Disney Universe is a virtual world containing six different Disney and Pixar lands.  Your guide is an AI cube named VIC and has been “hacked” by his evil alter ego named HEX, who loves chaos and destruction.  HEX has hacked into the Disney Universe and summoned evil programs to wreak havoc.  It is your job to rid the Universe of his evil doings.  You play as a funny, little, big-headed being who dons a suit of one of over 40 different Disney and Pixar characters.  Only a handful of the suits are unlocked to start, the rest to be unlocked whilst progressing through the game.  Pirates of the Caribbean and Alice in Wonderland are two of the six worlds are available to you at the start.  You must collect Golden Mickeys in order to open up the other worlds.

The Pirates world is based on the most recent film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  The areas within the levels are pretty small and claustrophobic however they are filled with puzzles that need to be solved in order for you to advance.  The game defaults with guide arrows to help you along, great for just casual, fun play or for young and inexperienced gamers.  You have the option to turn these off if you want a little more of a challenge.  You collect golden Mickey’s that will allow you to unlock worlds and purchase costumes.  These can be found throughout the levels as well as dropped by enemies and appear when items get destroyed.  Each level also has a collection item specific to that world that will unlock either character art, music, or a new costume.  Once you get to a certain point in a level, a challenge arcade will open.  The challenges are optional and range from running from explosions to defeating a set amount of enemies.  Completing challenges will win you gold.

Each character suit can be leveled up to four stars and they do get stronger with each advancement.  I played through with the Cheshire Cat suit for a while before I realized that no matter how many level up stars I collected, it didn’t do anything so when I unlocked the Alice suit, I changed over to her.  It’s a nice way to get you to play with all the different characters.  There didn’t seem to be any difference with any of the characters other than the look so choosing a character is really just player preference.  There are a lot of costumes, art, and music to unlock and, for added replay value, certain things can only be obtained by replaying levels so multiple playthroughs will be required for completionists.  Other costumes will be available as DLC for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

The game also allows for up to four players in local co-op to battle it out against the evil bots or against each other.  While the game is mostly aimed to be co-operative, you can mix it up by messing with your friends in the game.  The game can be played in single player mode as easily as it can be played in multiplayer mode.  At the end of each level, the game tallies up your experience which is determined by how many enemies you kill, how much gold you collect, and how many times you respawn.  You can respawn an infinite amount of times in a level but the more you die the less experience you will earn.

This review is based on the Nintendo Wii version and graphically, the game looks decent.  The worlds are more reminiscent of the films as opposed to exact replicas as is the music.  I was a little disappointed to see that the Alice in Wonderland world was based on the recent Tim Burton film, but that’s because I am a die hard fan of the original animated film.  The music is also more reminiscent of the themes from the film.  They are definitely recognizable but are more based on the music than the actual pieces themselves. The games controls pretty well.  There were no Wii specific controls.  Nothing about the game is super difficult, although I had some issues with platform jumping but I seem to have this issue with all games of this type.

Gamers that have played any of the LEGO series games and/or Little Big Planet will feel right at home with Disney Universe.  Overall, Disney Universe is a great game for players of all ages and skill level and can serve as a fun game to pass the time in single player mode as well as a fun party game with multiple players.  You may not blow hours and hours of your time at once, but it’s a great game to pop in and play for a bit either by yourself or with a friend or two.

Disney Universe is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 years and up and is available now for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC.  A Mac version will be available but no release date has been announced yet.

A review copy of the game was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.  This review is based on the Wii version of the game.

One of the things that the Lego movie games have done really well is tell a brief version of a story through humorous cutscenes without any dialogue. With Pirates being such a complicated story, re-telling this story without any spoken words is no small task. They do as good a job as possible, but the story, especially the last two movies: At World’s End and On Stranger Tides, are just too convoluted to follow. You really have to know the story already to get anything but an occasional chuckle out of it.

Still, you have to hand it to Traveller’s Tales for even attempting such a daunting set of movies, and giving them all to us in one game is a great value. There is truly a lot of collecting and gameplay for two players. But what is the true value of all that gameplay if it isn’t any good? Fortunately, the tried and true formula works really well for this franchise.

These games are about exploring, solving puzzles, and bashing things to Lego bits. You go from one locale to the next putting the sword to anything and everything. Most things are destructible and if you spend enough time on a level, you will discover some pretty devious puzzles to solve. Solving these puzzles require you to use different characters that are available to you. Some characters carry a gun, some hunt for treasure, and others can fix things. For the majority of the puzzles that you have to solve in order move the story along, they will give you a hint as to what character to use if you are trying to do something that requires another character. Other puzzles leave you to your wits, and sometimes this poses a challenge that makes you wonder if this game was for kids or adults, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Getting around is simple enough. You can run, jump and attack. There isn’t any major combos to learn, and only certain characters can do a double-jump, and only in specially  marked spots. This keeps the game from becoming overly complicated which makes it kind of a mindless romp through a great pirate adventure.

The locales are all very well done. You will travel through taverns, villas, ports, pirate ships, coves, caves swamps, deserts, forests, and to the World’s End. The graphics, even on the Wii, look great and the characters feature subtle detail such as Jack Sparrow’s drunken swagger. Most everything is made out of digital legos, which really adds to the charm and humor of the game.

