Gamecube Game Review: Pikmin

Pikmin is now available to rent or own for the new Nintendo gamecube console.
The game is based on this little cute guy in a moon suit.

His name is Captain Olimar. On his way home to Hoctate, (some planet) using his faithful ship which he calls Dolphin. Suddenly he felt a massive jolt in his ship. His ship lands on on a strange planet. He is not able to go back home. Due to the huge shake in his ship, 30 pieces of it were scattered throughout this strange planet.

His mission is to find all 30 pieces in 30 days.

In day one, he manages to meet these little strange creatures known as pikimin. The first ones he meets are red pikmin. These little guys have the ability to walk through fire.

As the day goes on, he learns that the pikmin enjoy helping him, and he wonders why. He begins to enjoy them. As he notices that he actually needs them for help in his mission back home.

But watch out, there are many enemies on this planet that enjoy killing and eating your pikmin army.

As time goes by, in this game you will come across yellow pikmin. These little ones can fly higher when they are flown.

Soon you will discover blue pikmin, wich can swim. Each and every pikmin is needed to preform tasks that Captain Olimar could not do alone.

Picking and planting pikmin is very fun. I have even had an army of about 200 of them. By the time night fall comes though, make sure you whistle and search around for your pikmin, otherwise they are left behind and eaten. It is very heart breaking to see them get chomped down on by that big red and white beetle creature.

Your pikmin will also grow with time. They will start off with a leaf dangling from the top of their heads, then they will get a bud, and eventually a flower will bloom. The flowered pikimin are much faster and stronger than the baby ones.

This game is by far a gamecube favorite so far. The graphics are awesome, and you will end up playing this for hours. Similar to the banjo kazooie games, where a person could seriously waste a week of their life playing it till the end.

I have not yet beaten this game, but I am sure I soon will.

I am just having fun exploring the strange planet.

The thing I hate is that I am on a 30 day time limit, and days are not that long. Some days I don't even recover a ships piece, which means 30 days, 30 pieces; it is going to be real hard to squeeze in 2 pieces in one day. I may fail. :(

Another thing I hate, is the monsters. Some of them are really really beyond hard to beat. I have had a whole army of 50 pikmin eaten in just one battle. Then I had to waste another entire day just making new pikmin.

Kids will have fun with this game, as well as adults. If they like video games.

Console Review: The Nintendo Wii System

Okay where to start. Me, like every other 12 year old in the world wanted a Nintendo Wii console for Christmas. Me, like 500,000 other people were sadly disappointed on Christmas morning. However, since my sad reality of never receiving one, I decided to just lay low, and chill out on the whole “I NEED IT” attitude.
I dropped by gamestop every now and then, and constantly got told, “Sorry, sold out.” “Maybe next week/month”

4 days ago however my luck changed, and I got my greedy needy hands on the last one in the store. This is why I’m here; I want to brag about my Wii. I love my Wii!!!!

Before getting my hands on the system, I thought it was too good to be true. I doubted the Nintendo Wiis promise. Besides, how could a game literately put me inside of it? I don’t buy it, especially for such a small price tag.
Well my thoughts were wrong, and doubts erased. You will feel just that. You are in the game. You are what makes it go, what makes it tick.

Before I get into all of the technical things, let me tell you the system is awesome. I wouldn’t, and couldn’t ask for more from this system. Not only am I having fun, but my big butt is also getting in a daily dose of exercise. In which I barely did before. –Recent study showed that if a person played the Nintendo Wii for one hour everyday, they could lose up to 5 pounds a month. I read that on some Internet article. Unfortunately I don’t have the link. But if and when I find it, I will add it in this review.

SET UP

The Wii was boxed nicely. No foam pieces to get thrown around. Everything was packed nicely in sturdy cardboard inside of the initial box. Of course there were instructions. I, like many others, don’t necessarily like reading the instructions to anything. I’m the type of person who wants to just plug things in, and get things going immediately. WARNING: You will need to refer to the instruction manual. So don’t think about throwing it away the second you open the box. For one, you’re going to need to read the section about how to set up the Wii sensor bar to the top or bottom of your TV. Easy enough, you may think. Yes I thought so too. But you got to be careful where you place the bar. It is a very slim flimsy piece of plastic. The bar itself has double sided sticky tape. So wherever, you place it, try and make sure your not going to have to move it around too often. It can, and will break easily if not handled properly.

- You’re also going to want to refer to the instruction manual on how to get the Wii to register you Wii sensor controller, or controllers. It’s a pretty easy basic step, and asks for some button pushing. But without reading the manual, you could be lost, and think your remote controller is broken. It’s not; it just has to be registered. Once that step is done you won’t have to repeat the process, which is a great time saver.

These 2 things are pretty much the only need you will have for the manual. The rest of the plugs just go into the proper sized slot. There’s no rocket science to figuring out which plug goes into which hole in the back of the console.

THE NINTENDO WII REMOTE CONTROLS

At first I thought this was going to be impossible. I have never in my entire 18-year gaming history, seen, or held a game controller quite like this one. It’s shaped just like a standard TV remote control, only smaller. At first glance one may think it’s going to be hopeless gaming. However, once you have the system on, and controllers registered, you will immediately get the feel of the remote. You will also see that it’s way easier than you thought at first. This remote is the remote that you will use for most of your Wii gaming.

NUNCHUCK-

this is the attachment remote. It gets snapped right into the bottom of the other remote. WARNING: Do not rip it out from the other remote when you are done using it. There are two small buttons at the bottom that need to be held to release the nun chuck from the other controller. My nephew was the genius who decided to do this and it cost me another 20$ for a new one. So definitely stress this to smaller impatient children who may be playing with YOUR toy.

This remote is a small banana shaped remote you hold in your other hand. The remote itself doesn’t have much use to the Wii Sports that will come with the Nintendo Wii, if you happen to get this bundle. It has an analog stick similar to older game cube remotes in the middle of it. It also has a button on the bottom, which can be pressed for different results; depending on what games you may be playing. The only time this controller was used in Wii Sports was the boxing game. As you flail this remote out in any direction, the character on the TV will do the same.

WARNING:

Always, I repeat, ALWAYS, wear the remote controllers safety strap. It slides over your hand. This is to make sure no one flings the remote at the television or at someone else. –There have been plenty of accidents I have read about this system because of this. It’s a simple direction. WEAR THE STRAP! Don’t risk losing an eye, or TV set. Or heck, don’t risk breaking the remote. They are just as rare to get your hands on as the Nintendo Wii itself. If you don’t believe me, go check out the overpriced remotes they’ve got up for grabs at www.ebay.com

THE NINTENDO WII

When you first turn your system on your going to be asked to put in a few basic details. Here you can give your system a nickname. Add the time, and the date, and you’re ready to go.

