The original Mario and Sonic at the Summer Olympic Games featured some known characters and a ton of mini games, some of which were quite fun, despite rather retarded controls at times. However, it was still fun and offered decent multiplayer gameplay for some folks in a living room, wiggling their remotes, and, as they’ll be happy to hear, the new game continues down the same path. This time though, it’s the Winter Olympics and it’s set in Vancouver in 2010. The range of mini games is impressive, a dozen of them, from skiing and showboarding, to hockey and bobsled. There’s even a curling game — which is quite a bit more fun that it seems (and definitely more fun that it appears in real life).

The gameplay involves a lot of wiggling with your Wii remote, but one overall factor plays in almost throughout all games; the feeling that it could have been better. The hockey game could have been great, but instead it’s simplistic and very easy, as with downhill skiing. The only mini game that seems to rise above the others, and quite surprisingly so, is Curling, which blends a perfect combination of controls and aiming, and can even get quite addictive. We don’t really feel any of that in the other mini games, which, sadly enough, seem like the developer didn’t put in enough effort, as the controls are pretty much the same: keep wriggling your remote and you’ll win. Or get across the finish line. As you play through the games, you earn coins which you can spend in a shot to improve your gear, get outfits and some custom icons for your gear, in case you need to pimp your snowboard.

Visually, the game resembles Wii Sports a lot, and most of other offerings by Nintendo. Not bad by any means, but certainly something that’s easy on the eye and geared towards the casual audience. This runs throughout the whole game — “casual” — every sense of it is too simplistic and seems to be intended for mom and pops and their little 4 year-old. Hardcore gamers will naturally be disappointed, as there isn’t enough challenge, and the controls are basically “waggle-waggle-waggle-pause-waggle-waggle-waggle”. Etc. It’s a great game if you have some casual gamer friends and looking for something to play with, besides chainsawing through the Gears of War campaign. But even then, the game could have been better, and could have offered something more than just cute characters and lots of snow.

The Good:
Easy to pick up and play
Casual audience will love it

The Bad:
Too easy
Controls are repetitive

Overall score: 6/10

However, it won’t include the hit song “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked“, which has been featured in the game and its promo material. Bummer.

DJ Hero comes with a DJ mixing board controller, and the gameplay process is very similar to that of other “Hero” games from Activision, you punch the correct keys as best as possible, scoring the best score you can. While listening to the songs, of course. There’s a huge assortment of songs, which span almost every genre, meaning you’ll probably find something you like in there. The songs are mixed by well known DJs, and you won’t find them anywhere else — they’re exclusive to DJ Hero. While you can’t create your own DJ, you can play as some fairly decent ones, and if you’re good, you can unlock superstar DJs like Daft Punk (complete with their outfits).

The gameplay is not difficult to learn, especially if you’re familiar with music games. The new controller is easy to learn, which features a turntable with a platter and a mixer, with three buttons on the turn table which you have to press (and turn at the same time). While it sounds complicated, the learning curve is fairly easy and you’ll master it within an hour of playing. A good addition is that you can separate the two and switch them around, in case you’re left handed. A great touch. The gameplay is quite basic, as mentioned before, you try to hit as many notes as possible, but if you aren’t good, you won’t fail the level, you’ll simply earn less points, meaning it’s going to take you longer to progress and unlock new items.

You can also use the “party play” function, and just sit back and enjoy the music, and you can study the keys of the song in detail if you wish. There is multiplayer, which will need two turntables where you compete against each other, or you can hook up a guitar from Guitar Hero, where one can mix while the other rocks on the guitar. Visually, the game looks great, the venues are very colorful and wild, just like a normal club (albeit a popular club). It’s even more impressive that it’s on the Wii, since the system isn’t exactly known for its power under the hood.

The music, as expected, is top notch, the collection of tracks and remixes is great, and it easily rivals Guitar Hero in terms of fun. Despite the rather disappointing multiplayer and a few technical glitches, DJ Hero is definitely a game that fans of music (and plastic instruments) will enjoy.

The Good:
Gameplay
Lots of tracks
Lots of unlocks
Solid controller

The Bad:
Disappointing multiplayer
A few technical glitches

Overall score: 8/10

With the release of RedLynx’ Trials motor cross game, the developer hurried and uploaded its own game to popular BitTorrent sites, with one feature missing from the game: leaderboards. RedLynx then hoped that the pirates would love the game and miss leaderboards so much that they went out and bought the game.

Did it work? Well, they don’t really know, but there’s definitely a lot of folks playing Trials without leaderboards, that’s for sure.

Wii Fit Plus isn’t really a sequel — it’s sold separately without the Balance Board for those that already own it — it’s actually an expansion pack which includes the original games and workouts, and even transfers your data from the old game. This is pretty slick, meaning that you won’t have to swap the new and old Wii Fit disc. Wii Fit Plus features 15 new work out mini games and six strength training and Yoga workouts, and this time, you can mix and match your workouts as you see fit.

