Latest Game and Movie Reviews (Live Update)

* Game Ratings (/10), Movie Ratings (/5)

DS Tokyo Beat Down 7.1
Xbox 360 Fracture 8.0
MOVIE Knowing 5  CHOICE WATCH
MOVIE The Unborn 0
PC Left 4 Dead 8.7
Xbox 360 Mirror's Edge 8.5
MOVIE Dead Space Downfall 3.5
MOVIE The Day the Earth Stood Still 0.5
PSP Super Stardust Portable 9.7  CHOICE PICK
PSP Need for Speed Undercover 2.8
Browse more game reviews | Browse more movie reviews | Subscribe to articles

WELCOME TO POWERPLAY BLOG, YOUR ENTERTAINMENT BLOG FOR GAMES AND MOVIES. IT IS HOPED THAT YOU ENJOY THIS BLOG. THIS BLOG IS UPDATED FREQUENTLY, SO PLEASE DO VISIT AGAIN. THANK YOU!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Game Review - Medal of Honor: Airborne

Does it deserve a medal?

Why do we want to play another WW2 game again when year upon year, we are essentially playing out the same events over and over again? It may be this simple question that was asked before Medal of Honor: Airborne was developed. For the first time in the many years of history of WW2 games, EA brings something unique across the table – you start each mission by parachuting down from the sky and deciding which location is the best for you to begin the fight. You could decide to land on the rooftop, so that you could snipe some Nazis off first, or you could land directly on top of your objective, so that you waste no time in planting the charge on the Tiger Tank to destroy it. Ultimately, the decision is yours. But is this mechanism just a gimmick, or is it so much more than that?

Each of the 6 levels begins interestingly enough, with you and your fellow soldiers in the plane chatting with each other and cracking occasional jokes. These moments are short-lived, though as your plane will be shot at in a matter of seconds. Machine gun rounds penetrate and everyone around you starts perishing. Jump out of the plane you must and that you shall do. As soon as you jump out, your compass appears and provides some really useful information as to where the various objectives are located, but it will not show where the enemies are until you land. I find this quite contradictory because the game encourages you to pick a smart location to land, but yet refuses to show you enemies’ whereabouts and as such, you may encounter instances where you will land right at the heart of an enemy gathering and get yourself killed in no time. The decision isn’t so much on where to land in the early parts of the game; it is only during the later levels that this parachuting mechanism plays a more crucial role in your survival where your enemies get increasingly more aggressive and harder to beat.

On the ground, you are free to choose which objectives to pursue first. Indeed, as promised, Airborne does feel more ‘open’ than other WW2 shooters where you usually start out at a pre-defined location and follow the objectives that are only shown progressively. Linearity is not entirely absent from Airborne, though. After you have completed all the sets of objectives given to you when you first land, the game starts shoving you down a linear path like any other. Fortunately, each level is peppered with intense action, so the game doesn’t bore too soon, but there seems to a little lack of variety in the levels. While I appreciate that there are varying scenarios throughout the whole game that forces you to approach each with a differing tactical strategy, there is almost no vehicular action in the game. And if there is a vehicular portion, it has always been about tanks.

Nevertheless, Airborne manages to inject more interesting elements into the gameplay by offering upgradeable weapons. Seriously! Whenever you use a particular weapon to silence an enemy, the experience points will accumulate and after you have reached a certain level, that weapon gets upgraded – for good. The upgrades are not merely aesthetics, but helpful ones like an increase in the number of rounds a weapon can carry at any one time and improved accuracy. At one point, my Springfield sniper rifle can even shoot grenades off its barrel – accurately. But as creative as this idea sounds, the hit detection of weapons in Airborne is poor. There will be several times where you know clearly that the bullets in your weapon have made contact with the enemies, only for the game to indicate to you that you have failed to register a shot and deny you of a well-deserved kill. This glitch happens every few shots or so, and it can get terribly annoying. Perhaps this bug can be addressed by a future patch, but for now, you will just have to put up with this problem.

On to the A.I., I am actually surprised it posed quite a challenge overall. Even on normal difficulty settings, the game can get a wee bit difficult in some parts and you will find yourself dying often. Not puzzling given that Travers, the character whom you will be playing as, also has a relatively short health bar – a few shots could see you biting the dust. Enemies do use cover intelligently and often, you will find that the A.I. does not mind firing blindly or throwing grenades from their backs. Faced with such an A.I., utilization of cover is a must. And thank the developers for not making friendly A.I. just spectators. In fact, they are just as quick-thinking and smart as their counterparts.