After this quick initial set up you are then going to be taken to a screen with 4 different mini blocks. Some will be blank. These blank boxes will be filled up with games you happen to buy, or purchase at the Wii store.

What’s the Wii Store/Wii Shoppe?

Hehehe. This is the best feature in my opinion. In order for the Wii store to be activated you have to set up the system to the Internet. After this you may purchase old games from older systems to download onto your Nintendo Wii. Games from consoles such as, Sega, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and more are available on the Wii Shop Channel. Neat old school classical games us 80’s children may of grown up with. You can only buy Wii stuff with Wii points. An annoying process I thought at first.
I thought I was going to have to go out to best buy or Wal-Mart and purchase a Wii Card. Nope. You can easily purchase points with a credit card. 2000 points will buy you about 2 good games and one ok game. Grand total $20. Nintendo 64 games will run you 800 points. So you could grab 2 great N64 games for 1600 points, and an old Nintendo game.

WII MAIL

That’s right, regardless of whether or not you have the system set up to the Internet, you can still and will still get wii mail. You won’t be able to send mail to other Internet users, but you can send mail to other Mii’s on your system. Say, your brother, boyfriend, or girlfriend uses the same Nintendo wii. You can post them messages. I found this to be a cute feature for parents who want to leave their kids a quick note that they KNOW they will get.

The Nintendo Wii will also send you a daily TODAY message. If you click on it, it will show how long you played for the day, or if you beat any records for the day. You will be surprised at how fast 3 hours goes by when you play the Wii.
Good exercise! I don’t know anyone who would exercise for 3 hours straight. You won’t even realize your getting a workout, but you are. Your body will feel it in the morning.

PICTURE STATION- (picture channel)

This is one sweet feature. You can place any SD Digital camera card into a small slot located in the front of your Nintendo Wii, and you can view your photos on you TV. Not only that but any picture you choose you can play with it. Either choose to draw on a photo, or play with the photo, by converting it into a puzzle, then try to put it back together again. You can also view all of the photos in a slide show if you want. I like this feature a lot. It’s neat if you want to show your family vacation photos without having to rush down and get them all printed up immediately.

NINTENDO MII’S

This is another feature on your start up page. You click on the Mii logo box, (also known as, the Mii Channel) and you are taken to a new window where you can create a character to look like you to play in the game. This is a fun spot to start. It gives you not only a chance to get used to the Wii’s remotes, but you can create pretty much anyone, of course with limitations. Clothing colors are limited to only about 16, which sort of stunk. Hair color red seems to be missing. You can choose a box that looks red, but your result is not red. It’s more of a darkish brown color. You can make your character short or tall, thin or fat. You’re Nintendo Wii, will store up to 100 Mii’s in the system. What’s neat about the Mii Channel is that you can store a favorite Mii into your remote controller and take your Mii to go. (A friend’s house)

I’ve heard of people being able to make a Mii look just like them, however I have not mastered this yet. My character looks nothing like me. The limitations are probably why. You’re limited to only a small amount of different eyes, noses, hairstyles and mouths. However with the color schemes your possibilities are pretty much endless.

After you have created your Mii, you can now start playing the Nintendo Wiis Sports game that may or may not of come with your system. –I know the this game is the game that came with the system. However there is a new release either out now, or coming soon, where the Wii console will be coming with Zelda.

The sports game has 5 different sports to play. Tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing.

All of them are just as fun as the next. My personal favorite is golf. So I’m going to cover that one first:

GOLF: You have 3 choices of play on the main game. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced. To play you just hold the Wii remote like a golf club, hold button A, and let her swing. There are also 3 more mini golf games to play in the training section. On a scale from 1 to10. I give golf a 10.

BOXING: This is very fun. You will need both remotes for this game. You can verse the computer or a friend. It’s very tiresome, and this game provides the best workout for you as well. Your arms will be very tired from this game.

TENNIS: I don’t like this one particular game. The controls act funny when you take a swing at the ball. It’s probably my least favorite. But I was never good at it in real life either. My rating on this one is a 6.

BOWLING- you hold the control and flip forward, the ball rolls, and wham. You either get a strike, or you don’t. This game gets a 10. I enjoy it very much, and you will have a lot of fun playing against your friends and family.

BASEBALL- this is also an extremely fun game. You hold the remote just like you would a bat. When the ball is heading for you, you swing away! It’s awesome. I give this one a 10 as well.

- All of these games have 3 mini games to play in the training section. So really your getting a total of 5 sports games, plus 24 mini games. Totaling 29 games in all. If this game didn’t come with the Wii, I highly recommend spending the money on it.

--Nintendo Wii may not have the greatest graphics out there, but for the small price tag compared to its Sony competition they’re sweet. The graphics may not be as great at PS3’s, but it’s my opinion to like the Wiis graphics more. I’ve always liked Nintendo’s cartoon like game worlds. Some may disagree, but it’s just my take on the whole graphics/realism topic. I don’t have the playstation 3, but from reviews I’ve already read, the price tag is absurd, and it’s not even that great.

Nintendo Wiis $249.99 price tag is well worth it, and beyond. I feel like the price tag on the system is an absolute steal.

There is also already a large collection of games readily available to buy. Some titles I know of are Zelda, Elebits, Warioware smooth moves, Rayman, Cars, Shrek, Spongebob, Red Steel, Wii Play, and many more.

I would, and I have already recommended this system to friends. I would buy another just to have it for the downstairs TV, that’s if I could get my hands on another one. It’s great fun for seriously anyone, of any age. I dub thee, Nintendo Wii, the greatest console ever made. A awesome, unique, fun, and energetic approach at the video gaming world. I predict Nintendo only getting greater and greater with time.

Game Review: Animal Crossing Wild World for Nintendo DS

Okay folks, my review on Animal Crossings: Wild World for the Nintendo DS, has been a long time coming. I felt I could not give a complete review until I got my DS a Wifi connection. The time has come.

I got this game for one reason, and one reason only. Animal Crossings was probably the finest game I had played on my game cube. Adding Wild World to my DS game collection only made sense.

I was able to purchase it on the day of its release at Gamestop for $34.99. Believe me this game was selling out like hotcakes at McDonald’s on a Sunday morning.

The game itself starts off a bit like the one on game cube. You’re leaving home, about to start a life on your own away from your parents. You answer a few questions, before the game itself starts. You choose your name, your gender, and the name you would like to call your town. After all of this basic stuff, your character arrives. (The neat part is if you don’t like how he/she looks, you can always restart the game. The characters face can and will change every time you start a new game. Or add a new person to your town. –You are allowed to add 3 more friends- say a brother, or sister to live in the same house as you)

Upon your arrival you will be greeted by a raccoon named Nook, he is the owner of Nook N Cranny’s, the town’s local shopping center. Nook takes you to see your home, and then he slaps you with a bill. However you don’t have any money. Dang! This is where the games actual play is put in effect. You have to earn that money, and believe me it won’t be an easy, or fast job to complete.

