuperating in Germany. I have met numerous guys in the UK and we have become great friends.

As I am older (in my 50's) I enjoy playing with guy's from all walks of life. I play daily with two guy's from Wisconsin who live on dairy farms and in the process have learned much about the dairy industry. It has been a great way to build relationships and continue to learn. I would encourage you to checkout the fun and comrades across the world.

More Info on Xbox Live Friendships More Info on Xbox Live Pedophiles

How Guitar Hero For Wii Changed Family Friday Nights

By Chris Copeland

For almost three whole months, all I ever heard was "can we get a Wii, please?" You see I have a family of three kids and the oldest even had the little one begging for it. I hesitated for a long time as I didn't want them simply laying around a TV all day with a little controller in there hand when they could be outside having real fun instead. Before long, Christmas rolled around and that's when we decided to go ahead and get a Wii console for the kids as it would still let them be somewhat active as it seemed more interactive than simply pushing a few buttons and besides, we would make it a family game instead of someones personal entertainment console.

The first game we had actually came with the Wii console itself and was the sports package. This game turned out to be a real blast at family time as we could make some hot dogs and pop some popcorn and have our own little bowling tournaments and such. My middle child that has an age difference of about 5 years to her older sibling actually got so good at it, that she started beating him. It was really exciting to see how they interacted and was relating to each other. It actually started bringing them closer together with the friendly and sometimes not so friendly competition.

We soon found out though, that as with most sports (either real or virtual) you either like it and it sticks with you or it becomes old and boring and soon forgotten or never to be played again. Thus, Wii Sports went by the wayside into that unplayed bin of games that never fails to accumulate. I still like it though so it does see some action still these days. We started looking around some more for different games that we might all still enjoy together and that's when we stumbled onto Guitar Hero.

This game has truly revolutionized our Friday nights as we now know it. It took a little getting used to but soon my son and I were playing on the more difficult levels and actually trading secrets on how to hit those notes that seem to be flying at you. Now, instead of taking the family to the movies or heading out to dinner and spending close to a hundred dollars every Friday, we hold our own little mini-concerts in the comfort of our own home and only end up denting the budget for about twenty dollars with a much needed and aligned Friday nights together and some simple fast food. Besides, who has time to cook when you can be heating up the guitar instead.

Chris is a Guitar Hero For Wii fanatic who's family has turned into a bunch of Guitar Hero 3 Wii junkies.

Futurama Playstation 2 (PS2) Game Review

By Y Stapleton

Based on the TV series, the Futurama video game has all your favorite characters, Bender, Fry, Lela, Professor Zoidberg and more, with voice overs from the original cast.

Gameplay:

The game starts out in the hangar at Planet Express as you play as Fry, on the look out for missing tools for Professor Zoidberg. Search the hangar, offices, corridors, avoiding electrical wires, perform some platform jumping, collecting cash and filling up on extra health from the "Slurm" vending machines, and find the hidden key card to unlock doors. Fry starts out with a hammer on this level, but works up to some cooler, more powerful guns throughout the game.

Head underground into the Sewers, where as Fry you have to kill mutants, underwater snakes with one eye, and pipe tentacles with your laser gun and avoid the deadly sewer canals whilst jumping over crates to cross to other areas. Shoot crates for cash and ammo.

Go through the Mine Facility as Bender, defending yourself against robots with his twirl attack, sliding lunge, collecting power-up crystals and avoiding the heat blades on the conveyor belt. In Run Bender Run, head into the mine shaft and run for your life to avoid a giant boulder coming up behind you, whilst jumping over caverns, collecting your crystals, and dodging barrels.

Or as "one-eyed" Leela in Market Square, you get to fight with your punch and kick attacks against skeletons, avoid the crazy bombers which will try and blow you up, solve codes in the puzzle rooms, by stepping on the correct tiled squares in sequence on the floor. Collect gold bars by destroying objects.

