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So, quirky-fireworks-based-touch-screen-puzzle-shoot-em-ups then, not a genre that has overpopulated the DS to date, but Southpeak Games is set to change all that with their latest release; Big Bang Mini.

The aim of the game is, unsurprisingly, to do your best not to get blown into thousands of little pieces. Using your touch-screen you direct your ship around; a seemingly simple task, but there's a twist, you must also use the stylus to shoot fireworks up to the top screen to dispatch the enemies. The trick then, is finding a good balance between attack and defence, under a flurry of bullets it can be hard enough just avoiding being blown up.

What really makes Big Bang Mini stand out are the fantastic graphics and sense of humour; for those who've grown jaded from years of shooters with generic spaceships it's a real breath of fresh air. It's not unusual to defeat a crowd of floating clowns only to come up against a giant floating lizard (think the Pop and Twinbee series and you're somewhere on the way to knowing what to expect).

Big Bang Mini boasts over 90 levels, a high-score challenge mode with online leaderboards, multiplay with a single cartridge and a raft of other unlockables- so there's plenty to keep even the most hardcore shooter fans busy.



Stay tuned to DCEmu Games Reviews for a full review
Big Bang Mini will be released exclusively on the Nintendo DS in Spring 2008

Worms: Open Warfare 2
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: THQ
Developers: Two Tribes/Team17 Software
Players: 1-4
Released:
US: September 4, 2007
Europe: August 2007

Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Buy from Play-Asia

What else can be said about Worms that hasn't been said before? It's one of those legendary games series that has been going as long as you can remember and has been ported to just about every console in the past 15 years. The basic idea behind the Worms games is two competing teams of worms take turns blowing each other up with bazookas, Uzis, dynamite, exploding sheep and other increasingly bizarre weaponry, until one of the teams is victorious; a seemingly simple concept that has really only been tweaked gently since its original conception. It's popularity came from the endless replayability of the game that came from the variety of weapons and landscapes that meant no one strategy would ever guarantee you a victory in a battle.

The first outing of Worms on the DS was a slightly disappointing affair; it suffered from low-resolution sprites that flickered badly due to a buggy game engine. Some unfortunate enemy AI also meant that enemy worms would often blow themselves to pieces or stand around doing nothing until their turn was over. This was all a shame since Worms seemed like the perfect game for Nintendo's new handheld particularly during the drought of good software the DS was suffering from at the time.

So it's with some caution we look at its sequel Worms: Open Warfare 2. The second installment of the series for the Nintendo DS and thankfully there's lots of reasons to feel positive about it's release, all of the criticism's aimed at the game engine seem to have been taken to heart and fixed. The game engine feels a lot more solid, the computer controlled enemies are a lot more intelligent (expect a thorough ass-kicking to start with) and overall everything seems a lot more polished than it's predecessor. The Worms games have never been a tour-de-force of graphical prowess but the chunky, colorful visuals are definitely likable enough- all of the usual dark humor is here and there's even a few slapstick cut scenes to raise a few smiles.

What Team 17 have put together is a Greatest Hits style package of all the best bits from the previous games in the series, all of the better weapons over the years are here, the mission modes of the later games are here and enough extras around to keep seasoned Worms fans satisfied. The online modes are particularly impressive, random games or games against your friends (using the standard friend codes system), plus online leader boards (think Tony Hawk).



With Worms games, as long as nothing upsets the game engine is solid and nothing is thrown into the mix to upset the balance then you're pretty much guaranteed good fun and Worms: Open Warfare 2 genuinely delivers. If you've never been a fan of the series previously, then it's unlikely you'll find anything to convince you otherwise here, it is what you expect, but perhaps the best version of what you expect.

It's an excellent addition to any DS game collection, for replay value and instant pick-up-and-play....ability. Top marks to Team 17/Two Tribes for making the game it's predecessor only hinted at.

Score: Very Good

Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Ratings:

PEGI:











ESRB:


Megaman Star Force is the spiritual successor to the Megaman: Battle Network series. There are three versions of the game: Leo, Pegasus and Dragon. Each version is almost identical except for a few changes in dialogue and what elemental form Megaman can take later in the game.


Star Force follows the Battle Network formula of gameplay. There is a real world and a digital world which you can explore relatively freely. Combat is real time in a grid and you use cards to fight your foes. One of the immediately noticeable differences is that unlike Battle Networks side camera view of combat, Star Force uses a third person view instead.