From here Nook leaves and asks you to meet him back at his shop. You have to choice to either, get to the shop and start working immediately, or you can go and check out your house and the town.

Yech, its rather small and ugly looking house. It will be up to you from here on out to decorate your home to your preferences. I will get into the home furnishings and decorations further on however.

You get to Nooks, and he asks you to perform little annoying missions to earn some bells (money). You have to deliver packages, introduce yourself to all of the animals in town, and post a bulletin for Nook. This is basically just a tutorial, it gets a little annoying, but once you complete the tasks you get to roam free, and Nook hooks you up with a town map. This makes it easy to locate other animal’s homes, when you first start off.

The number of animals in your town will vary from time to time. At one point you will have up to 10 neighbors, and sometimes you will have 8. The animals tend to move out, and move in about once a week. However sometimes it takes awhile for a new animal to move in. Your neighbors will vary from friendly and bubbly, to complete grouches, each animals personalities will differ from the last, and you may even grow more fond of one than the other. Don’t get too attached though, when move out on you sometimes, you can’t take it personally. You will see a large variety of different animals. Rabbits, dogs, toads, pigs, bears, chickens, roosters, ducks, hedgehogs, squirrels, monkeys, cats, chipmunks, etc. The list goes on and on.

Now just how does one pay off that home loan?

Well there are many, many ways to pay Nook back. At first you most likely will be selling Nook sea shells that you happen to find at the beach, which is always located at the very far bottom of the town. You can also run errands for the animals in town. They will either give you bells, clothes, or furniture.
You can then sell the clothing and furniture you were given to Nook, who will buy them from you. This is basically how you make money.
There are also hidden tips to making bells that aren’t as obvious.

-If you hit rocks with your shovel, sometimes a rock will release bags of bells. Keep hitting it, and the bags of bells will get bigger. There will only be one money rock per day in your town.

-If you go up to a tree and shake it, sometimes a bag of 100 bells will fall to your feet.


Okay, so now you have some money. However don’t pay of the loan just yet. First your going to want to purchase some tools from Nooks shop. A major necessity is the fishing pole, shovel, net, axe, and the slingshot.

Once you have gotten the pole you can go fishing. This is where things get fun. You find a river, or the ocean; once you see a dark shadow in the water, release your line. When the line starts shaking, reel him in! It’s easy. One can spend hours fishing. There are quite a few fish to catch too, 56 different species to be exact.
Once you have caught fish, you can either bring them to the museum, or have them put in the aquarium. Or if you have caught two of the same fish, sell the extras to Nook. There are a few rare fish that Nook will pay almost 10,000 bells for. Now remember different fish come out at different seasons. Animal crossing Wild World is set in real time. So if it’s February 7th 2007 for you, it will also be the same date in Animal Crossings. (You can however change the time in the game if you’d like)

The net is used for bug catching. There are 56 different bugs to catch. Like the fish, rare bugs are worth big bells. You can donate bugs to the museum, or sell them to Nook.

The shovel is used for digging, hitting rocks, digging up cut down tree stumps, and planting flowers. If you happen to be walking around your town and see a star shaped marking on the grass or sand, that would be where you would dig. What you dig up is a mystery every time. It could either be a fossil, (take this to the museum to have it identified) a pit fall (if you happen to step on a star that contains a pitfall your character will fall into a hole- just hit the A button to get out) it could even be furniture that another animal may of buried, or a gyroid. (A Gyroid, is a wooden type totem pole looking thing. If you place it in your home it will make noises) Gyroids are found the next day after a rainstorm in large quantities. I usually sell them to Nook, as they are worth 800 bells each.

The slingshot is used to shoot balloons down in the sky. Balloons come every now and then, and you will see them floating in your top screen. The balloon usually has a gift attached to it. If you happen to get lucky and shoot it down, the gift will fall to the ground. Usually the gift contains a piece of furniture for your home. Shooting balloons down is probably the most difficult task that this game has to offer.

The axe is used to chop down trees. Now you don’t want to go crazy with cutting them all down, it will make the animals in the town upset. The axe is used to lighten up areas that have too many trees crammed together, causing you not to be able to make your way through. Cutting a few trees down just makes it easier for you to move around the town in a quicker manner.

Now lets move on to your home. Collecting furniture will prove no easy task. There are many different types of sets one may want to acquire. You either get furniture by buying them from Nook, or getting them from completing tasks from animals in town. However you may also acquire furniture in the lost and found. There will be two dogs waiting by your main gates, ask the dog to the left if anything has been lost. He will show you a list of things if there are any. Feel free to take everything if you want.

There are 576 different pieces of furniture. So it will take a lot of time for you to get them all. Once you have gotten a piece though, don’t be afraid to sell it. You can always repurchase it, as it will be saved in you catalog. (Your catalog is a list of any furniture you may have had in your possession in the past, regardless of whether its in your house at that time or not)

There are also 64 different wallpapers, and 64 different types of carpets for you to decorate your home with. You can get crazy and creative.
You also will have the option to join the HRA. This is a home rating system. Every week you will get a letter in your mailbox from the HRA with a grade on your home. If you get a great score, sometimes the HRA will send you a gift and congratulate you.

I know there are ways to do feng shui in the home as well. I haven’t mastered this yet, but I do know if you master it, you will get some sort of gift from the HRA.

Decorations also go beyond the home. You also can plant flowers and trees all throughout the town. Be careful you don’t run through flowers though, as you can kill them. If you plant a lot of flowers, sometimes there is a good chance of creating hybrid flowers. These are rare occurrences, and these types of flowers will never be available at Nooks.

However if you don’t play the game for about a week or so the town will become overrun with weeds. They’re easy to get rid of though; you just stand over them and pick them. Its pretty easy. There also is a small chance that you will find a patch of clovers. If you pick them, there is a random chance of finding a 4 leaf lucky clover. You can wear it in your hair, or put t in your home.


There is also the Able Sisters shop. This is where you go to buy different clothing patterns to wear. Here you can also create your own styles to wear, or use as a pattern on your umbrella. The cost to make your own clothing will always be 300 bells. It’s neat because after you create a new pattern, and put it on display, sometimes animals in your town will sport the new look as well. You can also purchase accessories like glasses, beards, hats, and hairstyles here when they become available. Two different accessories will be available each day.

Also when you pay off your loan, your house will get larger and larger, and so the bill from Nook will also grow. However if you keep paying off your loan you will eventually earn yourself the mansion. The best and very last upgrade to your house. It consists of 3 levels and 7 rooms total.