If you’re familiar with Wii Fit, you’ll feel right at home, the same slick, colorful user interface is present in Plus, and the “gameplay” is virtually the same, meaning it also includes some of the few drawbacks that the original had, most noticeably, sluggish response from the Balance Board. But this doesn’t happen too often, it it won’t affect your game too much. Multiplayer wise, there’s the same offline, turn based multiplayer where you compete on who can do the exercise the fastest way or get the best score. However, there is no online multiplayer, which again, is disappointing from Nintendo. Someone needs to go to Kyoto and check if those guys know about this thing called “The Internet”. Wii Fit with online multiplayer and leaderboards would make the game so much better, but again, as noted, Nintendo disappoints on that level.

The 15 new balance games and six new exercises are very well put together and will make sure you end up using your entire body after going through them. From Kung-Fu, where you have to sync your movements to a group of fighters on the screen, to Skateboarding, where you turn the Balance Board sideways and steer a skateboarder through an arena. But the best mini game by far is Golf, which not only uses the Balance Board, but also the Wiimote, and gives some of the most accurate golfing experiences ever — you’ll definitely improve your swing here.

Wii Fit Plus will satisfy fans of Wii Fit, with the new mini games and exercises will bring enough to do for a while, and the expanded abilities to manage and plan your workouts are quite detailed and pretty deep for a “casual” game. However, there is still no online multiplayer, which is a shame.

The Good:
Plenty of new games
Cheap
More depth than before
Includes the original Wii Fit games

The Bad:
Balance Board can get sluggish
No online multiplayer or leaderboards

Overall score: 8/10

This comes after Activision had hired an online investigation firm to look into suspicious posts on Craigslist advertising Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles for sale. With the age of high-speed internet, where anyone can download the pirated version, why would you even try and sell the pirated version on a burned disc? That kind of “business” seems so 1999.

The gameplay is simple and follows the standard 2D side scrolling fashion, but to solve puzzles in Scribblenauts, you need to use an object that might fit and help you move forwards. You “scribble” the object (say, a “meteor”) and poof! it appears on the screen. The goal of each level is to secure a Starlite at the end, and accumulate them. On top of that, you have dedicated puzzle levels, which don’t feature as much action but pack plenty of challenge for your imagination. Once you’ve settled in the gameplay and figured out how advance through the levels (maybe you need a club or a crowbar to break something, maybe you need a walking robot), you’ll be troubled by the rather frustrating controls the game has to offer. You control your hero (named Maxwell) via the stylus, where you point to an area on the screen, and he’ll run to it. But it’s far too easy to point a few pixels too far, and see yourself walk into certain death.

The vocabulary of the game, which is its greatest asset — and the entire concept — is staggering. There are over 30,000 items you can call up to help you, anything from a fruit to a black hole. Yep, black holes. It’s one of those games where your own imagination (not the developer’s) is the limit. Hell, you can even summon a Man-Bear-Pig to fight your enemies. However, despite the vast opportunities, they’re rarely used to their full potential. Out of the 3,000 items, you can complete the game with a few dozen, and the levels don’t challenge you to come up with something new. You can always strap wings to yourself and easily fly to where you need to be, and summon someone to kill your enemies for you. While you can get a special bonus for completing levels without using weapons or stuff like that, it’s not exactly the best use of a game with such a high concept.

Having said that, there are still over 200 levels, most of which will give you a great time, and some of which are really amazing. On top of that, the game features a level editor as well, and you can share the levels with other players online. The visuals are fairly decent considering it’s a DS game, while the music seems bland and a bit out of place. Overall, Scribblenauts is a game you should try if you own a DS, despite its issues, its originality and concept far outweigh the quirks with the game.

The Good:
Wonderful concept
Huge amount of items
Original
Tons of levels

The Bad:
Concept isn’t used to its full potential
A few control issues
Mission objects aren’t always clear
Bland soundtrack

Overall score: 8/10

Contestant Jennifer Strange died of water intoxication, and her family sued the parent company of the radio station, Entercom Sacramento LLC. Today, the court ruled in favor of the family, awarding them $16.5 million in damages.

The story of Mini Ninjas is set in ancient Japan, where a Ninja Master sends out his students to investigate an Evil Samurai Overlord, but the students get captured. The Master sends his last two students, Hiro and Futo, who set off after the Evil Samurai Lord, who has used his powers to turn ordinary animals into his henchmen. The story is very similar to classic Samurai and Ninja movies, and especially Samurai Jack, if you ever crossed the cartoon series.

The gameplay in Mini Ninjas is straight forward; you control Hiro, a ninja, in a third person view. The combat consists of mostly hack and slash, and resembles a lot like Zelda: The Wind Waker, however, it’s a lot less simple when you get down to it. As you progress and free your fellow ninja students, you unlock the ability to play as them, and each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but you’re always best of playing as Hiro, as he seems the strongest of them all (doh!). You’ll jug through the levels basically mashing one button (your primary attack) and taking out your enemies — there’s isn’t any blood in Mini Ninjas, as your slain enemies will simply disappear in a cloud of smoke, again, just like in Wind Waker — perfect for the younger audience.