There are plenty more levels to explore, and when you reach the last level in Fry Fight's Back, you battle against the "Destructor", the big boss robot with his one arm missile launcher. Before you meet Destructor, you have to search through various corridors for the last lot of keycards. Dodge some spinning blades and gas vents, hide in the crevices as you dodge a couple of huge laser machine guns, destroy some half-bodied robots and work out some numbered codes to unlock your master laser weapon. You then meet the Destructor for the final showdown. He shoots missiles, lasers and then stands still while his stomach opens and you are attacked by flies. Avoid his firepower and get him in the belly where it hurts enough times and "yay", you've saved the planet and get to watch the final movie scene.

All up the game has 21 levels, there are heaps of items to collect throughout, find switches and credit cards to unlock doors, solve an array of puzzles, but more importantly, destroy the bad guys! Each character has their own weapon/attacks/health power-ups and you get to travel through some other amazing levels, from Red Rock Creek, Old New York, the Junkyard, Temple Courtyard, Red Light District and more. Other baddies include rock monsters, swordsmen, weasels, lava monsters, evil cactus, and sentry's to name a few. There's also plenty of slick Futurama-style humor to keep you laughing.

Extras: If you collect all nibblers (creatures in cages) in each level you also get to unlock movies, music and characters. There's a total of 20 minutes worth of unlocked movie footage never seen. You can also switch from first to third person view anytime during the game, and there are cameras for viewing other areas in each level.

Summary:

Number of Players: 1

Graphics:

Animated and resembles same as in the TV show. Good colour, with darker areas that set the scene.

Controls:

The controls are okay, but the side view movement can be a bit tight during the game when turning around.

Fun-factor:

9/10 - Overall, really enjoyed this game and there's a good variety of action and puzzle solving to get through. I would recommend this video game for kids and adults if you enjoy the Futurama TV show, as you'll definitely get some value out of it.

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Eye for Design - Game Review, Download, Tips and Tricks

By Vasily Demyanik

Today let's look into a new design game Eye for Design - the latest title developed by Techfront and published by Sandlot Games.

Speaking about the task, your point is to help Halle - a young talented designer who's just graduated from the design academy to meet all the whims of her customers and get to the top of the business.

Similarly to many designing games, Eye for Design features funny cartoon graphics and amusing soundtrack. Moreover, this game will introduce you to a bunch of lovely characters. Just like in other games created by Sandlot, all customer types are very realistically and ironically depicted (you're going to design interior for students obsessed with video games, hippies that cannot stand anything new and fashionable, cowboys, Adams-like families etc.).

Basically, your task is to place furniture items from the obligatory and optional lists on the available spots in a room. But there are few things for you to remember:

1. Each customer has their whims. Some of your customers would like "oldie" or cowboy-style furniture even though it looks ugly. But as you know, a customer is always right; so be sure to pick a cowboy-style interior elements out of all the furniture items available. So, just like in Wedding Dash, you'll have to read the wishes of your customers in the beginning of each level carefully.

2. There will be 3 types of goals for you. You'll have to achieve the required goals by placing the furniture items highlighted in orange in your list. Those are obligatory items required to reach the minimum score. Optional elements are highlighted in blue. They will boost your score significantly. And the third - hidden goal is what you achieve when you fulfill customer's wishes.

3. If you earn silver trophy for every room in the house, you'll unlock bonus round where you'll be able to decorate the room to your heart's content.

4. Colors. You will be able to change colors of the furniture, but you have to be pretty careful with the palette. Try to choose two colors that complement each other and look nice together. Use them for the furniture for a better score. Don't stick to a solid color and don't make the furniture too multicolored.

5. Start to work on interior design with the most useful items (like a bed for a bedroom, dining table for a kitchen). Once you place them right, you'll see the logics of interior design: a nightstand goes by the bed, a TV set should be in front of a couch or chairs, a chair should stand next to a desk etc.)

6. Even if you have scored enough to go to the next room in the house, be sure to click Accessories tab and decorate the room with extra pictures, mirrors, carpets, lamps etc. They will never reduce your score. Keep your customer's wishes in mind while accessorizing the room.

Speaking about the drawbacks of the game I would admit its somewhat repetitive background melody.

And as always, I appreciate the titles that blend different game-play mechanics (not only object placing puzzles). It would be nice to see some mini-puzzles, like point-and-click or hidden object in the game.

