New Super Mario Brothers Wii Review: All the Classic Mario Goodness of Old; All the Mario Baggage of Recent Titles
For our six and a half loyal readers that wonder if we gave up, we didn’t. Sorry for the lack of updates. Various things like income-providing jobs, child abuse and World of Warcraft have kept us from updating the last couple of weeks. We’ll get back to movies soon (the seemingly endless 17-hour run time of 2012 was enough to scare me away from theaters for a couple of weeks), but I do now have a better-late-than-never look at Nintendo’s latest rehash, New Super Mario Brothers Wii. You may feel that me calling this a rehash indicates I feel dredging up the old 2-D side scrolling platformer back up to the console world is unwelcome. However that would be harsh. After all, if you’re rehashing a tried and true genre, you might as well do it with the best of the best.
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WiiSports Resort: Why Do I Keep Chucking Money at Nintendo’s White Brick? Oh, Ya, Here’s Why…
Had I not been intimately involved with enjoying some WiiWare titles along with being teased if not thrilled by my experience with the WiiMotion plus controller that came with Tiger Woods Assassination (see article from last month) I probably would have been extremely skeptical of the latest “big” release for the little white brick from Nintendo, WiiSports Resort. Not to short change WiiSports, but it was, after all, the game that came with the console. Even though it probably still remains one of the most popular titles on the console for that reason along with its obvious attraction as a party game, paying full price for a new WiiSports game was just a little unsettling for me.
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WiiWare Find of the Month: Swords and Soldiers Brings the RTS Genre to a 2-D Side Scroller
One of the saving graces for the Nintendo Wii in the console wars is the outstanding catalog of WiiWare titles along with the increasing catalog of classic titles in the Virtual Console world. I love the Wii, but I’ve made no bones about the fact that it has major shortcomings that it has had to overcome to attain its popularity. The innovative titles hitting the WiiWare section of the online shop are a huge plus. Of course, with every huge “plus” on the Wii comes a major “beware” factor, and this one is that the Wii’s severely limited on-board and expandable memory it doesn’t have the flexibility to allow downloadable demos of the titles, leaving it to idiots like me to gamble the money and let you know how the gamble turns out. This time, we have a phenomenally fun title that takes RTS gaming into the world of 2-D side scrollers. This combination of two genres we never thought would mix called Swords and Soldiers is a genuinely fun and addictive investment.
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Golf World Stunned as Photos of the Tiger Woods Assassination Attempt Surface on Wii Game Box!
The golfing world was shocked this month when the first photos of the assassination attempt on Tiger Woods surfaced on the box art of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, also known to unwashed hillbillies in Game Stop as Tiger Woods Oh-Ten. Okay, I actually caught myself about to say it, too. In any case, my first thoughts upon seeing the box art to the new Tiger Woods outing was “Back and to the Left, Back and to the Left.” Why would they put a picture of Woods being shot in the back of the neck with him grasping for the wound screaming in pain on the cover?
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Ghostbusters: The Video Game
I was a bit of a Ghostbusters fan in my younger days, so I was fairly excited for this game. Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, featuring the voice talents of the original cast, utilizing the authentic sound effects, considered to be the unofficial third film in the trilogy, this game is the closest you can get to being a Ghostbuster.
Turns out, being a Ghostbuster just isn’t all that fun.
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Be the Ball, Danny…For Only 200 Microsoft Points!
For whatever reason, I decided that I needed a good old fashioned golf game for my XBOX 360. I was harkening back to the good old days of playing Links on my MAC back in the 90s. Golf video games are important to me, a man who has played real golf once in his life and shot a respectable 85…on the front 9. After about a week of playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour I was somewhat shocked by what Microsoft was offering me as a player through XBOX live.
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Gears of War 2 Combustible Map Pack: Instantly Combusts $10!
This is going to be short and to the point. I’ve downloaded and played through a few rounds in each of the new maps in the downloadable Combustible Map Pack released today for Gears of War 2 and am prepared to make a recommendation.
Don’t dowload them. At least not yet. Here’s why.
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Keeping up with the Keflings: XBLA Review
A Kingdom for Keflings is one of the first games to utilize the new Avatars on Xbox Live and makes “you” a playable character, er, Giant. This is easily a game that could be overlooked and forgotten or found and obsessed over. Take your pick. Anyone who liked Animal Crossing or the first Sim City will definitely get into Keflings.
What can I say, I got suckered into Keflings after playing the trial to the point I had to pay. I didn’t mind since I had 2200 MS Points and Keflings was only 800. It is a quick and small download. What is it? If you imagine Warcraft 2 without the fighting then you pretty much have A Kingdom for Keflings.
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Gears of War 2 Online Multiplayer: Just Plain Broken?
I’m following up my initial Gears of War 2 review to cover some things that have come into focus as glaring issues that hopefully can be addressed by Epic Games. While there are many criticisms from GOW fans right now of certain aspects of the game play mechanics themselves, most of those are issues of taste and preference. Instead, I think the issues that are killing this game for me and many players is the entire online multiplayer system. Right now, my perspective is that it is a failure of epic proportions — no pun intended. Is it too broken to fix?
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Fable 2: The Best Mediocore Gets
good doggy
Set in the world of Albion 500 years after the first installment, Fable 2 looked to improve upon the first in the series in many ways and happens to come up short, way short, on a lot of the key elements that made the first game so great. Though, with all of the shortcomings of true greatness in the game, your reviewer still could not put the game down.
Come along for a tale of amazing mediocrity…
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