If you have played other Lego games, you are going to find that the same problems with control still exist. Countless and pointless deaths await you at every corner as you try to jump to areas that look like you should be able to reach, only to find out that you just jumped a little off target. This frustration only increases when you add a second player that is struggling with the same issue. More deaths are in store during combat, when you accidentally lock on to your partner and start wailing on them with your sword while they are yelling “That’s me! That’s me!”. The punishment for such deaths is truly minimal in the scope of things, still it’s just a little frustrating, especially when falling means having to retread a large portion of a level over and over again because you keep missing a simple jump.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean uses a unique split-screen that is created as your two characters move apart from each other. This is really cool because it allows you to know exactly where you partner is in relation to you, and at the same time gives you maximum view for your character. This is a vast improvement from having both players share the same screen. However, sometimes the view created cuts off your view where you need it most. It is also very disorienting, and you may or may not ever get used to it.

Then there is the scene transitions. If one of your characters moves into a new area, the scene shifts automatically to the new area. It doesn’t give the other player time to leave as well. While this keeps the game moving, it would have been nice for them to at least give the other player a countdown to get to the door before switching scenes. This is most irritating when you are just about to collect something and your partner accidentally exits the level.

Overall, the game does a great job at capturing the universe, translating it into gameplay mechanics, and stays true to the Traveller’s Tales/Lego game formula. Using the unique aspects of different key characters, solving puzzles that are sometimes a little devious in their simplicity, and bashing everything is sight all have a basic charm that keeps you busy for hours at a time. Bringing a friend along is the way to enjoy this game, although, going back through levels on Free Play to collect hidden items can be fun on your own. I can easily recommend this game to fans of the other Lego games and for anyone that loves the Pirates movies and is looking for another way to enjoy the adventures of Jack Sparrow and company.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 years and older and is available now for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Mac, and PC.

You play the game using the Wii remote and Nunchuk configuration and as you progress through the game, you can unlock different combos, increase your health, and buff your character through the use of Runes.  Runes, when equipped, grant Thor special abilities such as regenerating health and Odinforce, the game’s version of mana. You can find Runes scattered throughout each level along with concept art pieces that you may view in the game’s art gallery.

The game starts out kind of fun as you learn the moves and fight off hordes of enemies,  but it quickly becomes mundane and repetitive. The designers attempt to mix things up by giving enemies slight variations such as fire and ice alignments, however all you need to do is equip the required element and the battle becomes exactly the same as the last. You enter a room, clear it out, rinse, repeat. The only thing that mixes things up are the boss battles and the flight levels.

However, even the flight levels get old really fast. It just becomes an on-rails version of the ground-based levels. You can dodge enemy attacks, but all you are doing is pointing the Wii remote at the screen to aim and shoot at enemies. So, the boss battles must be really good then, right? Not really.

You fight massive boss battles at the end of each level, but by the time you reach the final fight you have already faced off with several mini-bosses that are defeated the exactly the same way, with the last boss throwing in more hordes of enemies just to up the difficulty and frustrate you. You run around in a circle avoiding attacks and mashing buttons to attack. It doesn’t help that the in-game camera is fixed which sometimes makes it difficult to see important areas that are off-screen. This was especially annoying during boss battles, however it was prevalent throughout the whole game.

The camera issues only served to magnify the loose control of Thor. Jumping and switching directions during combat works well, however the dash move and pulling off combo moves are difficult to control. With the fixed camera, you may end up just dashing right to the side of the camera and it takes a second for it to catch up with you. Also, the Wii just doesn’t always track your motion control the way you expect it to, and you end up just shaking it around in hopes you pull off a combo or special attack.

Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on combos too much as most of the game can be played through by button mashing. Although it does help to learn some of the combo moves, you can get through the game just as easy with out them.  Boss battles generally require you to use a newly learned move in order to defeat them and the hardest part of the game is pulling off some of these moves. The game uses quick time elements that have you flailing the Wii remote and nunchuk, rapidly pressing buttons, as well as waving the Wii remote in the directions indicated.  This also got old and felt entirely overused throughout the game.

I didn’t really notice the music too much which is fine, but some of the sound effects are annoying.  One level, in particular, had an alarm buzzing the entire time I was in the level.  Thank goodness the options menu grants you the ability to adjust the volume of everything, including the sound effects. The game features Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, but the voice acting was atrocious.  It almost felt like a joke.

The graphics are presented in a comic book style and at first I didn’t mind, but I think that there could have been more detail. It captures the comic book feel, but the game could have just as well been a GameCube title. The story cutscenes are more of a camera panning over what looks like concept art, which is an interesting way to work with the Wii’s graphical shortcomings,  but the Wii has more power than they are using. Unfortunately, this also made the story harder to follow.

Thor: God of Thunder ends up being a bad God of War “light”. I can’t really recommend this game to anyone but children that might be Thor fanatics.  I am not at all familiar with the comic book, so I’m not really sure if this would please or irritate long-time Thor fans.  And yet while this game does seemed suited for younger kids, the difficulty may prove to be frustrating for them. You can select your difficulty at any point in the game, however even the easy setting had some moments where you were fighting the control more than the enemy.