Graphically-speaking, Airborne isn’t amazingly exciting. It looks just like any other WW2 shooter game, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. More important is the atmosphere. Being a WW2 game, Airborne MUST capture the chaos and intensity of WW2 (of course), but to my utter disappointment, it is in this department where Airborne falls short. Other WW2 shooters have done it much better than Airborne, but at least Airborne could have managed something decent. What you get is a cheap imitation of the war and it just doesn’t feel right. When I am fighting in a war, not only must the crack of my own weapons be heard, but the surrounding on-goings as well. Surprisingly, there are no frantic shouts and screams to be heard in Airborne, no barking of orders, and neither is the sound of bullets reflecting off and hitting objects present. All you can hear in Airborne are the sounds of your weapons firing, which isn’t 100% awesome, by the way, and the (distant) sound of your platoon mates’ weapons. And to my horror, as I move away from the main battlefield into a near-by little room in a house, everything becomes silent – as dead as a graveyard. There must be some kind of sound, right? It is a war, afterall. Airborne, simply speaking, does not capture the essence of WW2 – at all.

The game’s single-player campaign is also short. It is a good guess to say that you will finish it within 7 to 9 hours, but each level is quite lengthy - usually, you would take between 1 to 1 and a half hours to complete each level. Multiplayer is added in for good measure.

Final Comments
A new way to approach a WW2 shooter is what Airborne has done – something unique, something refreshing. You are the decider – you choose where to land and it is fun to test out the different landing spots to see which one is the most effective. Overall, the game does have a more ‘open’ feel than other WW2 shooters, but Airborne is not totally void of linearity. Luckily, the action is intense, but I would prefer more vehicular portions. As in BioShock, all weapons are upgradeable in Airborne, and I enjoyed that thoroughly. The A.I., both the enemy and friendly ones, are intelligent. What hurts Airborne seriously are the poor hit detection system and the lack of a proper atmosphere. Ouch! Nice animations, though.

TOTAL SCORE: 7.8/10

The Good:
- New way to start a WW2 shooter – parachuting!
- Parachuting to the right location becomes more important in the later levels – at least it is not a gimmick!
- Game has a more ‘open’ feel to it.
- Varying scenarios that require different approaches to each
- Upgradeable weapons
- Smart A.I., both hostile and friendly ones
- Nice animations throughout

The Bad:
- Could have use more vehicular action
- Weapons hit detection terrible
- Does not capture the atmosphere of WW2 at all
- Game is short

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Game Review:BioShock

Beauty is only skin deep.

An underwater city so beautiful, so mystifying, so much so that it should be included as one of the 7 wonders of the world, but beneath its magnificent skyline lays a sinister truth – the mutilated citizens of Rapture, as the underwater city is known, roam the buildings, killing anyone foreign in sight. What went so wrong?

The game starts out in the most spectacular fashion ever in recent memory – a tragic plane crash while flying over the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The next thing you know, you are surrounded by the wreckage of your plane, fire raging, but with your only hope of survival a short distance away: a mysterious lighthouse. All around you, you cannot help but admire how realistic the water looks, how life-like it is. And as you approach the lighthouse, a submarine-like transport greets you, ready to take you down into the horrors of Rapture. Welcome.

The graphical splendor continues as you descend into the world of Rapture. The atmosphere has been expertly constructed with eerie shadows lurking at every few corners. The echoing footsteps of the gigantic Big Daddies ring through the hallways. The light flickers on and off every now and then. The cries and screams of Rapture’s citizens seem so far away, yet so near. A guitar you can play, a toilet you can use, a bottle of wine you can drink – Rapture just seems brimming with life, or so you think.

Along the way, you will pick up numerous audio diaries, which will gradually unravel the fate of this very city you are in right now. A few brilliant twists and turns in the plot leaves you more puzzled, but more wanting to find out the truth, but is it enough?

