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Nintendo Gaming / Tomb Raider Anniversary

« on: November 14, 2007, 06:28:01 PM »

Bought the new Tomb Raider Anniversary game @ TRU today. C$39.99.

Played several hours (completed Peru) and it's been great. Controls take some getting used-to, but now things are going quite smoothly. Graphics look great (better than the GC TR: Legend release, but I have no idea how it stacks-up to the 360 version).

Only issue I have so far is with aiming. Sometimes you'll slam into a pole while some wolves/whatever are after you, and you'll be disoriented because the camera will be in an off position. I haven't died from it yet, but it's worth noting.

The added Wii controls are done really well. You can dust, trowel, pickaxe wall areas now for clues/bonus items. You move levers, cogs, etc. You also do motions during some cutscenes, which were unexpected but neat.

Overall a very solid game so far that's worth checking out.

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Nintendo Gaming / The Simpsons Game

« on: October 31, 2007, 06:04:25 PM »

I played around an hour of the game tonight. I have to say straight-away that I'm disappointed.

First thing you notice when you take control of Homer: The graphics should be better. Characters look like scribbles at times. The backgrounds look pretty good though. After about 5 seconds of playing, you'll notice how bad the camera is. It doesn't get any better as things progress either. Control is not very tight, so you'll be missing easy jumps a lot, especially when you're Bart. Prepare for pain on Stage 2! :-(

As for the good well... things are tied really closely to the show. Fans should really enjoy it for that alone. The dialog is great. Funny quips are constant when fighting, etc. The cinema scenes look better than a TV clip.

Oh, the Wii special stuff... haven't seen much that's special so far. One special move involves pulling both Wiimote+chuk towards you. It's over-complicated for a move that is basically your area affect move when fighting. The Wii minigames have been nothing exciting yet either.

I'll try to post more as I progress, but my gut feeling is to give this one a rent before you buy.

3

Nintendo Gaming / Big Brain Academy

« on: June 07, 2006, 09:49:12 AM »

I grabbed Big Brain Academy last night and it is pretty cool so far after only around an hour of usage.

It seems to have a lot more activities to "play" when compared to Brain Age. Instead of using brain age as a measurement, it uses brain weight. My initial test scored me at 900 grams.

I like the 3 different skill levels (easy, normal, hard) each with gold/silver/bronze medal awards and the multiple "tests" per each of the 5 areas gives a lot of variety. The countdown timer as you do each test makes it more video-gamey in that the faster you are, the farther you get, but correctness seems to be the heavier factor in calculations. Graphics and sound are average -- similar to Brain Age I guess.

Seems like another solid title for the DS.

4

Nintendo Gaming / SSX On Tour

« on: October 19, 2005, 11:51:06 AM »

I picked up the new SSX yesterday. The whole 'rocker style' they went with is pretty innovative, and the intro/menus will win some kind of award this year (if there is such a thing). I only played for around an hour, but making your own rider and then racing with them is pretty cool. I think they set the difficulty a bit low to start because I was absolutely crushing the initial set of checkpoints/races in the Tour section. When doing a quick race, you can race as the known SSX riders (and Mario and gang) but I think that's the only place where you can race with them. You still get cash (and from even more sources now, like during a race) and the shops have loads of items again. Overall, it looks like a great continuation of the series.