Another neat feature is message in bottles. You can purchase them at Nooks. You can then write a letter to someone, anyone really. You never know where it ends up- it travels to other wifi Animal Crossing DS users. I like to leave my email address in the letter and a little gift, and see if someone emails me letting me know they got my message. Sometimes you may even get a message in a bottle washed up on your shore.

You can also write letters to other animals in your town, usually they write back and add a gift. So it’s fun to do. You may also write letters to other users in your house, or write letters to other wifi users on your friend list.

As you upgrade your house, Nooks store will also upgrade, becoming larger and nicer with each upgrade. Eventually there will also be a hair salon in Nookingtons. You can take your character here for a makeover for 3,000 bells. Your hair style and color will change depending on how you answer the hairdresser.

Now just when you think things are becoming boring, a special even will pop up. You can find all the details out about special events on the town bulletin board.
There will also be special visitors in Animal Crossing: Wild World.

A reindeer will come for a visit on Christmas Eve. He likes to hide in your town. If you happen to find him, he will give you a Christmas themed piece of furniture for your home. If you continue to seek him, each time he will give you another piece of furniture. Save these pieces, they are the only types of furniture that you cannot re-order. However if you get doubles, sell them. They’re worth a lot of money.

When it is snowing in your town, you will also sometimes find balls of snow. If you roll them, you will create a snowman. Its hard to do, and takes some concentration and fine hand skills to pile one ball on top of the other. Once he is made, he will give you a gift, which is worth a lot of money. You can make a new snowman everyday and everyday get a new gift.

On the 4th of July at night, if you look at the top screen you will see a display of fireworks. If you go to the town center you will find Tortimer, the town mayor. He will give you sparklers to hold during the festivities.

On Halloween everyone in town will be dressed in costume. You have to be careful, if they run up to you, you must give them candy. Make sure you buy candy at Nooks in advance; if you don’t have candy they will give you a trick. There will also be a visitor named Jack. If you find Jack roaming about tag him. He will give you a piece of Halloween furniture. Seek him out as much as possible without getting tagged by other animals. Otherwise they turn your Halloween furniture into jack o lanterns, which are worth nothing. His furniture is also worth a lot of money, so if you get doubles sell them to Nook.

There is also a random chance of a sea gull named Gully that sometimes will wash up on shore at the ocean. He will look dead when you find him, but if you keep prompting him to talk, eventually he will wake up. He will then tell you a huge story about why he washed up, and then he will give you a rare foreign gift. These gifts are worth a lot of money if you sell them To Nook. However they also make the house look nice, and will raise your HRA score.

Gracie is a fashion designer; she will visit your town about once a month. You never know when she might pop up, she doesn’t leave a bulletin, but if you talk to the animals, sometimes they clue you in. If the animals talk of Gracie, she will be in the town. It’s now up to you to find her. When you do she will ask you to wash her car. If you wash it nicely she will give you one of her fashions. You can either wear the clothes she gives you, or sell them to Nook. Her clothing is worth way more bells than any other pieces of clothing you may come across in the game.

Redd, a raccoon that looks like Nook; only crooked will also visit once a week. He will send you a letter and let you know when he will be visiting. He will also send you the password to get into his tent. If you loose the password you will have to ask every single animal in town what the password is. So keep the letter till he visits. Its annoying having to hunt down which animal has Redds password. Redds tent has a variety of rare items that sometimes does not sell in Nooks shop. Here is where you may come across paintings for your museum.

However, sometimes his paintings are fakes and worth nothing. So it’s really a gamble unless the insurance man comes to visit-, which doesn’t happen as often as you would like. At Redds sometimes you loose, sometimes you win. It’s sort of a gamble. His prices are also extremely high; so make sure you visit him with quite a few bells in hand.

There will also be an old woman selling turnips every week, if you buy them, then sell them at Nooks you can make a huge profit.
The prices of turnips rises and fall each day, just don’t let them spoil. They will rot and be useless in one weeks time if you don’t sell them.

During spring and fall seasons your town will also be visited by a beaver that will hold fishing tournaments. It’s simple really, catch the biggest bass, and win the trophy.
There will also be spring festivals, fall festivals, and other activities for you to participate in.


THE GRAPHICS

The game itself may look lame and childish, but in reality it has a lot to offer. The town you will be in is very colorful. Everything is in a 3d type atmosphere, and sort of reminds me of a more childlike colorful Southpark.


If you have the wifi connection this is where things get very fun. Now before you get all excited, you must remember you have to have a friend code plugged into your friend rooster, and that friend must have you plugged in as well for you to visit, and have visitors. It’s the most annoying process that Nintendo has added, seeing how not everyone has 10 friends who own animal crossings.

There however are forums and websites where you can exchange your friend codes with others. (By the way the dog at your main gate will give you your friend code)
The best site I have come across for friend code exchanges is www.animalcrossincommunity.com

Once you have exchanged codes with someone you can then visit their town or have them come and visit yours. Once you have a visitor you can exchange furniture, play, pick different fruit, then plant them in your town for fruit variety, or just gossip. It’s really a lot of fun being able to explore someone else’s town, seeing how each one is different. However you also have to be careful when you let someone in your town you don’t know. It wouldn’t be fun to have them cut down all your trees, steal hybrid flowers, and ruin your town, like some people just may do. If you see any sort of activity you do not like, you can just turn your DS off, and take them off of your friend rooster. However the site I provided gives other users a rating, so you can see comments from other users, if that person is a good visitor, or a bad one. A bad visitor can ruin all of the fun if you happen to come across one.

Don’t let it stop you from having visitors though; you can rid your town of bad visitors easily. Remember though, when you do have visitors that are new, try and monitor them.
If they don’t chat back when you ask them something, or if they keep running through your flowers, ask them to leave. If they don’t, like I said turn off the DS. There are many known hacks to this game, so if you feel someone is suspicious, kick em’ out!

I have been nothing but impressed with Animal Crossing Wild World. The game is a great buy. The fun never runs out. There is always something to do in your town, or in others. You will not be disappointed if you purchase this game.

Just a note- I myself cannot wait for the launch of Animal Crossings for the Nintendo Wii.
Mii crossings; however that review will have to wait for another day in the future. Sigh*

Video Game Review, Sonic and the Secret Rings for Nintendo Wii

I’m going to be completely honest. Sonic and The Secret Rings is HARD! I’m one of these people who have little patience. If I can’t beat a board after 5 or 6 times of trying I throw the remote to the floor and have myself a gigantic pity party. I whine, I cuss, I give the TV the finger, and I get depressed. A game, defeats me!? I won’t have it! It is unheard of!

Someone defeated me, and honestly I don’t even know who. That is really how poor the storyline is.