The main character of Star Force is a boy named Geo Stelar, the son of an astronaut. The story takes place three years after Geo lost his father to an accident on his space station. Since then he has retreated from any and all relationships so to avoid the pain of losing people. He later meets a digital alien entity named Omega-Xis and they team up to save the world from alien invaders by merging into a single entity known as Megaman. The story and game progress is linear and uses the terms days and weeks instead of chapters. Each chapter of the story generally begins with Geo getting out of bed, some trouble happens, an alien claims responsibility, Megaman beats the alien, goes to bed and the world is safe until the next digital disaster occurs.



One note which separates Star Force from the Battle Network series is the lack of the goody two shoes heroes. All the main characters have their own pains, loneliness and troubled pasts. This is used heavily to enforce the story's theme of friendship and relying upon others for help. Despite being a cheesy plot point you can't help but empathise with some of the characters and the situations they are in. This is a welcome change from the normal fresh faced sword wielding farm boy willing to give his life to rescue a girl he only met five minutes ago.



The Battle system has undergone a simplification from the Battle Network series. Megaman has three tiles to move in and dodge attacks, he is also given an energy shield to block attacks which cover all three tiles. The card system is also much simpler, with the Program Advance, a mechanic whereby you fuse three cards into a single more powerful card, being absent from the game, replaced with the difficult to activate and mostly unnecessary Card-Combo. This leads the combat to being very cut and dry, with most fights ending in less than 10 seconds, combat becomes a repetitive mild annoyance. Even the boss fights tend to last less than a minute and are much easier compared to Battle Network's bosses.

The game makes use of the stylus and touch screen to play little mini-games, such as shooting snakes which attack from four directions, controlling an RC Copter or tapping buttons to stay grappled to a mad digital bull. It adds a bit of variety to each boss zone which breaks out from the tedium of the random encounters.

The games biggest mechanic is the Brotherband. This is where you and another person register each other as brothers and confer on one another abilities and your favourite cards. You can only register a few story characters as brothers, the rest are intended to be real friends using the Wi-fi. It is possible to use the Wi-fi to trade, establish brothers, send emails and dual your friends. However this is all useless if you don't know anyone with this game.

Sounds: More like GBA music and effects than DS. After playing the game you'll put your DS down and forget what the music sounded like.

Graphics: Little improvement over the GBA's Battle Network series. Good use of the dual screen however.

Gameplay: Endless running around with repetitive so-so combat every few seconds.

Concluson: Very similar to the Battle Network games despite being a different franchise. Repetitive game play but a much better story than its predecessors. Much easier than previous games also. Too much emphasis and options for multiplay, rendering the card directory impossible to complete without buying all three games. Get this if you loved the Battle Networked games.

Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Action
Price: $59.99
Players: Players: 1-2 (off-line) Players: 2-12 (on-line)


Blood and Gore
Intense Violence
Sexual Content
Strong Language
Use of Drugs

*Reviewed on an xbox360 console*
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Overview:Some say that Saints Row 2 is not as good as GTA4 and that is the reason they won't buy it, but it really isn't trying to be GTA4, though it may seem like it at first glance, this game actually exceeds GTA4 in some ways.

Gameplay: There is alot of things to talk about this game, so let me break it down this way:

When you start out, you will only have one crib, and little money, you can do missions to earn money and respect which will allow you to buy more cribs in which you can do a number of activities, such as watch previous cutscenes, change your clothes, weapon, and even collect any money your gang has gathered up, you can get money daily by buying food places, and such once you have owned the hood they are in. While you are in your crib, an interesting thing you can do is play a separate game called "Zombie Uprising" where you and a small group of other people are trapped in a small area, and you fight wave after wave of zombies until you beat the game, at the beginning you ARE supplied with weapons such as a chainsaw which when used, the camera closes up on you so you can see the zombie being ripped apart even better, just like in gears of war, this is a great addition to to Saints Row and only adds more value as well.
Other ways of getting money include doing missions, stealing a taxi and driving people around, stealing cars and selling them, and even stealing a car and taking the people inside of it hostage, this leads up to a sort of mini game in which you have to avoid the cops for a certain amount of time, if you stop or drive too slowly, then the hostage will get off the car. Missions in Saints Row 2 are very varied, you will find your self doing the regular racing and killing activities, but then you will also find yourself in a truck throwing human waste at buildings, or pretending to be a police man and trying to break up a gang fight between pirates and ninjas.