Thor: God of Thunder is rated T for Teen and is available now for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, and the Nintendo DS.

A review copy of the game was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.

Check out our review Thor God of Thunder Nintendo DS review and the Xbox 360 version.

After a brief introduction, the game picks up when Rapunzel leaves her tower and starts her adventure with Flynn Rider.  They must work together to get to the castle.  The game can be played as a single player game, with AI controlling the second character, Flynn.  You can switch back and forth between Rapunzel and Flynn on the fly and you will have to do this a lot in order to advance through the game.  You can also play the game in co-op mode, where the second player takes that role, making the game a little less frustrating.

The game is styled as a 2D/3D platformer. The camera moves left and right as you move, like a side-scrolling platformer, but you can move into the background, kind of like the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. Depth perception can be tricky when trying to make particular jumps, so you will have to make several attempts to make what looks like a very simple jump.  The controls can be spotty. You must shake the Wii remote to do certain actions in the game and I felt like I had to shake the crap out of the controller just to get it to do something in the game. This could have been me trying too hard or just bad recognition by the game.

Levels consisted of little tasks to complete in order to advance.  Within each level, you collect pictures for Rapunzel’s memory book by blooming flowers as well as finding and collecting new pallatte colors.  The pictures and colors collected are then used to paint pictures for particular characters to complete tasks.  While you can finish a level without collecting all of the items, certain pictures call for the use of particular colors, so you may as well collect them.  Most of the items are easy to find.

The level design was not over complicated although it felt like most levels began in the middle with you having to go all the way to the right, complete some tasks, then retrace your steps all the way over to the left of the level, complete some more tasks, then retrace your steps back to the beginning of the level to end it.  This sometimes caused some confusion as to where to go next but if that happens, Pascale, Rapunzel’s chameleon friend, points you in the right direction.

The game also features little mini-games like racing, collecting, and working together to do particular tasks like breaking certain colored barrels or keeping lanterns from touching the ground.  The AI wasn’t particularly intelligent and during some mini-games, the AI character often gets in your way.  But since the game isn’t terribly difficult to play, this doesn’t cause any issues except general frustration.

Tangled works slightly better as a co-op game but still functions well as a single player game.  The inclusion of co-op is a nice addition especially for families with more than one child.  This can also allow a parent and child to play the game together.

Combat is rather simple in the game with Rapunzel wielding her trusty frying pan and Flynn a sword.  A fun fact is that no one actually dies in the game.  Rapunzel can whack guards with her frying pan which only knocks them back.  Only Flynn can knock them out.  Zzzz’s appear when the enemy is KO’d and after a short time, they disappear.  The game’s focus is less on combat and really more about Rapunzel and Flynn working together to get through the levels and to the castle.

Despite the beauty of Disney animation, the graphics aren’t very impressive.  There are a lot of jaggy lines and not a lot of detail.  The cutscenes steal the show as they use a painterly style to move the story along.  This works well within the Wii’s graphics capabilities and were fun to watch.  The voice acting was also a little disappointing which took me by surprise.  The dialog seemed cut from the film as opposed to recorded specifically for the game.  It felt choppy and lacked emotion in some portions.  During dialog cutscenes there is an annoying little chime after each character spoke.  That was especially annoying and I’m not entirely sure why it was there.  The music, however, is another highlight of the game, taken from the film’s score, it worked well and never got old.

There are some minor differences between the film and the game like Flynn’s nose for treasure.  In the game, he can pretty much sniff it out and when it’s found, he then digs it up like a dog.  Some levels feature more of the characters than seen in the film but it’s a nice opportunity to get into the story and get to know some of these characters.  Rapunzel wields a frying pan and Flynn wields a sword, although he rarely, if ever, used a sword in the film.  There is a missed opportunity to build a level featuring the dam scene from the film.  I watched that part thinking the whole time how awesome that would’ve been to play in the game.

Kids and fans of the film will probably get the most enjoyment out of this game. It promotes working together to achieve your goal. It’s also paced well for children as it is a rather short game and can be completed in about 5-7 hours depending on the skill of the player. There is some moderate replay value if you want to collect everything in the levels and complete all of the mini-game objectives.

Tangled is rated E for Everyone and is available now for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

A review copy of the game was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.

The new movie is due out on December 17, 2010 and continues the story of Flynn, who has gone missing. His son has to enter the computer world to find him, and we get to see what a decades of upgrades can do to the computer world. It goes without saying that Tron and video games go hand-in-hand.

I was really excited to get to review Tron Evolution Battle Grids for the Wii. I grew up with Tron and it holds a special place in my heart that sits alongside Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. I dumped so many quarters into the original Tron arcade game that I could have bought a cabinet of my own. With the new movie coming out, I couldn’t think of a better way to warm up to the movie than playing through Tron Evolution Battle Grids. I was wrong.

The game starts with little fanfare. Considering its a video game based on a movie about video games, I kind of expected the game to start with me getting sucked into a computer! Instead I got kind of a plain title screen with the standard “Press A” to start. If that was the worst of it all, I would be pretty happy. Instead, the whole game is kind of a rushed mess.