Once you start the game you have to sit and listen to about 10 minutes of the most boring dialogue you have ever had to suffer through. (Like I said, I have no patience, and hate long cut scenes. A minute is more than enough for me, however I sat through it just so I could write this review)

Sonic is told by some genie, (she’s a girl) that the final pages to some book called Arabian Nights have gone blank (Yeah sounds pretty stupid right?) it is some dude named Erazor who is responsible for the blank pages. It is up to Sonic to collect these magical rings in order to beat Erazor and restore the blank pages to the book. Yay!!!

Blah blah, the genie gets a cold, she sneezes, and before you know it your thrown right into game play without even knowing whom your enemy is. Where is Dr. Robotnic?

WHERE WE GOIN’?

You will be taken to many different lands; however the first place you begin is just a tutorial, the desert oasis. Everything here is just a bunch of idiotic tasks you must perform in order to get to the next chapter inside of the storybook (or world). You will have to run through boards without breaking a jug (elebits anyone?), you will have to kill 10 enemies and not miss a single one in the level. You will be asked to collect 50 rings. All of the tasks are fast paced, and most of them are simple. However some tasks are close to impossible to complete.

The game is similar to how the original was. Sonic won’t die if an enemy hits him so long as he is carrying some rings. If he has zero rings, he will die, and you will have to start the level over again.

LAND HO’!

You will be taken to a desert oasis- this is the lands where your tutorial will take place. You will also be traveling to dinosaur land where you find yourself running away from some huge stampede in the beginning, robot land where you will do combat with a bunch of different types of robots, pirate lands, floating lands and more. Each land consists of about 20 missions. Some of these missions will be fast and easy to beat in only about a minute or two, while others can take around 5 minutes, or more depending on whether or not you die. There are a total of 7 fantasy lands, and one tutorial in all. So really there are 8, if you want to count the long boring tutorial.

SONICS’ GOT SKILLS

Depending on how well you completed a mission Sonic will also level up his ring. He will gain experience points depending on how well you did. You can only choose one ring out of 4 to level up. You can also customize your rings the way you want. For instance if you are on a mission that requires you to beat the world in a certain amount of time, you can customize the ring for speed.
You can either add speed, assault or defense when you customize your rings.

CUT! LIGHTS CAMERA, ACTION!!!!

Each chapter in the storybook you complete will take you to a cut scene. Sometimes a cut scene will even occur before you thought you finished the chapter, which can be annoying. Each cut scene is filled with more pathetic dialogue, and most of the dialogue in the scenes is 50% unnecessary. Why do we have to watch the genie sneeze? Why do we have to listen to Sonic say God Bless you?

OKAY

So what’s up with these controls?

Yeah it took me a hot minute to figure that one out too. See I was pointing the remote at the TV thinking that was how to control him. Nope. You turn the wii remote to the side and hold it like you would an old Nintendo remote controller. Now tilt it left or right. That’s how you get Sonic to move.

I find it stupid, and difficult even after a playing for a good hour or so. I don’t understand why the nun chuck was not used to move him, and the wii remote to jump and perform battle moves!

All of your battle moves will be done on the wii remote only, by flicking your arms forward. This is how Sonic kills things. However first you must jump, and then wait for the enemy to light up red. Then you can strike. Killing enemies takes a bit of practice and perfect timing. It is annoying, and most of the time your best bet is to just run passed enemies if you can.

You also can stop Sonic by pressing the 2 button. You make him jump by pressing the 1button.

However in order for him to jump high he must be completely stopped. Then you hold down the 1 button to get a higher longer jump. Weird, and in my opinion its lame to have to bring him to a full stop just to get him to jump high. Most of the time though he is running so fast it is impossible to get him to a full stop to perform a jump, so he just throws himself off of the ledge. This stinks because in most missions you will throw yourself off of ledges because you don’t know where they are, and they come up so fast. You will most likely die during these jumps until you’re aware of where they are, and when they’re coming up.

Sonic can also grind on rails. What I mean by that is he can jump up on rails and gain super amount of speed while he is zipping by. The rails however I would try to avoid. He slides so fast that once you see an enemy blocking your path, it is too late to perform any actions to kill it or get out of its way.

You can also tilt the remote back towards your body to get him to move backwards. Sonic will however go extremely slow when moving backwards, and it really messes with your vision when you try to back up.

What stinks about the controls in Sonic and the secret rings is how sonic is always moving forward. So if you happen to find yourself up against a wall, and an enemy behind you, it can get glitchy when trying to back up and smash the wall without getting killed by the enemy behind you.

SOUND-

Like I said before, the dialogue stinks, the tones of the voice actors are all over the place, and not only that but the songs in the game are all stupid little drumbeats trying to sound cool, but they are just annoying, and can give you a headache.

Not only do the songs and voices stink, but so does the fact that while in game play there is not a whole lot of different sounds. You will hear the chimes of rings being collected, sounds when Sonic hits an enemy, and a few others. There is not really a large assortment that you would expect. Each song and sound is the same as the last. Nothing really changes.

TONE DEAF?
Not only that but when a character is afraid, they sound happy. When they are mad, they sound calm. The tones of the characters are so off it can at times actually be funny, but not for long.
Eventually the whole dialogue just becomes a waste of your time, and really your patience.

I WOULD OF LIKED TO TAKE MY TIME AND SMELL THE ROSES-

There will be none of that in Sonic, and this is where I have the biggest bone to pick with the game. The graphics are beautiful, I will not deny that, the 3D scenes are beautiful; only, I can enjoy them for about a second.
Every world is colorful and charming. It is a mix of fantasy and reality and it does look stunning.

However Sonic runs so fast at times that I could see how one can easily pass out and start having an epileptic seizure. I found myself dizzy and getting headaches from this lightning fast game play.
It would have been nice if the fast packed action wasn’t such a blur. It would have been more enjoyable if I could have indulged in my environments instead of zipping through them with such ridiculously high speed.
The speed at times gets so out of control that you will not even be able to avoid enemies or spikes that pop up from floors or walls.

YOU SMELL SONIC, TAKE A BATH AND CLEAN YOURSELF UP

What stinks about Sonic and the secret rings is that the game play doesn’t continue in order. You must go into the chapter in the storybook, then click on the chapter you want to play inside of the chapter. Confusing yes? It’s not really hard to figure out when you are playing the game, however I find it annoying to have to continue to go back to the pages in order to play the next part of the game. Why could it not just continue in succession?
Not only does that stink, but the replay value stinks as well. I couldn’t fid myself wandering back to this game after completing it. It’s pretty and all, but it just lacks that ‘lets play more’ (again) aspect.

CAN MY FRIENDS PLAY?

They sure can, in party mode there are 30 different mini-games that come with Sonic and the secret rings. They are sort of fast paced Warioware type games, or Mario Party type mini challenges. All of them are fun, however after you’ve played each one they don’t really have that much replay value.