The character customization deserves a good look at, here, you can tweak and change things large as how fat you are, down to jaw placement, which is simply amazing, let say you for example choose to be an old person, the older you are, the more your skin will start to sag, and lets say you choose to be a man, what is stopping you from walking like a woman? or talking like one? not Saints Row 2's character creator, you are even free to get breast implants, this is actually more fun then making a mii, there I said it! the guy I made actually looks like me! Once you are done making a character, you can go to multiple stores to buy different clothing, this is a more limited selection, but still doesn't cut short from any other game out there that lets you customize your character, the wardrobe is large enough to satisfy your basic needs of looking fly, this will earn you more respect after completing each mission.

Unlike in GTA4, money in Saints Row 2 is actually helpful, you can use it to buy clothes, ammo, weapons, buildings, businesses, upgrades for your cribs, and for your cars, and feel free to upgrade away, unlike in the GTA series, upgrading a car can be frustrating, as you will find yourself driving slowly seance can easily crash and dent it, or in worst case scenario, blow it up, in Saints Row, you can leave it anywhere you want, and it will magically be stored in your garage, blew it up? no problem, it will magically show back up in your garage, except you will be charged a fine to fix it up, so go ahead and install those spikes at the side of your wheels so you can pop the tires out of other cars if they get too close, they aren't going anywhere.

Aside from the clothing options, the character customization in this game is the best I have seen in a video game so far.

There are many weapons in this game, ranging from my handy dandy taser gun, to a target seeking missile launcher, the variety is great to have, too bad you will feel like you mostly won't need them due to the fact that bullets do little damage to you, making this game a little less challenging then it needs to be in some areas, you can literally walk up to a cop while he is shooting at you and then throw him with your bare hands, this process can be repeated multiple times at once without dying, this only gets worse as you level up your character to take less damage from bullets, regenerate faster, and inflict more damage per punch. You can level up your character by doing certain missions, on the down side, this does not carry over to online component of this game, due to the fact that you have to make a new character to play online, this is both good and bad in the seance that who wouldn't wanna have the chance of having TWO customizable characters, I myself chose to make mine look like an alien, something I couldn't do in carrier mode without ruining my experience.

The controls are fine, but if you are used to driving cars in GTA4 like myself, then you may have to spend a few minutes getting used to the way things handle on Saints Row, you accelerate with "A" and fire with the right trigger, you can press the left bumper at any time to make your car go at the same speed without having to press the gas pedal, this gives you freedom to do a 180 and shoot at any hazards behind you, though this works best on straight roads so keep an eye on the map.
The fighting system is also simple, but fun, you can grab people and use them as meat shields or throw them, and the two trigger buttons are used for left and right punches, chaining these in any form will result in a small take down move where the camera zooms in on you, and you hit them to the ground.

In Saints Row 2 you will find some sweet rides from pee-wee scooters to deadly copters, you can steal most of these, but some will require you to buy them, or you can just type in some cheat codes. You can customize some of the vehicles you have but don't hold your breath, the options are not very variant, you can for example give your car a turbo, and that is where it ends, no stronger or ultra turbo which is kind of disappointing.


Now, not everything is rainbows and butterflies in this game, there are constant glitches and frame drops to be seen, a car even disappeared on me once, enemies often don't notice you and you can easily walk up to them and shoot them, and even after that, they occasionally don't respond making the game at times, easier then it was meant to be. At least the online component of this game makes up for it, if you are really looking for a challenge, you can always get over to a multiplayer match where you can get your bottom handed to you in many different ways as there is a variety of modes to be played.

Graphics: The player models are all right, but now that the bar has been raised, it couldn't hurt them to have made them a bit better, still, this doesn't mean they aren't pretty every now and then. Animations could also use some work, when the player walks it instantly faces the direction in which you are going, there is no smooth transition, but in the long run, this brings a more responsive control rather then other games which require you to go around a circle in order to make a 180. And the small cinematic moves at the end of combos also bring up some eye candy, specially when they change depending on what fighting style you choose.

Sound: Voice overs are great, the track list on the radio could be bigger but what is there works and you can buy some more songs from cd stores, also, the radio hosts will make you smile every now and then, and sometimes maybe even laugh, and overall sound effects are just there, except for the sound of the UFO which can get very annoying quickly. Your character will trash talk every now and then, but there is a large enough variety of things he/she will say to not make it too repetitive, you have to keep in mind that different lines were recorded for different voices that you can choose from which is a big plus.