There are three modes: Grid Games, Championship, and Story Mode. Grid games introduces you to the various games you will be competing in.  You can choose Team Battle or have a Free-For-All. You then pick a game, set the options, and then play. Championship Mode has you pick a set of events to compete in with an overall points winner at the end. Story Mode puts you in the role of a new ISO (rookie) on the game grid as you work your way up the Leaderboards while meeting characters along the way.

Let me talk about the good things first, since there are fewer of those. It’s good that they give you a ton of options when picking a game. You can tweak the gameplay to offer lots of flexibility. Your character can level up, and you can buy upgraded equipment by spending “Bits” that you pick up in Story Mode. It’s also cool that you can create and name your own avatar.

However, even creating your avatar is not very much fun. It’s like making a Mii only not fun. Most of the facial shapes look the same with an animation style that reminds me of the Star Wars Clone Wars animated series: long and sharp chins, but without any hint of a CG look to it. You can’t import your Mii, which would make it much more fun (can you imagine some of your Miis with the Tron suit on!). You can customize every part of your suit, but really it’s just for show and not much else. Since you can’t play online, there is no identity to be had with your avatar.

The game offers no real tutorial or hints. When you first start a game, it explains the controls and the basics of the game, but never HOW to play the game. You just kind of have to get killed hundreds of times to even figure out what your supposed to do in each round. You might win a round or two by pure luck, but until you upgrade your equipment, you are pretty much fodder. You can set the AI to easy, but then they are so dumb that you don’t really learn anything. It makes me wonder if this game was even play tested.

The control is absolutely terrible. Most of the games you can play holding the controller on its side, but you have use the pointer to select things on the menu. Some games are best holding the controller on its side, and others are better with the analog stick and nunchuck, but there is no real great way since you will have problems either way.

If you hold it on its side, which is best for light cycles and light discs, you miss out on the precision of the analog stick. If you use the nunchuck combination, the mapping of the buttons makes it awkward. The jump button is mapped to the C Button on the nunchuck? Really? This is especially painful because the game features a double jump. Trying to do a double jump with your forefinger and move the analog stick with your thumb is harder than patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.

The game could still be recommended if the mini games were any good. The games are Light Cycle Arena, Light Discs, Light Cycle Race, Grid Tanks, Runner Arena, Runner Race, and Hyper Ball. Sadly, I really couldn’t find a standout in the game. It was more like trying to find the game that sucked the least. I would have to say that the Light Cycles fit that bill.

In Light Cycles, you have to get other players to run into the trail that your cycle leaves in its wake. In the original game of Tron, your trail stayed on the screen until you were destroyed (Derezzed in Tron speak) and you could only turn in 90 degrees. In this version, your trail dissipates after a short distance and you can make full turns as well as make sharp 90 degree turns. The game also gives you a split second to turn AFTER you hit a wall. This is nice because the game is so frenetic, you need a moment to react. However, the control is really loose, the map is impossible to use, the view makes it really tough to find the enemy, even with the backwards view the game provides, that it just isn’t any fun.

Runner Race is a close second, but that’s only because it is almost exactly like the Light Cycles only you have weapons and you can’t make 90 degree turns. It’s hard enough to control your vehicle, but you also have to fire weapons? It’s all possible, but it’s just not worth the time and effort it takes to learn the controls.

Believe it or not, the rest of the games go downhill from there. Light Discs is complete chaos where you could be winning one second, and then get killed right when you respawn and end up losing without ever knowing why. You have bomb discs, but it never really explains when and how to use them other than by pressing 1 and 2 at the same time. Hyper Ball seems OK, but the mechanic in it is so far removed from what you onscreen character is doing, that it is completely counter-intuitive. Reacting to a shot from the opponent is a waste, because their shot will change direction when it hits the ceiling (I know that makes no sense to you, but honestly, it doesn’t matter). Tanks is embarrassing. You have to point at the screen to aim and use the analog stick to move…sounds great. Then when it starts, your tank moves like crap, other tanks are flying around the screen shooting at break-neck speed and you are left to dust. Then, out of nowhere, you end up destroying an enemy tank, and you are not sure how.

The game also features a local Leaderboard, which means nothing to me because there is no way I would spend enough time with the game for it to ever matter.

The Tron franchise is a bit of an anomaly. The fan-driven 80′s computer geek romp was not critically acclaimed, but it had some of the most amazing effects for its time, not to mention an amazing music score by Wendy Carlos. It suffered from being way ahead of its time, so it seems to me that a reboot in this decade would make it a perfect fit for video games. Judging by this first effort, maybe I’m wrong. Sorry Disney, I really wanted to love this game, it just wouldn’t let me.

TRON Evolution Battle Grids is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 years old and up and is available now for the Nintendo Wii.  TRON Evolution is available for the Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, PC, and PSP.

A review copy was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.  This review is based solely on the Nintendo Wii version.

Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Swamp is a sequel to Torus Game’s First Frights, which was released in conjunction with the DVD release of Scooby-Doo! the Mystery Begins, a live-action movie. Spooky Swamp uses the same unique animation style featured in the first game and follows Mystery Inc. as they solve a mystery that all starts with an empty stomach.