For more in-depth reviews, downloads and tips on family-friendly games of all genres please visit http://blog.gameglamour.com - a resource created for casual game fans by casual game fans.

Morrowind Game Of The Year

By Stephanie Haile

Morrowind is a fantasy adventure RPG offered on the XBox gaming system and PC. In the video games and gaming world, Morrowind is a best of all game. Hours and Days of replay value and excitement await you as you delve deeper into the land of Vardenfell, on the Island of Morrowind.

After loading screen and going through the cool intro, you choose a name and listen to Jiub, you begin on a ship and beginning tutorial is provided. From the dock, you choose to be one of the 10 races and continue with guards to the census office where you have many options for "class".

Morrowind's choice of "Class" is defined as your style of play such as combat specialist, magic specialist, or stealth specialist with sub classes, and melding of classes.

Knights aren't just pure combat specialists, they can enchant equipment and cast restoration spells.

A witch hunter does not need to be just a magic user they also can be adept fighters with ranged weapons or staves.

Spellswords are exceptional magic users and fair me lee fighters that can augment themselves to do Titan-like damage.

Nightblades are the ultimate in thieving. They use the illusion of invisibility, alteration of undetectability, and can be virtually untouchable.

A Battlemage is a Spellsword on steroids. Basically their magic is almost entirely damage oriented. The weapons the Battlemage uses, like the Ax, does uber damage.

Healers are just as the name implies. They heal others as well as themselves but also hold their own as excellent hand to hand combatants. Morrowind is a totally different game played as a healer and is very challenging. The utmost challenge if you don't glitch. Glitching basically nullifies all class restrictions.

Monks use no swords and wear very little, if any, armour. They rely on hand to hand combat with blunt weapons such as staves and hammers. Restorative spells augment their hand to hand combat. Monks are a fun challenge to be played as a beast race.

The agent is for lack of a better destination, a great spy. They were born with a silver tongue, sneaky individuals that use illusion spells to augment their charms. Are able to conquer beasts to assist their fighting. The agent needs not carry any weapons as he can manifest them out of thin air.

The other classes are very specialized with little room for customization. They are fun but more challenging. Here is a short list of the other classes: Acrobat, Archer, Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Crusader, Mage, Pilgrim, Rogue, Scout, Sorcerer, Thief, and Warrior.

Creating a custom class is also an option and a great way to continue Morrowinds "play your own way" feel. Morrowinds replay value can't be beat by any game except other Elder Scrolls games. Morrowind was chosen as game of the year by Gamespy and Gamespot in 2002 and voted RPG of the year by XBox magazine. "Each event is preceded by a prophecy, but without the hero, there is no event." Zurian Articus.

Stephanie Haile enjoys teaching new people to the Internet how to navigate and become comfortable with their computers. She is a business owner, wife, mom, pet lover, video gamer, and beach enthusiast who writes, reads, and helps others create a residual income for financial stability. Google Stephanie Haile and get in touch or give her a call and find out about how her business can help you! 321-745-6202 Stephanie Haile AKA Wavecritter http://www.VideoGamesAndGaming.com http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/VideoGamesAndGaming http://www.TheLoneBlog.com

Postman Pat for DS - Review

By Shelby Cunningham

First impression: The first thing that attracted me to this game was that it was for ages 3+. What 3 year old can handle playing video games on a Nintendo DS? They don't have the motor skills yet!

The game: That being said.. this is a British game for younger children. The music was actually good for once! I had some hope that the game would be good as well. And it was actually pretty good! I didn't play too far into it (I failed at the 4th or 5th task somehow.. ) but I can tell that children would really like it. It has cute cartoon characters and little animals and such.

You do little tasks for Postman Pat like finding his missing kitty in the house by touching on places that he could be hiding, and stamping letters for him at the post office.

The directions aren't the best. I got confused during the letter stamping part. Having an adult there to help the child might be a good idea. Also for American children, some of the language is a bit different than what we're used to. He uses terms like "franking" the envelopes. I can guess what that means... but a child probably won't be able to figure it out.

I went back and played the game again, having failed so early on the first time. This time I finished easily, I just had to read the instructions better.