Of course, Rapture is not a city you would want to make your home, so you are going have to escape it. The arsenal of ordinary weapons may not be something to write home about, but to dismiss the combat mechanics as ordinary would be sheer ignorance. Surely, there must be something beyond the weapons, and there is. All weapons are fully upgradeable, not once, but twice. These upgrades can be accessible through the scarce weapon upgrade machines, which I would not name for fear of spoiling your game, but they have a real nice name for themselves. Accessing these machines is another matter altogether though, as they are usually hidden in corners or areas which may be missed if you intend on speeding through the game. Instead, BioShock encourages you to explore its many rooms extensively, and rest assured you will be rewarded handsomely, not just in the goodies found, but also in the overall enjoyment of the game. It’s more than meets the eye, though. Switch to your left hand and now, you have another utility, or as it is known in the game, plasmid. These are special abilities obtainable as you progress through the game, be it telekinesis, which is essentially a clone of Half-Life 2’s gravity gun and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil’s grabber, incinerate, which turns your left hand into a flamethrower, or electric bolt, which allows you to stun enemies momentarily. There are many more exciting ones, some of them useful, some of them not so, but it really depends on how you would like to use these special abilities. Striking an electric bolt into a pool of water will fry enemies while incinerating oil lying on the ground will set enemies ablaze - the game forces you unknowingly into taking full advantage of the environment. Wait, how about using your telekinesis powers to stop an enemy’s grenade before you and hurl it back at your enemy? While there are a limited number of special abilities that you can carry at any one time, subsequently, you can purchase more slots for your plasmids as you go along, but more on that later.

Combat is not the only thing in BioShock, and you will realize that soon enough. Take tonics - these give you an edge over the enemies. How? For example, a particular kind of tonic, when taken, will allow you to recover more health when you consume food, while another type of tonic lengthens the time taken for security cameras to respond to your presence, giving you more opportunities of making your way past it without detection. Like plasmids, you can only take so many tonics with you at any one time, but more slots can be purchased. And after you have landed your hands on the research camera, it pays to know that shooting pictures of the enemies give you extra bonuses like making them weaker against your weapons and knowing their weaknesses. These are the unique features that stand BioShock out from the ‘me-too’ crowd of shooters. Fun they may sound, and fun in usage as well.

However, it leaves me scratching my head as to why there are so many ammo-selling vending machines (yeah, you can buy ammo with your stolen loot like cash!) and security cameras in Rapture. Isn’t Rapture supposed to be the utopia of the century? Perhaps that is a question to be answered on another day.

Time upon time, BioShock forces you into some serious decision-making – not only on the choice of plasmids and tonics to carry along with you, but also whether to harvest or rescue the Little Sisters in the game. But to continue with either of the acts, you would have to deal with the Big Daddies first, the one hell of a beast, which are the most challenging enemies in the world of BioShock. Defeating the protectors will leave the Little Sisters defenseless, leaving you to do whatever you want to them. A pondering session soon proceeds. While harvesting gives you more ADAM which you can use to purchase more slots for your plasmids and tonics than rescuing the Little Sisters, being the Little Sisters’ savior nets you rewards like extra ammo, new plasmids and tonics, and more cash as well. Greed or patience? Make a wise choice for the game’s ending will differ according to what you decide to make yourself into. Truly a feat which has not been accomplished by most games out in the market right now.

While security cameras may command irksome security bots that dish out a good chunk of damage, you can make them your friend too. A similar concept applies to the numerous machine gun turrets and rocket-propeller-gun turrets in Rapture too. Would you rather destroy them or would you hack them and turn them against your foes? The choice is yours. Hacking reveals a lesser known component of BioShock – a puzzle, or rather a mini-game, whichever deemed appropriate. But even that isn’t neglected. Child’s play it may look, but the puzzles actually require quick thinking and reflexes, and boy, are they challenging!

But a simple dissection will prove that beauty is indeed only skin-deep. Peel away everything that I just mentioned, and look beyond into the level design of BioShock. It is a missed potential. I hate to use that term especially for a game displaying so many nice touches like BioShock, but that old cliché I must say: just another shooter. BioShock truly deserves more than just a handful of enemies. Heck, even the bosses are just stronger variants of the normal enemies. While the astonishingly limited variety of enemies may survive the first few levels or so, the fact may start to drag you down soon after. But what’s more worrying is that how the game seems to constantly throw enemies at you mindlessly. You know that there is a problem when the game gives you the obviously expected kind of scenario at every area – there is no surprise element. While this problem is forgivable if the enemies do change their tactics periodically to perhaps inject some freshness into the gameplay and compensate for the lack of enemy variety, the strategies of BioShock’s foes stay incredibly stagnant throughout the whole course of the game, making the levels in the game quite a bore and repetitive.

Another of BioShock’s flaw is to place all the enemies right from the start of the game, leaving no new enemy variety to anticipate. As far as the enemies are concerned, the Big Daddies are the only ‘colorful’ foes. Everyone else seems to lack personality – why do they want to attack you? What is their aim? All said and done, BioShock’s level design is certainly flawed in some way or another.