Shaggy and Scooby are at the Mystery Inc. clubhouse that was introduced in the feature film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. They catch a whiff of something delicious coming from the swamp outside, and decide to follow their noses to see if they can get a taste of whatever is responsible for the delectable aroma. What they find is a witch brewing a potion that is missing some key ingredients, and the mystery begins from their. The plot starts out simplistic but gets much more convoluted as you progress through the game.

The gameplay consists mostly of controlling on of the members of Mystery Inc. and combating various enemies, while searching for clues and collectibles. To help, each character has a different ability: Shaggy can use his yo-yo to swing from certain areas, Scooby-Doo can utilize the various doggy doors throughout each location, Velma can use her intellect to operate devices, Daphne can climb poles, and Fred can push heavy objects. You also have access in certain areas to a magnifying glass and a camera to help collect clues. Using a pin board to organize the clues you find on your adventure, you get a chance to identify the villain of the adventure.

The combat is pretty straight forward. You have a single attack, which varies depending on your character. Both Velma and Shaggy have ranged attacks, and Scooby, Fred and Daphne are melee fighters. In addition, each character can jump and perform a ground-pound attack. To keep things a little varied, there are certain enemies that require you to use items to defeat, such as the wrestler who is vulnerable to water that you can find in buckets. Overall, there isn’t that much strategy to it.

The game tries to mix it up a bit with some sleuthing sections and chase scenes, however most of the game will be running around three main areas and collecting various objects such as keys, clues, masks, Scooby Snacks, dog collars and letters to spell S-C-O-O-B-Y. While the game is a little repetitive and boring for the older fans of the franchise, the younger crowd will appreciate some of the nice little touches that are added to make the game more accessible. For example, you will never die if you fall into the swamp or off a cliff. This is a really good idea since you will probably fall a lot as you get used to the camera angles in the game. Also, you can switch between characters on the fly. If you lose all your health, you will respawn quickly, but you will lose some of the Scooby Snacks you have collected.

One downside to the game is a lot of backtracking with no map. The game isn’t too difficult that this poses a serious problem, but if you put the game down for awhile there is only a little snippet that tells you what you are supposed to be doing, so you will have to wander a bit as you get your bearings. The enemies respawn each time you enter an area, and they get a little more menacing as you progress through the story and your character’s abilities never grow in strength. However, even with the added challenge, there will be times where you are going back through the same area just to get a little bit of information, then it’s back again to find more. It can get a little tedious if you are used to rich level design, but it’s fine for the younger audience.

The game features drop-in/drop out co-op so if you need a little help in a section, a friend can easily jump into the game with you and just as easily drop out.  It is not split-screened co-op, so you may battle with your buddy when trying to explore certain areas in the game but the easy co-op is a really nice feature of the game.

The character design is a departure from the animation from the series, but the characters all have the look and feel of their television counterparts. The voice acting of the Mystery Inc. characters is really good. They all have the nuances of the characters they are imitating, and if you are a real fan of the series, you will notice only slight differences.

The music is decent, if not forgettable. It captures the essence of each area you are exploring, but doesn’t use any of the familiar themes associated with Scooby Doo. Some of the sound effects are there, but they are not abundant or accurate enough to make you feel like you are truly inside a Scooby-Doo mystery. There is a laugh track to accompany some of the bad jokes made during the game, however the comic timing of the game itself is a little off.

The design of the game as a whole is a hit or miss affair. There is little pressure or consequence, which I find a nice change of pace from the games I’ve been playing lately. I can recommend this game for younger audiences that enjoy the cartoon, but there just isn’t enough in the game to hook anyone else. A parent or guardian may be able to get into the mix with the children, but I don’t think you will find too many adults playing this on their own. To be fair though, it’s not a bad game, it’s just a little shallow to suggest it to experienced gamers, even if you love the show.

Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Swamp is rated E10+ for everyone 10 years and up and is available now for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2.

A review copy of the game was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review. This review was based on the Wii version of the game.

The game consists of a bunch of mini-games that can be played with 1-4 players.  In Party Mode, you can choose to play one game at a time or up to 10 games in a row to then determine the winner.  You are able to choose your in-game character – sadly, you cannot use your Mii – which is either the Dad-like character, the Mom-like character, and the brother and sister-like characters.  I always choose the brother as he bears an uncanny resemblance to Owen Wilson.

There are several different games to play like Giant Ball Roll – one character is on a giant ball and must run over the other players while they run around trying to collect as many stars as possible.  There is also Skydiving – where you sky dive through rings in the sky.  There are also brain training games and even a “dieting” mini game.  There are several more games to unlock as well as characters and costume color variations.

The games require the use of the Wii Remote and some will require the Nunchuk.  The game also supports the Wii Balance Board for some of the mini-games.  This ups the challenge a bit and brings in the fitness part of the game.  You can enjoy most of the game from the comfort of your couch or you can stand up and play.  Some games are played by pointing the Wii Remote at the screen or by using remote sideways like an old school controller.  Unfortunately, the mini-game’s instructions are actually very wordy and don’t tell you how the PLAY the game with the controllers but rather how the game is played.  You have to either guess while playing the game or go one step further into the Tutorial to see how you play the game.  This may be a little difficult for younger kids who really want to get into the gameplay right away.  It was a little frustrating for us as well as we also wanted to jump right into the gameplay.