Pros of the game: It is a good children's game overall. You can do story mode where you go through the story and play the games in a row, and it saves your progress which is nice. So you can play a couple and go back and start where you stopped before. It reads like a children's book, with Postman Pat reading the text to you. Very well produced in that way. You can also play practice mode where you go directly to the different games separately.

Cons of the game: There are only 10 games in the story. I went through the entire game in less than 45 minutes, and I had to restart a couple of the games a few times. A smart kid could get through that entire game in an hour and probably wouldn't want to go back to it again.

Conclusion: This is still a good game for children. If you child gets through things quickly and then gets bored you may not want to get this one, but try renting it or borrowing it from someone.

Good music and graphics (for a children's game) and an actual storyline that they might be interested in made this game worthwhile for kids. Still not sure about thee 3+ part, but maybe for 6 or 7 year olds. I'll give Postman Pat a 5!

DSmaster is a blog on Wordpress that gives all kinds of reviews on all kinds of Nintendo DS games. If you are looking for more reviews like Postman Pat, then visit DSmaster

Petz Bunnyz For Nintendo DS

By Shelby Cunningham

First impressions: Cutest bunny graphics ever! Well maybe not.. but as far as petz games go.. cutest one I've seen! The cover of the game just has real bunnies on it.. which made me think "eh.. boring.. they didn't try very hard with that.." but the game itself looks so different from that.

Game: Once you've picked out and named your new pet rabbit.. then brushed it, fed it, held it and carried it around with your super long arm (why??), taken it out of the cage into the house, cleaned the cage and trained it.. there isn't much to do.. and all of those things happen really fast in game play.

I chose a white Norwegian Dwarf rabbit and named it Fluff. Then I brushed it and held it.. took it out of the cage to watch it hop around a room.. fed it.. trained it (but I wasn't sure what I was training it to do.. that part was a bit confusing) and cleaned the cage. After that I looked around the menus a bit trying to find something else to do with my pet.. but found nothing and saved the game and quit.

I wish the menus did not take up the entire bottom screen. For some reason that bugged me. I would rather it have a pull down menu like Petz Horsez and have the animal on the bottom screen. Just seems like the main focus of the game (the rabbit..) isn't treated as the main focus as far as screen use goes.

I will turn the game on again and try to train it some more.. you get rewards (toys and decorations) for training the better your bunny gets.

As far as wi-fi.. h'm not sure I'll be able to test that because I don't know of anyone else who owns this game or would buy it! Definitely a niche game for younger kids. But with Wi-fi you can play games and visit your friend's bunnies.

Conclusion: I give it a 5. It's cute as far as the Petz games goes.. but you can't do much with it.. and what good is spending $29.99 on a game that you can't do much with?

Shelby is an author for dsmaster, a blog on wordpress that gives great reviews on the newest and hottest games for Nintendo DS. See http://dsmaster.wordpress.com for more awesome reviews!

Mystery Dungeon - Shiren the Wanderer

By Shelby Cunningham

First Impressions: Hmm... this seems somewhat familiar, somewhat ancient in my vast ocean of memories. Yes, it's very similar to an old PC game called Hack, and more recently called Nethack! You hack your way through increasingly tough monsters and find tons of cool items and random subquests along the way. Hack was wayy to hard though, so... this is schweeet!

The game: Shiren the Wanderer, you start out with nothing (unlike nethack), but once you go on a few adventures and save things in the warehouses then you will always have something to start with. This way you can also create really powerful weapons by upgrading them every time you go on an adventure but leaving them in the warehouse. So yeah, there are lots of weapons, scrolls, jars (they hold items for you when your inventory is stuffed), shields, armbands, and lots of riceballs! You have you eat or you might die from hunger.

The coolest thing about Shiren is the WiFi feature. This game really does have the best WiFi feature of any DS game yet. Whenever an adventurer dies they can choose to use one of their three rescue requests. Then someone else finds their rescue request on the server and goes on an adventure to rescue them. After the rescue is complete the rescuer usually gets a reward, and this makes a really interesting way to get new items from other players. You can also send a short message like "Would you send me a weapon?". Or just... " : ) " Anyway that's really cool. I have just been rescuing people nonstop and I get showered with presents and thanks, it makes me feel good. The only problem with trying to be rescued is that it may take a while for someone to rescue you, especially if you went to one of the last floors.