Replay Value: There is full online co-op, and multiplayer mayhem support which is great, this game also has many different missions and activities to do, and once you are done with that, you can always walk up to people, tase them and watch them twitch in the ground, overall, i found that free roaming in this game alot funner then free roaming in GTA4, as this one is not as realistic, jumping out of planes and robbing stores don't bring much consequence.

Achievements: Most of the achievements in Saints Row 2 only require you to finish all levels of certain activities which is pretty easy for the most part, they are not all fun, but at least they are easy to get if you are looking for some extra points, they just take some time.

Conclusion: Just because this is not GTA4 doesn't mean it is just another wanna be, in fact, there are many elements of this game you won't find anywhere else, this game feels like a combination between GTA4, Postal, and Dead Rising, as you can pick up or destroy most of the things you see and ether hit others with it, or throw it at them. I recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of free roamers, crazy dialogue and missions, and overall crazy fun.


Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 4.5/5

Overall Score:

.: GREAT GAME!:.

Developed by: The Behemoth
Published By: The Behemoth
Players 1-4
Genre: Action/beat'em up
Console: Xbox 360
ERSB: T: Blood And Gore, Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor.
Prices: 1200ms pts

$14.99 (USA)
£10.20
€13.96
$19.99 (CAD)
$19.80 (AUD)
¥1776
_____________________________

Overview: Castle crashers is made by the same people behind alien hominid, this title keeps it's roots while giving a brand new experience, alien hominid fans will be happy, and newcomers will enjoy it as well.

Gameplay: In Castle Crashers, you start out with four playable characters (or five if you have alien hominid, in which case, he will be playable from the beginning as well) each have their own special power, and who you choose may easily change the outcome of how you fight, tho in general, you will be going left to right, killing waves of enemies that come at you, and a boss at the end.

You can level up your character in strength which will make your character's melee attacks stronger, magic which will make it stronger, and the magic barr will re-fill it self faster, defense which will allow you to take less damage per hit AND you get a bigger health bar, and agility which will make you faster, and will improve your archery skills.

In castle crashers, after you beat the first level, you will notice that the level selection layout is the same as the one found in "Super Mario World" this allows you to go back to any boss or level you have previously completed, and level up your character or gain some extra cash.

Money can be used to purchase health potions, bombs, and sandwiches; Potions will re-fill your health, bombs are pretty much useless, they do not go far and don't do much damage, but it is still a nice addition to the game, sandwiches will make your muscles expand to a hulk level, and you can punch and kick, tho you are unable to use magic and a sword for the exact ten seconds it lasts, you will not loose any health for any damage taken.

Even tho you start out as a wimp, you quickly level up and gain new moves, and depending on which level up route you take, you may find yourself ether flying across the screen doing an incredible combo and clearing everyone out, or making giant clouds of gas appear from your fingertips infecting big portions of enemies leading them to their death, OR you can be a well rounded person and use magic and might together, which ever rout you take, you have four to five different playable characters from the beginning so you can experiment with them all you want, and you will soon unlock more, you can unlock new characters by ether getting through certain levels, or by finishing tournaments.




At times, and in certain levels only, the gameplay may become a bit repetitive, mainly in the desert areas later on, even if you DO get to ride a camel that spits, which brings me to a more "special" part of this game which is humor, you will find animals pooping everywhere, and signs that make no sense; Enemies often make funny faces when hurt and so does that old king of yours, you have to be pretty bitter to not even smile at some of the jokes this game is packed with.

Another new addition to this game is pets! you can choose from a wide library of pets (you start out with none, and move your way up) every pet has a different purpose, whether it rises your defense, suck the enemies blood and hurts them, or take them down with a good tackle, these pets will let you show them off online when you are playing with friends, and it is always nice to have a companion with you when you are traveling the world alone.

Aside from single player you can also bring up to three of your friends to your town, and they can help you beat that one boss you just aren't ready to take on your on, and are too lazy to go back and do some past levels over to level up, four player co-op is extremely fun, and can get very crazy, you will see blocks of ice rain from the sky, and clouds of gas cover the entire level, also, even if you are 20 levels below you fellow team mates, you can still feel like you are doing something to help them out, since you are free to level up in whatever area you please,you may still be stronger, or have more magic powers then them. after each boss battle, right after you save the princess, you have to fight against any teammate that may previously be at your side, the victorious one gets to kiss her, and there is an achievement for kissing all four princesses in multiplayer.
And even if you don't have anyone to play with, on certain levels, you will have warriors or even peasants fighting by your side which can always come in handy when fighting bit herds of enemies.