The controls aren’t as fine tuned as they could be and can sometimes make a fun game frustrating.  It would be nice to see what the controller layout is going to be without having to go into how to play and then the tutorial.

Along with Party Mode, there is Limit Mode which allows you to specify a time limit to bust through as many mini games as possible.  The game also keeps records for each player so you can always check your scores to see who the number one player in the family is!

Family Party Fitness Fun is more suited for a casual gaming family with younger kids who are newer to gaming.  Most kids who game often may get bored easily as would some adults.

Family Party: Fitness Fun is rated E10+ for everyone 10 and up and is available now exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.

A review copy of the game was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.

We went out to dinner and afterwards went over to their house to play the game.  As soon as we had the game going, Zoë’s eyes lit up and she kept smiling and saying “Dance?”.  We started the game in the game’s Versus Mode so that we could show her how to play.  I danced while Zoë’s mom, Tanya, helped her with the moves.  One thing that was apparent was that she was really digging the music and the visuals of the game.  When the song was over, we all cheered and clapped and Zoë walked up to me, handed over the Wii Remote and said “Another?”.  When I took it, she then replied “Thank you”.  Over two hours went by and after every song, she would hand me the Wii remote and ask for another song.

The game has five different game play modes including: Free Play, Challenge, Versus, KIDZ BOP Shop, and Dress Up.  All dance modes earn KIDZ BOP Points which can then be used in the Shop to purchase new items like accessories, outfits, and even new hair styles and colors.  Challenge Mode will unlock various stages and outfits that can be purchased in the shop.  There is also an Easy and Normal version of each song making it a little easier on the younger kids while still offering up a little challenge to the older ones.

In Dress Up, you can customize your character’s look from the skin tone to the outfits allowing players to customize the look of their in game dancing character.  While you cannot use your Wii Mii in the game, Mii’s are part of the audience, so you may see yours from time to time.

The game play is quite simple.  The player holds the Wii Remote in one hand and follows the directional arrows when they appear on the screen.  The Wii picks up the moves quite easily, even if you aren’t really trying.  This is great for the little ones as you can never fail a song and they can dance around to the music and are still able to earn some points.  All modes can be played with two players – Versus mode is competitive and Free Play and Challenge are more cooperative.  There are some issues where the game won’t recognize moves that you feel that you have made and other times will recognize moves that are clearly not being hit.  This may be frustrating for some but since it is aimed at younger kids, keeps the frustration level at a minimum.

We left the game with the family and the next day, Zoë got up, pet the family cat, Symon, and asked her mom “Dance?”.  I went over to the house later in the week to play the game some more with Zoë.  Since she is a bit younger than the game is intended for, she doesn’t quite understand the arrows but she swings her arms around and watches the characters dance.  Earlier in the week, Zoë and her dad, Lawrence, played the game and when he switched the girl character out for a boy character, Zoë got angry and he had to switch it back.  Since Tanya is almost ready to have her second baby, Zoë and her dad play the game together more often and Zoë asks for the game almost every day.  Recently, when Zoë was watching her favorite cartoon, Tom & Jerry, a commercial for the game came on and she recognized it and wanted to play the game instead of watch her cartoon.

When we asked if they would purchase the game for Zoë, they said that since she was a little young, they may not buy it until she was a little older but Lawrence quickly added that after seeing how much fun both Zoë and Tanya had playing together, that he would definitely buy it.  They both seem very pleased with the affect the game has.  Zoë gives the game a lot of attention and seems to really love playing the game with Lawrence.  I have to admit that while the game is aimed for children, it is a lot of fun to play.  We all have the same favorite song in the game which is “Ice Cream and Guacamole”.  Not only is it catchy, but dancing to it is a lot of fun!

As Zoë watched and played the game, she began to pick up some of the moves and even started to sing along with some of the songs.

The game features 24 contemporary dance hits including KIDZ BOP versions of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”, Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold”, and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.  The lyrics of some of the songs have been altered to make them more kid friendly so parents can rest assured that the music is appropriate for the age group that the game is intended for.

From the looks of it, if your child enjoys music and dancing, KIDZ BOP Dance Party! The Video Game may be a sound investment providing hours of fun for the whole family as well as promoting a more active lifestyle for both kids and parents.

KIDZ BOP Dance Party! The Video Game is rated E for Everyone and is available now for $39.95 exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.

A review copy was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.

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That being said, this is an excellent flight game for kids, with only a few little nagging issues. I enjoy all kinds of games, including the Mario titles, and I had a lot of fun playing through this game. It’s a low stress game with simple and effective controls. The game really encourages you to explore each area of the game, and you can do that by either leisurely flying around each island, or taking on missions. My favorite part of the game is just flying around earning little achievements and exploring every nook and cranny.