Other than that, your main goal is to get through Tabletop Mountain. There are also some sidequests like these 50 puzzle games where you get an item for each puzzle you complete. So far none of them have been too difficult. I have done 30 of them. Then there's a guy in a village that claims to be your brother and will actually join your party depending on what you do and say. You can use extra party members in different ways. The worst part is having to feed them though. I couldn't deal with that. They're like, "I want a rice ballllll!". Then, five steps later they say "Oh, I can't move any more I give up". Seeeeeya seeeya seeya......

Conclusion: Great game! If anyone has played Nethack, I'm sure they will find some enjoyment with this game. The WiFi features are awesome and so is the rest of the game. I want to give this game a 10 so bad but... My 10 is reserved for a game that changes my life, haha. So Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer gets a 9!

If you get stuck playing Shiren the Wanderer and need rescuing, Kindly Old Man will rescue you! kindlyoldman@gmail.com For more video game reviews visit http://dsmaster.wordpress.com

Animal Crossing Wild World For Nintendo DS Review

By Shelby Cunningham

First impression: Well, when I got my DS Animal Crossing Wild World was the only game I owned for a month.. so I had to like it... And (luckily)I really really did like it! I love that you have a town that you get to run around and make friends and money and plant flowers in.

The game: Like I said, you have a town that you live in (with up to three other people in your home) and you get to name the town and move into it. Your town has a river and a beach/shore as well as fruit trees, other people in homes, a town hall with a post office, town gates (for leaving and visiting), a museum, a clothing shop and an all-in-one shop.

First thing to do in Animal Crossing Wild World you have to go work for Tom Nook, the guy at the all-in-one shop.. which is sort of a pain.. but you can't get around doing it unless you never ever set foot into his shop, which is kind of hard.. I thought about never going in the second time I set up a town.. just because it's such a hassle to do all of his errands for him..

As far as plants and other life: I get kind of tired of weeding the town and keeping it super clean.. but if you don't do it, the town becomes one solid weed patch. I like how you can get fruit from other towns and plant it and have other fruit trees in your own town. You just have to get out and go to another town!

For a while I was addicted to making snowmen so that they would send me snowman presents. You just roll two snowballs around until they're big enough and push them together.. but if you do a bad job they get a bit upset and angry. Lately I've lost my talent for making good snowmen, so I haven't been making as many. I wonder what spring will bring once the snow melts?

You have to make money to pay off your mortgages so you can get a bigger house and a bigger mortgage. This latest town I made I haven't been paying off my mortgage very fast.. but I figured it can't hurt anything much.

Making money! It's super easy! Fishing is easy, and so is fruit gathering. Or you can be the town bum and everyone will give you stuff constantly that you can sell for money.. Also digging up fossils is good.. Once you donate so many the museum gets full and if they already have a fossil you can sell it for a nice chunk of money. Or if you're really bored you can shake trees and smash rocks with shovels for money that might pop out..

I love getting mail, but usually it's pretty boring stuff unless you have other people living in your house mailing you presents and stuff. I also love giving other animal characters new catch phrases.. but just be warned that they delete/bleep any bad words you might use.. although not all of them.. Right now all of my people say "hooty hoo" just like the museum owl.

Changing your clothes constantly is also fun. I tend to get attached to outfits though.. Last time I had a red and orange kimono and an old fashioned space helmet and an umbrella with hearts on it.. Now i have a military uniform dress and a halo with a masquerade mask and a giant leaf umbrella. I think I'll stick with that one for now.

Conclusion: I give Animal Crossing Wild World a 9. There isn't much to be said that hasn't already been said about this particular game.. It's just a good game! Addictive and fun, even if you play too much and get burned out.. you eventually go back to it. I do wish there was an option to visit any open town.. rather than having to have a friend code.. that would be so much more fun.

DSmaster is a blog on Wordpress that writes lots of reviews on the hottest and newest Nintendo DS games. If you want to find more reviews like Animal Crossing Wild World then visit DSMaster!