Graphics: Everything in this game is hand drawn, which has its pros and cons; On the pro side, everything has a great look to it, specially the environment, and if you look closely, the backgrounds are often very well detailed, you might see for example a canon ball come down from the sky, and then a herd of warriors launch into the air, in certain levels you may find animals, and enemies are sometimes doing hilarious things, for instance, you may see a group of them sleeping, or a guard reading the news paper, once you get close enough to them, they will engage you in battle.

The down side of having hand drawn sprites, is that most of the animations contain very few frames, sometimes so few you can see each of them individually, making them seem incomplete, there is for example a boss later on that gets a cannon ball to its face, and instead of going into a face squishing animation, they instantly replace his regular face with a squished one, so there are no frames in between to make it smooth.


Sound:expect some exiting and sometimes dramatic tunes to match up the game depending on what level or situation you are on, some of the songs in this game can be found in the "Audio Portal" of newgrounds.com.

Sound effects are okay, you hear a "Woosh" every time you swing, and a "Pow!" every time you hit, but sometimes, you hear the sound of two metal pieces crashing against one another when beating up an enemy with wooden armor which can be a bit misleading, and if you are a perfectionist, a bit annoying as well.

Replay Value: With so much to unlock in this game how can you NOT have an amazing replay value, there are tons of pets to unlock as well as characters (around twenty) and they EACH have their own special powers which can be levelled up! there are also multiple weapons to unlock, and you can combine all of this with an exiting multiplayer experience, apart from that there are also numerous hidden items and secrets that can be unlocked.

Once you have unlocked a pet or a weapon (to unlock them all you have to do is grab them) you can go back to the "blacksmith" there, you can withdraw any weapon you have previously unlocked at no charge, as well as pets, you can also get info on what each pet does through a teacher dressed as a nurse.

Don't be fooled by their cuteness, the pets you can carry around with you are actually quite helpful, they each have their own special ability, and some may even help you in combat, my goat looking thing saved me from some ferocious bow and arrow throwers back at the arena.

Also, once you beat the game, a new difficulty mode "insane mode" will be unlocked, this makes you start over from the beginning except this time, the enemies are much stronger, but in my opinion, they felt as hard as they were when you first started to play the game, the only difference is that since the enemies are stronger, you will level up faster. (even if you ARE level 42 *cough**cough*)

Apart from the main game, there are also two mini games, "All you can quaff" where you rapidly press the "X" and "Y" buttons to tear apart fruit and the one who tears a certain amount the soonest wins, and then there is tournament where you fight waves of enemies.


Difficulty:The game may be hard at some points, but you can always go back and re-do levels to get your experience up, and having the option to have some friends to back you up can make a big difference, specially since when playing with your pals, they can bring you back to life when you die, all they have to do it go up to you, and press the "Y" button a few times.

Rarely, but surely, you may find your self in a situation where enemies gather around you, and you can't get up, this may sometimes be fixed with a few good bombs, or maybe a sandwich, but when you don't have ether, then you are to be in the ground until you die, which can get very annoying.

Achievements: Most of the achievements are easily done, a few only take some time and patience, instead of skill, nevertheless, they are fun, and lets be honest, who doesn't like some easy achievements every now and then? (Click on "Achievements" for a full list of them)
Here is a tip on how to get the "Melee is Best" achievement, level up a few times (anywhere above level ten will do fine) and go to the "Barbarian Boss" stage (that is the first boss you fight) once there, you can finish him off pretty quickly without using magic.
To get the "Medic!" achievement, play a multiplayer match with your friends, let them willingly die, and then heal them.

Conclusion: This is a must buy for any xbox360 owner with access to the internet, for only $15 this is a bargain! There is a bunch of content here that will keep you busy for a long time, and i personally recommend it! stop reading this review now and go out and buy it! even if the AI is a bit dumb every now and then, and some more magic spell would have been appreciated (you end up with three different magic spells)
Also, if you are a newgrounds member and often visit their site, then you will find quite a few references to some of the flash cartoons found in the site.

Pros:
*Multiplayer support on and off line.
*Great tracks.
*Over 20 playable characters.
*Many cool secrets.
*A wide library of weapons and pets.

Cons:
*Online multiplayer is virtually impossible unless you are aiming for one of the two mini games, or have friends to invite you to a private match.
*Gameplay may get repetitive at times.
*too many characters have the same magic.

