Token Female Gamer

Meet Nathan Drake, fortune hunter, grave robber (with a heart), rock climber, gunslinger, truck wrangler, and part time archeologist. Sounds great right? Yeah well turns out he is also an idiot, albeit an exceedingly competent idiot.

His physical capabilities are incredible. The man can scale icy cliffs, shoot almost any type of weapon, fling himself from one moving vehicle to the next, all while hardly breaking a sweat, but he is clearly lacking the common sense gene (aka dumb as a brick.)

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Kirby has been cursed by an evil witch and turned into a pink ball. It’s our job to help him along in his quest to break the curse and free the land.

The story itself is not intrinsic to the game. In fact I had to look it up for this review. What this boils down too is that the game play does just fine in the fun department without the story there to lean on.

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Elite Beat Agents is a perfect example of the greatness that can come out of Japan, especially when they let their kooky side shine.

A rather eccentric little rhythm game, that showcases around twenty easily recognizable and entertaining songs. These are cleverly paired with strangely appropriate stories, which revolve around people in need. Once these folks are identified and their need quantified, the Elite Beat Agents are sent in to dance their way to a fabulous solution.

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Everything I have read about Heavy Rain leads me to the same conclusion – this game is a critic’s wet dream. “Exhausting, exhilarating, and, crucially, involving” (PS Magazine). “Powerful and emotionally engaging narrative” (GameSpot). You get the point. It manages to push all the right “critic” buttons: innovative, graphics driven, and story rich.

The game reminds of me of all those sad depressing artsy movies about special people that somehow manage to win the Oscars time and time again. Those movies that are lauded for their craft, composition, and story; those movies that suck all the fun out of life and that I avoid at all costs.

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This is a game for all those people who used to play space invaders back in the day, for those who want to relive the glory days of when two bit graphics were awesome and games were simpler. Or maybe just for those, who want to torture their kids by trying to share some “history” with them.

For me it’s a blatant reminder of how much I suck at Space Invaders. I sucked at it back then and (shockingly enough) I suck at it now. Thankfully by the time I was introduced to computer games it was already ancient, meaning there were lots of much better options to play. Which is probably why I never got any better at playing it.

The DS version isn’t all about nostalgia; they did tried to modernize the game a bit. It boasts the original version, plus an updated advanced Space Invaders, which are essentially different variations on the original. Additional levels and bonus fighter plane skills get unlocked as you progress through the game.

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Deep Labyrinth was a husband purchase, I think. Though if I bought it, it was certainly intended for him. Which means, since the game has been hidden away in his DS case until my unearthing of all things buried, this is my first look at the actual game.

It also means I had no idea what to expect. Turns out, it is an action RPG using first person perspective, with sword fighting and magic casting.

The first person perspective makes me think of Oblivion – running around behind a floating sword, while the graphics are much more of a throwback to say HeXen days of the FPS genre.

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Chances are you have already played this game; if not on the DS then probably on the Wii or GameCube. It is not terribly shocking that Mario Kart DS is just like all of its predecessors. (Take note that Mario Kart for the Wii came out three years after this DS version!)

At its core, Mario Kart is a standard racing game. The whole gang is there, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and so forth. Chose one of them and race around iconic Mario world racetracks.

What always made it incredibly fascinating for me was the focus on drifting. With three difficulty levels, mastering the drift is essential to winning, especially once the competition gets harder.

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Here is a game that should have been great, it sounded great, it sold great, and it even looked great. Turns out, the idea of the game was far better than the execution.

The premise revolves around a boy character that can draw things to life. A skill he desperately needs to be able to solve all the puzzles that are popping up in his life. Each level contains a star that he must reach. If the star is on the top of a tree, he draws a ladder to life and climbs up it.

It’s a really neat idea and with over a thousand different items that register on the drawing board one would think there would be an incredible amount of flexibility and creativity involved with solving each puzzle. The thing is, I couldn’t come up with more then twenty items that were useful. Ladder, helicopter, rope, box, trashcan, ax, ramp, and rock; okay maybe more like ten items.

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In general I tend to avoid TV reviews, mainly because most of what’s available is vastly off topic. If fact most computer/internet/computer games that show up in TV (and movies) are laughable in their execution. Many an eye roll was had by me. =)

That’s one of the wonderful things about The IT Crowd; it gives us both sides of the coin, the tech savvy and the tech retarded, and somehow manages to create comedic gold.

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Nostalgia is back in style and the huge success of the newest Super Mario Bros game on the Wii is a true testament to the trend. With over ten million copies sold its clear that plenty of gamers are not only pining for the less graphic intensive games of their childhood, but also appreciate excellent game play.

As a long time Mario fan I truly felt that the soul of the Super Mario games was lost once they switched to 3D. But they are finally back, in original 2D with one of their best titles since Super Mario World.

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