Final comments
A graphically impressive game blessed with an immersive atmosphere and an intricate story, but the level design fails to live up to the hype and my expectations. It is a pity, really. Otherwise, BioShock is a pretty solid game. It gives you plenty of decisions to make, encourages exploration and the hacking puzzle mini-game is a welcome addition. The Vita-Chamber, a place where you will be resurrected after you died, but with the health of the enemies staying the same, though cited as many as making the game easy, is a wise design choice – come to think of it, the game would be relatively frustrating without it.

TOTAL SCORE: 8.4/10

The Good:
- Graphically stunning
- Great atmosphere
- Intriguing story with twists and turns
- Upgradeable weapons
- Plasmids and tonics are admirable efforts in standing the game out from the crowd
- Encourages exploration
- Using environment to your advantage
- Decision-making
- Cool hacking mini-game puzzle
- Vita-Chamber a wise design choice

The Bad:
- Lack of variety in enemies
- Enemies’ tactics do not change throughout the entire game – game becomes repetitive
- Game places all types of enemies right from the start – loss of anticipation for new enemy variety
- Most enemies lack personality

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Game Review - Worms:Open Warfare 2

More is good.

If the experience of my debut Worms game is anything to go by, I must say that Worms fully deserves to be recommended to everyone. From bottom to top, the latest iteration of Worms, Open Warfare 2, is a solid game providing tons of options, be it in the gameplay department, choice of maps or variety of weapons. Basically, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is a turn-based strategy cum platformer 2D game, but to see its confusing genre mix and merely dismiss it would be doing yourself a disservice. You will find out why soon enough.

For those of you who have never played any Worms game before, I will give you a quick introduction. As I mentioned earlier, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is a turn-based strategy game. You start out with your (combat) worms scattered throughout the landscape, which well, will have various platforms. At every turn, you and your opponents will be given a limited amount of time to select your weapon and attack your opponents. Being a platformer, the game also allows you to navigate obstacles by jumping across them to get closer to your opponents before unleashing your attacks. The concept hits the sweet spot and makes for some interesting gameplay. Don’t worry though – the game will enlighten you quickly enough with its handy tutorials the moment you start.

If you have been asking yourself on why there have not been many gameplay options in the games you played lately, Worms: Open Warfare 2 may just be the right material for you. Everything about this game screams options. The campaign mode essentially pushes you through different exciting environments and scenarios with its humorous story. Equally laughter-inducing cut scenes appear between each environment, making the campaign mode more fun-filled. And if you feel campaign mode isn’t your kind of stuff, there is also another progressive mode that is the puzzle mode. The levels in puzzle mode are more challenging, forcing you to work with limited or restricted weapons and equipments in order to score a win, be it parachuting to an exit point, standing on top of explosive barrels and shooting them to propel yourself sky-high or using boomerangs to build a long stairway. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but there is a ton of variety in the other objectives given as well. Or maybe if you just want a quick game to pass your tea break, the quick game and custom game options are also available. Still unsatisfied? Well, the exclusive DS mini-games should keep you occupied. These mini-games make full use of the DS’s unique functions like the touch-screen and microphone, but what’s more important is that they are totally enjoyable. Online multiplayer over local wireless play or Nintendo Wi-Fi connection is a boon too.

But it’s not just the gameplay modes which are enjoying this treatment. You see, as you progress through the levels of both the campaign mode and puzzle mode, credits will be earned and these can be used to buy bonuses like extra landscapes for maps, extra weapons, extra team flag designs, and so on and so forth. Choose to play a custom game, and the game will further enable you to customize the maps to a small extent. You can choose from a huge variety of landscapes types (for example: one flat piece of land or one with several platforms), landscape structures and environments. In fact, the choice of maps is endless. Customization of your teams is also possible with Worms: Open Warfare 2, and this goes as far as to change the name of each of your team members, as well as the flag design. Oh well, now, you have started playing a match, and another headache begins for the choice of your weapon. Missiles, grenades, Uzis, shotguns, dynamites, mines, and even wacky ones like a self-destruct sheep and a fire punch! Indeed, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is all about choices and this proves to be one of the game’s strong selling points.

On to the actual battlefield, the adorable voice acting for the worms attempts to grab your attention from the actual combat. Each environment also has its own matching piece of music that would make your ears dance. The graphics are another nice touch. 3D elements are seamlessly fused with 2D elements and certainly are they pleasing. Typically, the top screen is used to display an extended top view of the battlefield, but just hit select and the upper DS screen will turn into a tactical map. Another useful design choice here!