This is not what I was expecting from a $60 game purchase. The original charm from Sonic has been erased and fans have been striped of what made them fans in the first place. I really hope if they add a part 2 for the wii that it is nothing like this game.

YOU’LL WANT TO TRY IT, BUT DO NOT BUY IT

I would not advise anyone to go out and spend $60 on this game. However it is slightly fun, and probably worth a rent. Nothing more.

Rapala Trophies for Nintendo Wii

This game was so bad that I honestly wasn’t even going to waste the finger power to write a review on it. I figured it might P--- me off if I did.

Rapla Trophies for the Nintendo Wii was one of the releases that came out quickly after the wii console launch.
Seeing how Wii’s gaming library was so small and this game was in this small library, I figured I’d give it a try. I love fishing. Why not right?!

I’m still confused as to why this one was even released; it really made me doubt Nintendo wii after I played it.

THE BEGINNING:

After I plopped the disc into the wii I was surprised at how beautiful this game looked. The opening scene had me in awe. Was this fishing game going to be that realistic!? I was super hyped, till the game actually started. Everything changed, and it took a turn for the worst.

SO WHAT IS IT?

It is a fishing game obviously. You pick a character out of the extremely small library of playable characters, then you pick your boat (only one is available at first, you have to unlock the rest) and you pick your fishing location.

Okay, got my dude, got my boat, got my pole. Got my location. There are 20 of them. I choose somewhere out in Florida. Figuring maybe I would see some gators while fishing.

No such luck though, what I did get was a small swamp like atmosphere with so much fog in the sky that I could barely make out what was going on. And no, this is not a glitch, its thick fog distorting the already pathetic grainy graphics.


GRAPHICS-

Aside from the fog screwing everything up Rapala Fishing looks like a game that got left in the closet for the Super Nintendo console. When Nintendo discovered this treasure in the closet they must have decided to go ahead and put it on the wii. The graphics are terrible. They look choppy, grainy, and blurry. Throw in some weather, such as fog or rain (in the game) and you really have yourself a mess.

GAME PLAY-

This is where things get really pathetic. I figured I would be okay with the crappy graphics if the game play was at least good.
You ride the boat around with the controller, and you steer with the nun chuck. (This is probably the best thing this game has going for it). Now you choose a spot on the water, and start fishing.

Wait… why isn’t he throwing in the line? Hmm, no instructions or pop up balloon like most wii games have on how to do this.
Looks like you have to figure that one out on your own.
So after about 2 minutes of jerking the wii remote around the idiot finally tosses the lure into the pond… and… oops, he flings it back up on the boat.
Great! Just wonderful! 2 more minutes of struggling with your wii controllers trying to figure out how to toss in the line, and finally we got it in the water.

I bet you’re thinking that the underwater environment will be much prettier; like the beautiful scenes in the beginning of the game. I thought so too.

I wanted to scream at myself for wasting money on this sucker. The underwater environment is equivalent to sticking your head underwater in a pool filled with a fresh spill of chlorine, and opening your eyes without goggles. AHHH! MY EYES! I can’t see a thing!

That’s what you get in Rapala Trophies. It’s blurry, but if you study real hard, you can see your thick fishing line, and then suddenly for no reason at all the camera zooms off into space and now the line is back on the boat. Great, great, great! Can things get any glitchier?

Why yes, yes they can actually.

Once you manage to figure out how to control your freaking line, which is almost impossible because the slightest movement will throw the camera off horrendously you will notice the fish. FINALLY! It looks like a giant brown blob, and the way it swims looks as if it is either hurt, or drying. The fish will dart around in an almost robotic rhythm. You will sometimes see a fish swimming forward, then instantaneously flip around in a lightning strike like glitch and be facing the other way. Its magic!

They don’t come often, and when they do most of them will swim right past your lure. If you actually manage to get one hooked to your line this is where the fun begins right?

Nope. Now one would think that when the fish is on the hook you would rotate your nun chuck in a circular reeling in motion. I thought so too, but I was disappointed to see that all you have to do is press the A button.

Something goes wrong though, while you’re pressing the A button the line will break if you keep pressing it. Make sure you release when you are prompted to. It took me quite a while to figure that trick out.

Not done yet, this part is what sucks the most. If you manage to keep the fish on the line long enough, the game screen will flash into this idiot Atari like mini game. Inside of a pale yellow circle is a fish. Now the screen will prompt you to press the A button on top of this black radar looking fish. It will move around the yellow circle and you have to hit it 3 or 4 times (It’s similar to duck hunt on Wii Play).

If you do this correctly, you win the fish. Yay! If not, it gets away! Shucks!
As if getting the damn thing on the line wasn’t hard enough they go and throw in this unnecessary glitched up mini game in the middle of my fishing tournament!

Okay, so now that I have already solved that this game sucks in less than 10 minutes I continued to play it, figuring after some time, I would maybe get used to these controls. However after about an hour of the same headaches I realized indeed, this game DOES suck, and it sucks BAD.

Not only that but even when I switched locations I seemed to only be catching the exact same species of fish, over and over again. Oh but I guess the developers thought this was okay, because yah know; their weight is different.

MUSIC: ((twitches))

You know I can’t wrap this up until I tell you about the music in the game. Haha! As if game play and controls weren’t enough to give you a headache they go and throw in this music. To me it sounds like an upbeat rodeo type beat. There isn’t really anything else but the beating of drum syllables. It gets annoying, and it doesn’t change. Even if it did, it sounds the same. It’s repeated versus give you a headache very fast.

Bad music combined with awful gaming is bound for failure, and that is exactly what this game is, a huge failure.

Overall Gaming Experience:

I honestly have never played a more awful fishing game. Even old fishing games for the N64 and PS1 are better than the garbage in this game. The controls are WAY too glitchy, the graphics don’t even deserve a grade. The game doesn’t even deserve a star.

Hmm how can I compare this to a real fishing experience? Oh I know, go get a stick of bamboo, tie on some shoelace and stick it in a puddle. Flail around for a bit, mucking up the water, and wait. You’ll probably have more fun doing that.

Nintendogs: Chihuahua and Friends for DS

I’m 25 years old and totally love cutesy tootsie games. When I spotted my 9-year-old nephew all up into his Nintendo DS talking to it, I wondered what the heck he was playing. “Nintendogs.”
This sounded interested, so I backed up and watched him go at it for a few minutes. I realized in that brief moment I too needed to have this virtual dog game.