The other ninjas have other types of attacks, but when you can simply slash your enemies easily, there’s no point in trying the other ninjas. The developer could have offered a bigger incentive by making the other ninjas the prime ones for attacking certain enemies, thereby adding more variety to the gameplay. But as it stands, the gameplay is quite repetitive, fun at first, but still repetitive in the long run. While the levels are large and open, and offer plenty of stuff to collect, these items (like fruits), aren’t necessary to the game, but they do offer a bit of variety, where you can mix potions from different fruits and plants. Again, there’s no real point unless they can really help you through the campaign.

The visuals of the game are cute and well done that they’ll satisfy even the most hardcore gamers, whose used to gushing blood in Gears of War. The soundtrack is particularly wonderful (as with all soundtracks in IO Interactive games), and contributes to the theme of ancient Japan. Difficulty wise, experienced players won’t have any issues striding through the game, as it’s clearly intended for a younger audience. A few issues bog down the game, mostly related to the camera, but it’s not too frustrating to ruin the gameplay. While the game can be considered shallow, it’s still enjoyable and fun for the most part, and young gamers will definitely be pleased.

The Good:
Charming visuals
Easy gameplay
Wonderful soundtrack

The Bad:
Repetitive gameplay
Not enough content
Camera issues

Overall score: 7/10

…we’ll recognize it 10 years from now when we tell our grand kids, we’ll tell them we used to drive to the store to get shiny discs that have bits and bites on them and we’d place them in this thing called a ‘disc tray,’ and it’d whirl around…and they’ll go ‘What?’”

Check out more or Moore’s thoughts at Gamasutra here.

Dedicated servers FTW. What ever secures a better online experience is a given for us

Yep, we agree: dedicated servers are always FTW. You can follow K.M. Troedsson twitter page here.

While the gameplay in Zuma’s Revenge remains unchanged — for a good reason — the game does add a few new features, revamped and prettier graphics (including a widescreen mode), as well as a ton of new levels. In case you’re not familiar with the gameplay in Zuma, it’s relatively simple: you control a frog that fires colored marbles though its mouth, at several balls rolling along a path, headed towards a pit. If they reach the pit, you lose. In order to win you must knock out the balls as they roll towards the pit, but can only knock them out if you pair colors in three or more balls. And so it goes. In Zuma’s Revenge, once you complete the campaign, you unlock several challenged modes, where you have to score a certain amount of points before time runs out.

While there are a few new features, none change the gameplay in a radical way, if you played Zuma before, you won’t be disappointed. One inclusion in Zuma’s Revenge, are boss battles. At the end of each level you must fight a boss, who’s hiding between chains of balls rolling between you and him. You must aim and fire a precise shot to take him out. The boss fights aren’t challenging, but it’s nice to break up the regular gameplay, especially since it hasn’t changed noticeably.

Zuma’s Revenge features power-ups just as the predecessor, and new ones have been added, like a cannon and a laser, among others. Technically, the game certainly looks better than the predecessor, is should, after all, it’s been 6 years. The music, sound effects, and especially the good ol’ PopCap humor is as present as ever before, and it’s nice to see that they still have the touch. While we would have loved to see a bit more innovation, Zuma’s Revenge can be recommended to anyone who’s played and enjoyed Zuma, actually, it can be recommended to any casual gamer out there.

The Good:
Updated visuals.
Fun as ever.
Great value.

The Bad:
New features aren’t compelling.
No changes in the gameplay.

Overall score: 8/10

In case you haven’t heard about katamari before, your object is to “roll katamaris”, meaning roll huge balls of stuff lying on the streets, cars, benches, trees, people — everything, really, which constantly grows your katamari. Once again, as the “Prince”, you’ll need to complete different missions — in Katamari Forever, you’re doing missions in two “campaigns”, one for the King and one for the RoboKing, in all, there are 34 levels.

However, the objectives and gameplay are the same, and very little has been added since the release of the original Katamari Damacy, some five years ago. That’s not to say that the gameplay suffers, by all means, katamari enthusiasts will certainly be satisfied, rolling katamaris is just as fun as it’s always been. But with five years and half a dozen games with little (or no) innovation, it’s becoming a hard sell. There are not new gameplay mechanics, no new modes — it seems like the developer isn’t keen on taking any chances, even on improving aspects of the game that work somewhat well.

New in Katamari Forever is the ability to select different graphics “filters”, where you can play the game with a cell-shaded look, a pencil style look, or a wood-grain look. However, you can still use the good ‘ol Katamari look that’s well known, and that always seems to fit better than the others. While the visuals have been improved, much of the core mechanics of the game remain the same, like the camera, which has actually plagued the series since the original game was released. The Sixaxis motion controls also seem to be poorly implemented, however, you can always use the fixed buttons instead.

Unlike the previous version, Katamari Forever does not include online multiplayer, only offline, split-screen mode. It’s a shame, since it would have added greatly to a game that already feels a bit too shallow. Technically, the art style of the game is as cool as it always was, however, the new, high-def visuals do suffer from occasional frame rate issues and graphical glitches.

The Good:
Still lots of fun
Great art style
Great sense of humor

The Bad:
No real innovation
Graphical glitches
Camera issues
No online multiplayer

Overall score: 6/10