But despite the gargantuan amount of options, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is not without its shortcomings, albeit those that are only minor and can be easily overlooked. First-off, the game may get quite frustrating in some parts. Secondly, if you happen to choose the same map twice during a custom game, you will notice that the opponents will do EXACTLY the same thing as it did before the previous time you selected the same map for play. But their strategy will start to differ the moment your worms move into a different position from last time, so it’s only the beginning where your worms all start out at the pre-defined locations that gets affected.

Final Comments
With so many game modes available, jumping right into a game of Worms: Open Warfare 2 is anything but a simple affair. Even before entering the battlefield, be awestricken by the deep customization features and the sheer number of maps. On the battlefield itself, you will be spoilt for choice with the huge variety of weapons. The game goes on to provide you with several unlockable goodies that you can obtain with the credits earned. The voice acting and music are also spot-on. All in all, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is an all-round superb package.

TOTAL SCORE: 8.7/10

The Good:
- Lots of game modes available
- Varying and interesting objectives
- Huge variety of maps
- Deep customization features
- Weapons galore!
- Several unlockable goodies
- Great voice acting and music
- Pleasing graphics

The Bad:
- Game may get frustrating in some parts
- A.I. opponents do exactly the same thing it did before in the beginning of the round if you happen to select the same map that you have already played previously

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Achievement Unlocked! Episode 2

We're back for another episode!

BEST GAMING EFFORTS BY A NON-GAMING COMPANY

Nokia N-Gage Service

^ Nokia wants to get you En-Gaged!

Just as everyone thought that Nokia’s attempt at gaming, the N-Gage, will not see the light of the day ever again, Nokia popped in with a pleasant surprise. In the transition, N-Gage has been transformed from a gaming device to a gaming service. Mobile phone users can download the N-Gage application onto compatible phone models like the higher-end Nokia N-series models, including N73, N93 and N95. The newer handsets like N81 and N95 8GB will come preloaded with the application. From within their phones, users will be able to launch the N-Gage service and go online to download games. Free demos of games will also be available. In addition, Nokia has also partnered with various game publishers to bring big hits to the N-Gage service, some of which are The Sims 2 Pets and FIFA 08. The service launches in November and games will cost 6 to 10 euros each.

Not bad an offering – for a traditionally non-gaming company. For this, the Nokia N-Gage Service receives this award. Oh, wait, you don’t own a compatible Nokia phone? You may have to give this a miss.

MOST GRAPHICALLY IMPRESSIVE XBOX 360 GAME TO DATE

Gears of War, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and DiRT

^ Gears of Advanced Warfighter Cars

Um, yeah, it’s a three-way tie. I have no choice – they all looked so good! But to be fair, Gears of War was the first Xbox 360 game to churn out the best visuals. Ubisoft followed in Gears of War footsteps with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and so did Codemasters with its long-running Colin Mcrae franchise. Realistic, stunning and gorgeous are words that I will use to associate with the graphics in these games. Nothing less is appropriate description. Come on, shell out some money for these games! Stop torturing your eyes with Touch the Dead for the DS!

MOST (UN)ANTICIPATED XBOX 360 GAME

Viva Piñata: Party Animals

^ Looks like plush toys.

Sure, the original game that came out last November was lavished with praise from several gaming websites, magazines and the media, but it is going to be a different matter now. With its sequel, Party Animals, Viva Piñata has changed hands from developers Rare to Krome Studios. Don’t mistake me – I am not discrediting Krome Studios, but I find it near impossible to get excited over a game which has gotten its source material from a cartoon and one which belongs to the most stupid game genre: Mini-game compilation. Alright, not entirely true. There is also a kart racing component in the game. So it’s a party game? Hmm … … Well, the game may end up being good, but I am not anticipating it. It is hard to do so – not with its cutesy visuals and a promise of mini-games.

BEST GAME COLLECTIBLE

Shirt
^ Fill your wardrobe.