Each world has a lot of tunnels and caverns to explore. From Gloster Island, your initial destination, to Nimbus Island, an island in the sky.  You fly through barnyards, windmills, train tunnels, volcanoes, and more. It is kind of like going for a scenic walk. To give you incentive to try different things, the game includes achievements that will give you experience points.

As you perform tricks, fly under bridges, skim the water, and other fun things, you gain a certain amount of points that level up your pilot and unlocks paint jobs, or skins, for you plane. Eventually you can also unlock new planes and islands. To do that, though, you will need to take on some missions.

Mission range from delivering items and taking photos, to putting out fires and competing in races. None of them are too difficult to complete, however, you are rewarded with different medals depending on your performance. This makes it great for families where the son or daughter can try it out and get a silver, and then hand it over to dad for the gold medal. Quite honestly, some of the gold star medals are tricky to get. To get them, you definitely have to level up and get some new planes.

Some of the planes you get include a bi-plane, tri-plane, sea plane, helicopter and jet, just to name a few. There is even a UFO you can unlock, and to get it, the whole family will have to pitch in. Each plane features a different kind of flight style. They boost and brake different and have unique acceleration, cornering and top speeds. It would have been nice to see a stat sheet for each plane so you could get an idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Overall, though, each plane you unlock is a little bit better than the last so not having the stats didn’t ruin the experience.

The graphics are simple yet effective. There isn’t a whole lot of island detail, but there is just enough to make it enjoyable to explore. The game features a cartoony style that makes the landscapes look like The Storybook ride at Disneyland. There are some nice touches, like the sunken pirate ship, and the monorail transpiration system on Nimbus, and your flying machine has a real shine on it that you notice when the sun hits it straight on.

Another great part of the game is the music. It features nicely orchestrated pieces that capture the essence of exploring the skies. Play the game as long as I have, and you might find yourself humming some of the tunes. Other sounds like the bleat of sheep, the whistle of the train, and the echo when you pass through tunnels are all nicely done.

The controls are pretty good. you hold the Wii controller on its side and you can change the pitch and roll by tilting it back-and-forward and side-to-side. When you have to make a sharp turn, you might over compensate, which confuses the game a little bit causing the plane to react a little weird. It is also hard to judge your breaking speed, especially if you use them right after boosting. Still, they are pretty consistent after you get a hang of them. You will find yourself flying through long mine shafts and skimming along the surface of a river with ease.

You can choose to play as a boy or girl, and there is a brief tutorial that opens the game to help you get a feel for how the game works. There are some cool options in this game like being able to star or restart a mission at any time without any penalty. Also, if you crash, you are back in the air in seconds with barely any load time. This makes it fun and easy to complete some of the achievements and missions because if you fail, you are just seconds away from another try. You can change aircraft at any time, and it’s a very simple to use interface to change skins for a look you like.

With decent controls and graphics, and great music and scenery, Kid Adventures: Sky Captain proves to by a great deal at 19.95. It is pretty addicting considering its style, which kind of reminds my of the last Pilot Wings by Nintendo. I recommend this game mainly to families where the parents might want to get involved in playing the game.

Kid Adventures: Sky Captain is rated E for Everyone and is available now exclusively for the Wii.

A review copy of the game was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.

This game could be described better as a fantasy hunting sim. You will spend more time preparing for the hunt than actually hunting. From hunting, gathering, farming, sending convoys, and managing a very deep inventory system, you will find a very rewarding outcome if you take the time to understand the various ways to give yourself an edge over your quarry. That is not to say that your prey is a pushover.

In fact, once the game really started to heat up, I found it to be quite difficult. Some tasks are easy like gathering certain crops, but after a short while you will be tasked with capturing large creatures, protecting allies, gathering resources while under attack, and fighting to the death against colossal beasts. However with some forethought, observation, and a little luck, you can overcome the odds.

You have to have patience and perseverance to really advance in this game. You will not level up exactly, because you only advance once in the offline mode: from a level one hunter to a level two hunter; and this change only affects the items you find when foraging, not your power. The only real way to get stronger is to forge and upgrade your weapon sets and combine items to buff up your character before charging into battle. You have to know a little about the creature you are going to face-off with, and you have prepare your inventory properly so you aren’t fumbling around with menus when you need to be carving up the enemy. Your character wields each weapon in the game uniquely, so your strategy will strongly depend on your chosen weapon set.

You have several weapon options. You may choose a sword and shield, great sword, longsword, lance, hammer, bowgun, and later on you may also purchase a switch-axe. The sword and shield is fast but weak, the hammer is slow but strong, the lance offers a bit of protection while attacking, and the bowgun allows you to attack from a distance. The switch-axe is a pretty cool all-in-one weapon, but it takes skill and timing to use effectively. There is a very complex upgrade tree for each type of weapon that unlocks as you progress through the various challenges. Some of these weapons have the ability to do elemental damage, or you may be able to attach “decorations” that have special abilities when on a weapon. As you upgrade your weapons, you will find that the items you need to upgrade your weapons come from creatures that are a perfect challenge for your current set, but can be pushovers later as you apply upgrades to both your weapons and armor.