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 5/5
Difficulty: 4.5/5
Achievements: 4/5

Final Score:
.:AMAZING GAME!:.

----------------------


2nd Opinion: By Shadowblind
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even get a chance to blow a hole in your buddy's head while paying Castle Crashers. Despite that previous comment, you won't be crying much, but you may be laughing like a hyena after playing this game. Its stylish flash-cartoon graphics and crude humor will make this a very enjoyable game. Still, as far as gameplay goes, its pretty much the same thing throughout, but 4 player online multiplayer rocks. For the value of 1200 MSP its well worth it, but its not exactly something that goes and breaks thousands of Boundaries of gaming here. If anything, its a step back to the retro days of Golden Axe. But now who ever said that old school is bad school?

Second Opinion:

Fable 2 Pub Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: LionHead
Genre: Casino mini games
Players: 1
MSRP: 800 MS point ($10, £6.80, €9.30)
Platform: Xbox 360 (XBLA)

First of, you can get these games for free as they will be bundled with Fable 2 or if you preorder Fable 2. Any money you make can be used in the full game of Fable 2, but also if you get too much debt it will have consequences in the fable world (people will come after you for the the money you owe? ). Also when you win tournaments you can unlock items for the main game, like strength potions, tattoos etc. Sounds like a nice little game to wet you apatite for when the main game comes out, doesn't it? Shame the games are so bad ....

There are 3 games in Pub games, Spinnerbox ,Keystone, Fortune's Tower. You can only play some of the low bet limit games first in each type, the rest are unlocked as you gain experience points, which are gained mostly by how much you bet and not how much you win, which is good because it seems you lose more than you win in some of the games.


Fortune's Tower is by far the best of the 3, Its basic card game, cards are laid out in a pyramid formation with a row added to the bottom for every round. First you place your bet then the first 3 cards are drawn, the first card in turned down, and the next 2 are placed face up underneath (in a pyramid formation). For each round another row is added to the pyramid, and your winnings is based on the total value of all the face cards on that row (15 is break even). Now the catch. If a card from the current row is touching a card of the same value on the row above it, it's "Burned" which is game over. The only way that can be stopped is if an Knight card is drawn in that row (as in the screenshot above), which saves the row from any burned cards. If no Knight cards are drawn, then the card from the top of the pyramid (who's value you don't know) is used to replace the "burned" card, but this can only be used once.

For each row you have the option to take the current offer of that row, or risk revealing another row. But as there are more cards on each row, there further down the pyramid you go, the higher the reward could be, but then there is more chance to be "burned". If you get to the last row with out using the save card from the top of the pyramid, you win the jackpot, which is the face value of all the cards in the pyramid added together (= alot), so there is a good reason to keep going to the end.

Yeah its seems a bit complex, but once you play it, it makes sense. You can draw parallels with "Deal or No Deal" as is all about getting the best deal you can get.


Keystone is basically a roulette game. You make bets on what number, colour, shape, etc that will be thrown. Once bets are placed 3 dice are thrown, which added up, is the wining number. Each time a number is thrown a stone is removed, if that stone has already been removed then the one under is removed. This keeps going until the "keystones" are removed (2 or 18 / 10 and 11). The rules are interesting, and some of the variants have reverse rules (you bet on what numbers are not thrown) , but ultimately its very slow, drawn out game.


Spinnerbox is medieval version of slots, and like slots requires no skill, other than pushing a button. The only saving grace is you don't have to be in the same room to play (thanks wireless control), just keep hitting "A" (Auto-fire anyone), to keep spinning, which is handy for getting though the tournaments, which, if you have not guess by now, are complete luck if you win.

Most Casino computer games fail because there is no risk with virtual money, who cares if you lose. What makes Fables pub games interesting, losing (and winning) does mean something.... if you are planning to buy Fable 2 when it comes out. But considering only one of the 3 mini games, is really a game that can be called "a game", its not really anywhere near enough to justify 800ms points for it. As a free game is interesting, but asking people to pay for it is a bit much. I was wondering why this game has been left out of the much hype "Summer of Arcade" that Microsoft has been going on about, now I know why.

Pros:
- Unlocked items for Fable 2
- Might earn money for Fable2
- One of the games is interesting

Cons:
- Most likely get debt for Fable 2 (unless you use the glitch)
- Only 3 Games
- OMG So Boring!!