Bonus DVDs detailing behind the scenes stuff - you have seen it all, I have seen it all too. And admit it, you’re getting tired of the usual stuff. Let’s throw in a Master Chief Helmet for the Legendary Edition of Halo 3, suggests Bungie or Microsoft, whoever decides what gets into the package. Well, a helmet you can’t wear. How about an information book included with the collector’s edition of Forza Motorsport 2? Whoever wants to read what is already known? A figurine? Okay, that sounds good, but above all, I prefer shirts. That’s a nice way to portray to everyone out in the streets that you are a gamer, isn’t it? And well, that’s something that you can actually use in daily life, unlike the many collectibles that have been supplied with the collector’s edition of various games throughout the years. Look out! Hard Boiled, an action film, is even included with the collector’s edition of John Woo Presents Stranglehold for PS3. Now, that’s a change from the usual stuff. But come on, I still want a shirt. Do you?

THE NEXT BIGGEST THING IN GAMING

Advertisements
^ Don't worry. Pepsi will still be around in year 2142.

Advertisements are fast becoming commonplace in games. Don’t believe? Look no further than the latest progression of advertisements in games – some Ubisoft full-version PC games, including Rayman Raving Rabbids, Far Cry and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time have been made free for download on FilePlanet. This is only possible because the games are ad-supported. So, for example, while the game is loading, an advertisement from your favorite McDonald’s may pop up. Advertisements in games are not necessarily a bad thing. In a way, it helps developers and publishers to pass the savings down to customers and games can be had at a lower cost or even for free as demonstrated in this case. Previous games like Battlefield 2142 and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory have also featured advertisements. As of now, the only home console online service that needs to be paid is Xbox Live, but I am not far from wrong to predict that in the near future, it would be made free for all, partly due to the fact from the competition, but most likely, because of the influx of advertising in games. Xbox Live may become ad-supported and free subscription would follow.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Achievement Unlocked! Episode 1

We kick off this new regular feature with all things Nintendo.

BEST NINTENDO WII IMITATOR

Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse

^ Logitech will put all magicians out of job! Look out! The floating mouse!

The word air in its name is not there for nothing. It means that you will be using this mouse in the air – literally. When I saw the MX Air, something struck me: Disregarding its color and appearance, it is very much alike to the Wii’s controller, the Wii remote. Logitech has what it calls the Freespace motion sensing technology built into the mouse, giving the mouse the ability to be used in the air. And just like the Wii remote, a few flicks and twists of your wrists will get the MX Air into action in no time. For example, to adjust the volume, all you need to do is to wave the mouse left or right, depending on whether you want to decrease or increase the volume. The MX Air also makes the scroll wheel seem like an obsolete thing. With a touch panel in between, who needs a scroll wheel?

MOST STUPID RECENT GAME ANNOUNCEMENT

Wii Fit

^ The next big thing on Wii: Exercise games!

I knew it was coming, but that does not mean that I was going to embrace this idea. It looks stupid, dumb, and idiotic. After a huge pile of mini-game compilations and puzzle game crap, this is the next big thing on the Wii – exercise games! Oh, how exciting is Wii Fit! You stand on that board and pretend to be Silver Surfer. Excuse me, but I want to make it a known fact that games are for people to relax, to retreat into another world, not for people to exercise. Alright, who am I kidding? This is not a game in the first place!

BEST RECENT COPYCAT

Commando 07

^ Commando Slug wants to play.

The game looks and plays like Metal Slug. Well, isn’t it Metal Slug then, you ask? No, it isn’t – much to my surprise. The game is coming to the DS early 2008 and fortunately, it isn’t entirely Metal Slug. The interface is a little different, the character models do differ, and there will be some touch-screen mini-games included in the package.

MOST GRAPHICALLY IMPRESSIVE DS GAME TO DATE

TMNT

^ Concentrate! This is not the time to admire the landscape!

I have to go with TMNT for this award – it is one of the most graphically impressive DS game. Oh well, I lied, so it’s not the most graphically impressive, but one of them. By the way, Metroid Prime: Hunters looks gorgeous too, but I do feel that TMNT edges Metroid out a little. Given the easy nature of the game, you might just have more time to admire the landscape!

MOST STUPID GAME GENRE

Mini-game compilation

^ Trust me. This is going to be the best Wii game - ever.

Don’t flood me with these kind of trash. Mini-game compilations are nothing new on the Wii and the DS, but lately, they are starting to get annoying. Sure, some of them are good (like Rayman Raving Rabbids for both the Wii and DS and WarioWare: Smooth Moves for Wii), but most of these games are crap, put out by publishers who want to make a quick buck out of the unsuspecting. These games are also often too shallow and you will be hard-pressed to find interest in any of them.

Powerplay Megabytes | Achievement Unlocked! | SUPER Rant | Game Reviews | Time Capsule | Movie Reviews | Previews | Hardware Guides | Features and News