After being pleasantly surprised by Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, I made sure to stop by Namco Bandai's booth at E3 and try out the next game in the series, Active Life: Extreme Challenge. The Active Life games use a Power Pad-esque mat that is required to play various events. The game has a family-friendly angle that seems to contradict the idea of an extreme challenge, but it looks like the name was derived from the games that are present.

The first game I tried was Base Jumping. As my character soared down to the earth, buttons appeared on screen and I had to mash the buttons on the pad as fast as I could. There were also larger buttons that required multiple presses before they would go away. The faster you press the buttons, the quicker your character goes through the air until you reach the end and he activates his parachute. It was very simple, but enjoyable. I could see this being a blast (and possibly destructive) with multiple people.

The next game I tried was Street Luge where I had to sit down on the mat, which is similar to one of the racing games in the first Active Life game. There were buttons on each side of you that are used to steer and when pressed simultaneously, boost. There were lots of obstacles to avoid and boosts to hit throughout the course. Overall, it was more impressive than any of the butt-sitting racing games in Outdoor Challenge.

Those are only two of the 15 games available in Active Life: Extreme Challenge, nine of which features multiplayer. Each game is featured in four different modes, which supposedly brings the total number of games up to 60. However, from my experience with the first game, these modes weren't drastically different. Still, I am excited to see how this game turns out when it hits store this August.