Overall:

*Note: the above score is in relation to 800ms points price point. If you get it for free, add a few more points to it

Published by: Majesco
Developed by: Budcat Creations
Genre: shooter/sandbox
Players: 1-4
Price: $20
Platform: Wii
__________________________________

Overview: "BlastWorks: Build, Trade, Destroy" is as unique as its name, it offers chaotic multiplayer while keeping single player fun enough to keep coming back even if you have no friends due to its limitless builder that allows you to create bullets, ships, enemies, environments, ect, the only limit here is your imagination!

Gameplay: Many things can be said about this game's gameplay, not only does it offer a refreshingly new way of playing a side-scrolling shooter, but it is also packed in with a marvelous creator that allows you to make anything you can imagine!

Lets start with the simpler side of this game, the campaign mode: you and a friend can engage a Difficult road of a disappointingly short amount of levels which offer a good challenge and some great fun in all three difficulty modes.

In campaign, even tho it is small, it doesn't fall short in its fun factor, specially if you have a friend beside you, as you shoot at your enemies, you will notice that you can actually grab them and make them part of your ship, this is good for tree reasons: one, they provide a temporary shield for you (they fall off when hit) two: they automatically shoot in the direction they were looking at when caught, in which case you may find yourself with ships that are shooting behind you which seems useless, or funny, ether way you look at it it never hurts to have an extra ship to take care of you. And three: after you have collected enough ships, you will receive a bonus life which can be the difference between clearing a level or not.

Grabbing ships is probably one of the funnest things to do in this game apart from making your own levels, there is a special joy that can be achieved once you see that your ship covers the entire screen, and death comes to all that challenge you.

You CAN at any time call back all of your minion ships by pressing the "Z" button on the nunchuck, this skill is specially useful when fighting bosses and you wish to keep your shield, then quickly popping them out for a small burst of random bullets to hopefully hit the boss's weak spot, or if your friend can't grab any enemies because your ship is all over the screen, you can be a good fellow and call them back until your friend has collected enough to satisfy his needs.

After you have beaten campaign mode, or if you just don't have anyone to play with, there is always "build" mode, here, you can build anything you want from backgrounds to bullets, you can literally customize anything you can think of! color size, speed, rate, you name it. but just don't expect to get there and have a master piece in five minutes, creating a good looking ship or a well rounded bullet can take up to thirty minutes or more, it all depends on how detailed you want it to be, I for example made a chicken in it's shell that throws up in about twenty minutes, this may be seen as an upside or a downside depending on which way you look at it, even tho there is nothing really wrong with the editor, it took me a whole day of patience before I could even start to build my own map and that was with only ONE enemy.

This builder has MANY things to offer, with a very well numbered amount of choices for each option, there are over 50 different colors to chose from, over 30 different bullet paths, sounds, ect, you get the idea, this is probably the best in-game builder to have ever been made in a game, it is so complete, it even offers customizable AI for the enemies, and you can surprisingly make it to where the enemies break apart as you shoot them instead of dying in once piece, this builder is so well made, the developers actually used it to make every level in the game.


Graphics: To say that this game's graphics are good or bad would be a mistake, it doesn't even have a set art style since you can make your own, want a Lego theme? you got it, how about a black and white look? you got it! a cartoony art style? with some darn hard work you got it!

How good the graphics are is really up to you and the hundreds of active users out there, and I am positive it will evolve as time goes on, here is the official blast works site where you can upload and download user created content, this can be done easily since the site will ask you for your wii code number (finally they are put to good use) this allows you to click "download" on any desired item and it will be downloaded straight into your wii, from here you can add even more detail to it. but if we were to take every single piece of content that has been made, then i would probably say that most of them DO have a set art style, and that for a $20 game the graphics aren't too bad, that is also taking in consideration that most of the content you will have on your maps will be made by you, or another user with little experience in 3D design.

Still, a bit more animation would have been appreciated, as well as the option to animate yourself, tho not all are knowledgeable over the fourth dimension which is actually twisting and turning and not a straight line from past to future as represented by us three dimensional creatures opening the possibilities for time travel, but that is another story for another time.


Sound: this game has some catchy yet simple beats which get more complex as time goes on but never really gets too wild, it is there not to be heard, but to be appreciated every now and then.
You can edit sound effects of pretty much everything, bullets, explosions, ect but not background music, and it would have been nice to have had that option, i mean, who wouldn't want to play a Mario themed level with a Mario song? and with even a launch game (excite truck) offering this feature, I can't see why this game which is so built around the idea that you can customize anything would not have it.