Armor, as with the weapons, has a complex upgrading system. You can also attach “decorations” to some armor. The armor you can forge is dependent on the spoils you collect in battle. As you take down creatures with awesome natural armor, you can collect their scales and claws to create new armor. This makes it necessary to kill creatures several times over. This may seem repetitive, but it really isn’t. As you learn each creatures tactics and behavior, you will learn to predict what they will do next, like a real hunter. However, you don’t get anywhere in the game if you just keep killing the same creature over and over again. You have to move through the various guild quests that are sent your way.

A typical hunting quest can take some time, especially if you are not used to a game like this. First you will probably visit your farm to reap any herbs, fungus, honey, or bugs you have sown. Then its off to the trader to trade any spoils for unique items. Then to check on your convoys with the fishmonger to see if you found any exciting fish or treasures, then you will talk to the village elder’s son to collect any resources from your convoy or previous hunt. You can also check the monster forecast to see if the creature you are looking for has been spotted in the area. Then you may spend time with a trader, then off to the blacksmith to make a game plan for your next weapon and armor upgrades. After checking your equipment one last time, you may find you are short on something. You may choose to replay an earlier quest to collect additional resources, or you may opt to just wander around Moga Woods, the area just outside your village, for the simple items you may need. Then you will check out what quest you would like to take on and once you have decided, you will go to your hut to put together all the items you need. Figuring out the best way to use your resources to concoct tools, potions, bombs, and traps is the first step towards victory. You will then take a nap (save), have a bite to eat, accept your quest, and then it’s time to head off to the hunt. The fight itself could take a bit of time as well. And if you fail, the game is kind of brutal on you.

Failing doesn’t just mean losing all your health. In fact, if you lose all your health, you simply pass out. Passing out simply puts you back at your base camp with your pay for the mission reduced and your ego bruised. You have three chances to fulfill the mission objectives before you fail however, there are other ways to fail depending on the mission. If time runs out, you kill something you were supposed to capture, or if you let another character that you were supposed to protect die, you will also fail a mission, and lose all the items that you used in the battle. Of course, using items in battle is a task itself. Since the character animation is so drawn out when you sharpen your sword or drink a potion, you really run the risk of getting hit while your character is flexing from his/her newfound strength. This adds an element of strategy as you have to plan the right time to heal yourself or set a trap. No one can say that Nintendo doesn’t have any exclusive hardcore titles anymore, because this game is pretty tough.

It is extremely rewarding, though. Each time you take down a creature it’s a huge thrill. After a while, a creature you struggled with at the beginning starts to become kind of a pushover because your equipment is so much better. It’s a great feeling, and once you get the feel for the game, those moments come more frequently. Once you take down your first Barroth, the game truly starts to take off.

Another amazing aspect of the game is its online mode. While the single player campaign takes place in a village, the online mode is in a city. It’s extremely easy to create or find a quest, and it has been my experience so far that other players are both friendly and helpful. You can find many experienced players that are more than happy to jump into an easier quest with a less experienced player just to help out. Monster Hunter Tri supports Wii speak, or you can use a USB keyboard to chat with others. It takes just a short time to set up your account, and the game contains its own friends list, so friend codes are not necessary. You can search for friends and warp directly to them and you can look up other players stats to see how experienced they are, so you can pair yourself up with stronger characters if need be. The City also has its own shops which may have items that are not available in your village shop.

If that isn’t enough for you, there is also an Arena mode where you can face off with some of the creatures you have hunted. Defeating these creatures under a specific time limit nets you special rewards. There is also a gallery where you can view the various cut-scenes you view throughout the game. There is so much to this game, that it has its own full-fledged wiki that you can visit that will help you learn everything you need to know about the game from weapon and armor upgrade trees, to tips on hunting down that elusive enemy you are struggling with.

Now, this game isn’t perfect. There are some strange graphic glitches that come up from time-to-time. You will probably fight with the camera a bit during battles, as it doesn’t feature full-motion camera control. From left to right, it works great; when looking up and down, it isn’t free-flowing and has only four perspectives it switches to. When you are trying to speak to someone, trying to climb up an obstacle, or trying to carve a victim, you have to watch for a prompt before you can perform the action. This makes it so the slightly clunky control can get in the way. For example, when you turn around, it’s easy to take a few steps as well, making it hard to line up your character to get the prompt to come up. A second issue is that this game can get very frustrating as you watch your wounded prey skip away into some cave that you can’t enter. I don’t understand why I can’t take the same path they do, since I’m half their size! Also, make sure you have a good internet connection before wasting your time in a quest because if your connection drops, you will lose everything you collected in that mission. These are truly just nit-picks that I’m sure you will notice, but don’t let it ruin the overall experience.

There is so much to this game, that it took me two weeks to write this review. However, I’m glad that I spent the extra time to really get into this game. I will continue to play this game long after this review, and I highly recommend this to any Wii owner that is looking for a real challenge. With so many ways to collect items, combine them, make weapons and armor, it’s easy to see fans of sims games getting something out of this as well. If you are not ready for a commitment though, you may find it hard to get into.

Monster Hunter Tri is rated T for Teen and is available exclusively for the Wii.  You can purchase the game itself or a special bundle with the new Classic Controller Pro.

A review copy was provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.