A week later I spotted the game in Gamestop for a whopping $29.99. I was not happy about the price, but it looked like something I would like. The game itself reminded me of a sweet handheld Tamagotchi on steroids. There were a few breeds to choose from, I of course choose the Chihuahua & friends version.
You’re not limited to just Chihuahuas though, you can choose other breeds such as Dalmatians and friends, Labradors and friends, or Dachshunds and friends. Each game has a total of 18 puppies for you to use/unlock.
They all have the same game play, just different dogs, so honestly buying more than one copy of Nintendogs is wasteful. Plus you can obtain these other breeds through Bark Mode. (I will cover this later)

GAME PLAY

When I got my new puppies home I was excited to get going and start taking care of him. I was first taken to a pet store where I could view the available puppies, and then I could choose one. I choose a white colored long coat Chihuahua.

Next I was prompted to call him over by whistling, and then I was to pet him until he liked me. Last but not least I was asked to give him a name. This was the first game in which I was using the DS’s microphone. I named my little guy ChiChi. Next he comes home with me. Yay!

So now what?
I’ll be honest, I was very confused, but the game took me through a sort of demo mode on how to train my dog. Here I taught him how to sit down by tapping his head and dragging the stylus down in a quick motion, and then speaking ‘sit down’. It took Chichi a few times to learn the trick, and once he had it, I had to save the trick in my tricks list. You’re only allowed to teach him 14 tricks until the trick list is full. However you can delete old tricks to fill it in with new ones. I found this annoying. My puppy should have endless opportunities to learn and remember his taught tricks. I found it lame that you could make him forget some. I wanted a super dog. However no matter how much I wanted it, I wasn’t going to get it with the limit of only 14 tricks.

I pet my dog, and tried numerous times to teach him tricks. In the hour I had him he learned how to lie down, play dead, and give me his paw. After that he got tired of learning, and I was told I had to wait till tomorrow to teach him new tricks.

Okay. I’m fine with that, so lets go for a walk ChiChi.

GO OUT:

In this mode you are given a few options. You can take your dog for a walk, go to the pet store, kennel, dog motel, second hand store/thrift shop or enter your dog into contest.

THE DOG MOTEL:

This is where you can keep your dog before you save the game and leave. Here they make sure he is fed, and cared for while you are away from the DS. However this is unnecessary seeing how even f you leave the dog for days at a time, he won’t die.

PET STORE:

This is where you buy things that your puppy needs. Be careful because you have a limited amount of money, so as of now your main focus should just be items of care, such as food, water, and shampoo. You may also buy toys here as well, and accessories such as collars and bow ties for the fashionista puppy.

KENNEL:

Here you can purchase more dogs. However you can only play with one at a time, so this dog you purchase can be saved at the dog motel, where you can pick him up and use him instead. I wouldn’t purchase a new dog until you get the gist of the whole game, and have enough money. There will be 3 dogs here to choose from as well.

THRIFT STORE/SECOND HAND SHOP

Here you can sell things your puppy does not need. If you happen to find a gift on the street, which you already have, it’s a good idea to sell it to earn some money.

GO FOR A WALK:

This is an etch a sketch type of map, here you are taken to a screen, and you use your stylus to trace a route for your puppy. At first he won’t go very far seeing how his stamina will not allow it. However the more you walk him, the farther he can go next time. On the walk you may run into gifts, and other dogs for your dog to play with.

Your dog will also go pee and poop when you’re walking him. You have to clean up the poop by simply pointing your stylus on it. It will then be disposed of. You can also walk your dog to the park or gymnasium from here.

At the park you teach your dog how to play Frisbee fetch and bring back. Once he is good enough you can enter him into the disc throwing competition. At the gym you teach him how to run through an obstacle. Once he learns it you can enter him into the endurance competition.

COMPETITIONS:

DISC THROWING:

You can enter your dog into this competition; you must earn a certain amount of points to move on to a higher level up. You also earn money here. At first though your puppy most likely will not even score a point. The farther you throw it, the more points. However he has to catch it.

ENDURANCE:

Your puppy has to make it through the obstacle course in a set amount of time completing tasks such as running through a tube, walking the see saw, and jumping over hurdles. If you haven’t trained him enough at the gym he will most likely fail.

OBEDIENCE:

In this competition you simply use the commands you have taught him at home. Such as sit, shake, and free command. In this mode you simply choose whatever trick you want the dog to perform.
You need a certain amount of points to move to the next level.

BARK MODE:

This is used to link up with another DS player. For instance my nephew had been using Dalmatians & friends, so I simply have to stand within 30 feet of him, and we can begin communicating by writing messages as our dogs play. Once our dogs become acquainted and play with one another that breed is added to my/our game. It’s like a collecting game. At my age it’s sort of hard to find someone willing to connect… seeing how this game is geared more towards younger children. I’ll probably never get a Dachshund. Heheh.

GRAPHICS:

The graphics in this game are pretty realistic, and all of the dogs look almost lifelike with a cartoon like edge to them. The neighborhood walk is also pretty nice looking. However the background inside of our home look pretty blurry. However you can purchase new apartments with trainer points, which make the environment in the background look much, much better.

REPLAY VALUE:

Well it’s sort of hard to say, as a kid how much replay value came out of a Tamagotchi? About a week or two, or until the batteries died, I swear I don’t know one kid who ever bought new batteries for that game. You just bought a new one when it died out. It was cheaper actually.

That’s probably all one will get from Nintendogs, a week or two, although the game play may sound exciting, it gets boring really fast. Once you have your dog trained, and you beat the competitions over and over again you really are left with nothing else to do. The game play is not exciting enough for me to even want to earn money for a new apartment.

MUSIC:

The music plays softly in the background, and it’s not annoying it sort of just drowns out and you don’t even realize there is music.

Nintendogs has its own music though separate from background music. There are 4 rare records in which you can find in the neighborhood by tapping the stylus down to the sidewalk, he may or may not randomly pick up an unseen gift. The gift may be a record for you to play on your record player at home.

You can also record a message on your record player by hitting record and saying something. With this other players can listen to your message while in ark mode. Pretty neat. Not only that, you can change the pitch of your voice so you sound like a devil or a mouse. Something fun I missed from the 80’s. However recording time is limited to about 20 seconds, so you don’t get to say much.

I’VE GOT A BONE TO PICK:

The very first day my dog learned a few tricks, however when I entered him into the obedience competition he nearly forgot everything I taught him, and sort of did whatever he pleased. This was disappointing, because when I brought him home, he was performing them like a pro. He seems to do this often when in competition, throwing out everything he learned, and making a fool of me! Haha.

The second day after having my dog when I went to voice command him to sit down, he actually jumped up at the screen in an attack type action. He looked aggressive and seriously went to bite at me (in virtual world). He’s a bad boy.

Not only that after being fed and quenched, I then began to use voice commands again. I figured maybe he was just mad at me leaving him all night.
Nope, he still was aggressive and didn’t want to listen to me at all. After a few pets to the head he lightened up though. However when I went to use his tricks like play dead, paw, etc. He preformed none of them properly. It was almost as if he needed a tune up overnight.
These are tricks he’s supposed to already know, and they are stored in his memory, he should be performing with no issues. Only he doesn’t.