Replay Value: Offering up to four player co-op, the ability to build, trade, AND destroy, how can this game NOT have a great replay value, most things are unlocked from the beginning so you don't have to work too much for the few extras which is a little disappointing because it would have been more exiting to have had to unlock more things, still, the replay value doesn't revolve around playing campaign mode, but letting your imagination come to life and letting everyone see it, there are hundreds of downloadable parts available online and hundreds more to come which will bombard your with excitement, so let your imagination run wild with the builder! and feel free to show the world.

Conclusion: What can YOU get for $20? A shirt? Some cheap shoes? A collector's edition $1 coin? How about Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy! this action packed shooter/sandbox game allows you make your dreams come true, and build your own game! not only that, but you can share it with your friends AND the whole world! This game also allows you and up to three of your friends to play in one of the levels YOU made, so they can complain about why the background is not pretty enough, or why a pig shoots bullets from its butt.

So to close this conclusion, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice if you are looking for a cheap wii game that will give you some good bang for your buck, or if you are just desperately looking for a good wii game because you are tiered of all the mini games you have played in the past two years,so whatever the reason is, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice for anyone out there with a wii.

Difficulty: Again, YOU make it, YOU choose how many enemies are on screen, and how powerful they are, YOU make the difficulty, and in my opinion, it can't get any more perfect then that.

Still, aside from that, you have three difficulty options: Rookie, Pilot, and Ace, they only affect how quickly you die as far as I can tell, or how many bullets it takes to kill each enemy, not how many of them are on screen so your maps will remain untouched.

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5
Difficulty: 5/5

Overall Score:
.:Great Game!:.

Overview:
Big fish eats small fish. Its a fact of life, and is a saying that well explains the worlds state of life. Feeding Frenzy takes this saying quite literally, as you play as a fish in the big sea whose only purpose is to eat small fish and became a big fish to eat even bigger fish. Sounds simple right? Well it is, almost too much so. The game isn't broken(well, controls may be) but it certainly does what its supposed to, if by 'supposed to' means bore you in little over an hour.

Gameplay:
The gameplay revolves around trying to devour other smaller fish and grow larger, so that you can eat the larger fish. Thats the formula for every level you play, except for the occasional bonus level which has you doing some some mini game to attain a higher score. The thing is, its all been down before, and in 1995 at that. Playing this game reminded me of a lesser quality version of Odell Down Under, a similar game where the gameplay is nearly identical. However, Feeding Frenzy is far more simplistic. There is usually only a single type of fish you are able to eat, and that will, for most at least, get extremely boring as the game progresses, since there is really no change to gameplay. This results in a very repetitive experience all throughout story mode, as there is far too little depth in the game to really hold anyone other then a casual gamer's interest for very long. The 'not-so-different' special levels you do every so often do little to keep your interest.

The controls are quite a mess. Constantly, you'll end up drifting into the mouth of a bigger fish on accident because of the Astroids-style drift that happens after releasing the controller stick. It also makes devouring small fish a pain, at least until you get the Vacuum ability to suck up fish.

The good news is there is co-op, and if you have a relative who doesn't generally like video games, this is a great game that can be played with them. The game's difficulty is easy and its learning curve is non-existant. Just try to make sure your friend or family doesn't fall asleep while playing it.




Graphics:
The charming underwater theme of the game fits very well with the mood of the game. Vibrant and colorful, but all too bland and reptitive. The backgrounds repeat, the same fish sprites are used constantly, and all in all its just becomes boring after the 15th level of the same background and fish. I guess the solution Sprout games used for this was to invert the fish colors every so often. Meh.

Sound:
The tranquil music does its work, like the rest of the game, to make you feel tired, and sort of relaxed. The creepy sound effect you hear of the guy saying "Feeding Frenzy" is more likely to scare you then relax you though. Sound effects for eating fish will get annoying after a few hours of continuous play, but hey, at least they didn't have you hear the fish screaming bloody murder every time you eat them.

Closing comments:
Feeding Frenzy is one of those games that your sister would play on an internet game site rather then a game you'd be wanting to spend money for. After all, there are some almost identical flash games you could play at no cost. I suppose Feeding Frenzy's biggest offense that it commits is just not being all that fun, even though it generally does what its supposed to. Which I suppose, is make you get very drowzy.

Story: N/A
Graphics: 2/5
Sound: 1/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Replayability: 2/5

OVERALL: 1/5