Another thing I dislike is how difficult it can be to get him to understand a command or trick. In the competition shake means to give the paw. However I was using the shake command when he shook his butt around. When I used the command in competition he failed because it was the wrong action they were looking for. I say paw. They say shake. Ahhh! There should have been an included list on proper voice commands so you don’t screw up.
So next I was forced to look online for the proper voice commands for the proper actions. I find it really bothersome to have to do so.

OVERALL:

Nintendogs is a cute game, however it lacks in so many departments. For $30 I expected to at least have more than 2 weeks of game play. Once you teach your dog 14 tricks, you do not want to delete any to teach him new ones, so it was unfair for Nintendo to do that.

RECOMMENDATION:

Wait for it to go on sale. Even if it looks oh so cute, and oh so adorable, and your kids beg for it, it’s a game that will loose it’s cool really fast. If you can’t find it for $15 or less, pass it by. It’s more frustrating than fun.

Game Review: Shrek The Third For Nintendo DS

I don’t know what possessed me to cough up $29.99 for the movie made video game Shrek The Third. Usually they stink! But the cover was cute, and I’m always a sucker for eye candy. Plus there was only one copy on the shelf, leading me to believe that this game was hot! But what kept me from purchasing it for the wii for only $20 more is beyond me.

STORYLINE:

I was at first greeted by Donkey, and he went into a very long and boring explanation on what’s going on and why you’re here………

Shrek is sent out to seek an heir for the throne seeing how the king has fallen ill. Shrek of course finds Artie, whom is also Fionna’s cousin.
On their quest back Donkey is accidentally turned into a parfait, and the kingdom is once again taken over by Prince Charming.

It is up to you to find fairy dust to heal Donkey, and also up to you to regain order to the kingdom.

Pretty pathetic storyline, wouldn’t you say? At least I thought so. I was really hoping the game play was not as bad as the storyline.

THE GAME:

You are controlling 3 characters from the very beginning, Shrek, Puss and Boots, and Artie.

The controlling is very strange though. You each character has it own special abilities unique from the other characters.

SHREK:

Can wail himself into enemies, and break through thick object with ease.

ARTIE:

Can use his little dagger to either throw or stab with. He also comes with a shield to protect himself from hits.

PUSS:

Can jump to extremely high places with ease, and crawl.

You easily move each character through the 2D side scrolling levels using the D pad and using the stylus to perform special moves. In the game you simply tap on the picture of the character you want to control.

GET THE PICTURE?

Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s happening next. The 3 have to work together to make it to the end of the board.

Yes in this strange new game play you will be controlling each character individually to progress on. It’s more of a puzzle than a game.

The game is very similar to Super Paper Mario for the Wii, when it comes to dealing with puzzle solving and using each character to move on. You’ll be using Shrek to break walls, Puss n’ Boots to jump walls, and Artie to throw his toothpick stick up at high levers and at enemies.

This is where I encountered my first problem with the game. You must get each character to the end of the board in order to get to the next level. The game developers came up with an easy linking technique, this way you could have all 3 characters walk at the same time.
They thought it was easy didn’t they? The linking is deeply flawed though.

Every time I link up with the other 2 characters they fall from the link when I take a few steps forward. I guess they want you to move in slow motion. Which is nearly impossible to do when a giant living tree is ready to stop on you. If you do not link up, the other 2 characters will just sit there frozen and not move or follow you.

Having to constantly link back up every 10 seconds is just a pain in the rear, so I easily grew frustrated just in the beginning of the game, and ended up just walking each character to the next.

Each world is filled with another puzzle, some difficult, some way too easy. In order to get through most lands you will need Shrek to knock over giant enemies or break walls, Artie to use his throwing dagger to activate levers, and Puss to jump up to high places. That’s seriously pretty much it. Their moves and uses are limited and do not increase over time.

DONKEY!:

When you are having a difficult time in battle you can summon Donkey who will help you using his magic. He can either freeze enemies making it easy to kill them, or levitate you. His power is limited though, and you cannot summon him every 5 seconds. The game though is so simple that you really won’t need him.
You only run into about 4-5 enemies in each level. You can easily take them out by wailing into them using Shrek. The rest is all puzzle solving, and making sure you don’t fall into a hole.
Holes will kill you more than enemies.

THE GRAPHICS:

The graphics in Shrek the Third were actually pretty impressive, and looked very true to the actual movie, the lands were very colorful and inviting, and the backdrop scenery was pretty impressive as well. However many levels looked very similar to the last only with a different puzzle to solve. Therefore I cannot praise the graphics.

SOUNDS:

The characters are limited to grunts and oomph noises in the game. In the background you will hear cheesy medieval type music, but it’s such a low hum that when you’re into the game and thinking hard about what to do next, the noise is barely even heard. This is a good thing.

MULTI PLAYER:

Yes. If you can convince your friends to buy the game that is, then nerd out and plan a 3 way Shrek gaming party. If you and 2 of your friends are within 50 feet of the wifi signal or a wifi area you can all link up and battle together.

I like this feature instead of having to link up with the characters on my own and having them unlink easily. *This type of game play can cause blood battles between kids, so monitor game play. Haha.

In multi player you don’t have to worry about unlinking. You all control a character, making things much easier. (Unless you have a little idiot in your group-hehe-) There are also a few silly mini games thrown in. But like all included mini games in DS games, they’re all the same, but look different.

REPLAY:

None really at all!

The game is easily beaten in less than a day if you go at it all day. There are only about 20 levels, and each of them only takes a minute or so to complete (unless you’re really, really bad at gaming). Once the game is beat there is honestly no reason to go back at it and give it another round. It’s one of them games that land in the closet to collect dust after you have finished it.

ISSUES:

The game had issues from the start. The storyline was just garbage, and I have yet to see the movie. I truly hope the movie is not as cheesy as this game was.

1. Linking technique does not work for longer than 10 seconds or 10 footsteps.
2. They used a new character from the third movie as a game played character. Many Shrek fans from the past would have surely rather of used gingerbread man, or Pinocchio as a third character. Seeing how I did not see the movie, all I got was a brief description in the game on who Artie was, and now I’m playing as him. Bah!
3. The non-stop switching of characters every 5 seconds is downright annoying.
4. Horrible re-play value

THE GOODS:

1. The graphics were decent
2. Very little violence, so young children can play it without their parents freaking out. 6+
3. Multi player

OVERALL:

At the $30 price tag is it seriously a game worth passing up. If you cannot find it for less that $15 don’t even bother. Honestly they could have set the whole thing up much better instead of throwing in the ridiculous broken linking technique.

RECOMMENDATION:

Only if it goes on a major sale, other than that, no, it’s not worth a purchase.