Dec 30 2007
Surprising enough, there are new games being released this week, even though they seem to be pretty much bottom of the barrel…
Dec 24 2007
Spelling Challenges and More! is, as you can deduce, a spelling game. I’m still unsure why they decided to put “More” as there is absolutely nothing more than just spelling challenges. As you’d expect from a spelling challenge game, your goal is to spell words. There are typical spelling bee (listen to audio and spell the word), find the correctly spelled word, jig letters around to spell a word, picking nouns and such. There are about 100 levels of challenge, as you progress through harder and harder words.
It is certainly a budget title, and it shows as the main game is played on a pink/red background with yellow/gold letters. There are no other backgrounds, animated cutscenes nor cinematics. Not that a spelling game needs all that, but if you’re going to pay for a spelling game, wouldn’t you want something more than what can be done as a free Flash game? If you want your children to learn how to spell while pretending to play a videogame, this is a perfect Christmas purchase. Everybody else should just stay clear.
Rating: 25%
Dec 24 2007
The government of Scotland is set to spend £10,000 in virtual ads in Xbox 360 games such as Need for Speed: Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 4 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. Its goal is to bring this safety message to young drivers, and what’s a better place than driving video games, and uber-popular football games.
Especially given that fact that more than 70% of 15 to 24 year olds have a video game console in their home, this is a perfect opportunity to reach those who may shun traditional media such as television, and ignore all billboards.
Dec 23 2007
SimCity has become increasingly complex as it tried to accurately model a real city environment. Spin-off SimCity Societies has plenty of good intentions, but the end result is too simplistic for fans of the SimCity franchise, and too boring for all others.
Instead of zoning, in SimCity Societies you place individual buildings. This allows you to exercise your creativity as you can finally build a city just the way you want, one building at a time. To develop your metropolis, you need housing, workplaces, venues and services such as police department. The basic relationship between housing and work has not changed: what has changed is the introduction of resource system. Money is used to buy individual buildings, but to make the buildings operational, you need one of 6 resources: productivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority and knowledge. Each building uses a different combination of resources, and generates specific resources. It is up to you to find the right mix of building to shape your city.
All that sounds good on paper, but execution is incredibly sloppy. Buildings can be anywhere on the map for its effect to kick in, so you can put a powerplant in the middle of nowhere, not connected to your city, and it’ll still function and give you the resources. Same with other buildings: essential services such as police aren’t required and your citizens won’t demand them, this intricate system of resources only affects other buildings which means your residents won’t care whether they live in an industrial dump or a utopian suburban neighborhood.
Unfortunately, great visuals and the name SimCity do not simply make an engaging game. This boring game offers virtually no challenge and no goals. You are in control of a sandbox that you can decorate as you see fit. This may be perfect for some, but any person who finds SimCity even remotely interesting is better off leaving this pale imitation alone.
Rating: 50%
Dec 22 2007
No new releases this week… Happy Holidays everyone!
Dec 18 2007
PS3 Worst Game of the Year: Sonic the Hedgehog
It is unfortunate Sega’s shining star has fallen this far… Sonic has had trouble with quality games, and its first foray into the next generation console is a buggy mess that even die-hard fans avoided.
PSP Worst Game of the Year: TMNT
Movie-licensed games are notorious for being bad, and TMNT (that’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) has set a new low as this rushed game did everything wrong, from boring storyline which is perplexing since we’re talking about radioactive talking turtles that enjoy pizzas here, to frustrating gameplay.
Xbox 360 Worst Game of the Year: Vampire Rain
How do you screw up a game featuring vampires? This pile of mess pits the player against superpowerful vampires means you have to be stealthy all the time… if you were looking for cool confrontations with vampires, this is not the game for you. Unfortunately for Vampire Rain, it doesn’t do anything else in any competent manner.
Wii Worst Game of the Year: Looney Tunes - Acme Arsenal
Looney Tunes licence is a treasure-trove of incredibly locales and characters, too bad they’re stuck in this game without any redeeming value. This boring and dull game squanders the good licence away, and it must be avoided at all costs. If publishers realize this game makes money, who knows how many Looney Tunes games they’ll release.
DS Worst Game of the Year: Deal or No Deal
If you thought watching people open briefcases were exciting, than this game is perfect for you. For every one else though, participating in this event without any real payoff just seems like a waste of time. Do yourself a favor and spend $30 elsewhere, such as playing the lottery or going to the casino.
PC Worst Game of the Year: You Are Empty
No, this isn’t a game about putting gasoline in your car when you’re running low: instead this first person shooter set in the alternate universe set in the Soviet Union hasn’t learned valuable lessons from other great first-person shooters available on PC. Featuring moronic enemies, anemic weapon selection and simplistic gameplay mechanics such as “go find this key and bring it back”, this game is simply a few years too late.
Dec 17 2007
Xbox 360’s lead over PS3 and Wii allowed developers to release truly high-quality titles on Microsoft’s system. PS3 still needs better market penetration for developers to start budgeting more for Sony’s system, and Wii’s perceived demographic will severely limit the kinds of titles available on that system.
Runner-ups:
2007 Game of the Year: BioShock
Minigame collections are easy to create, and annual sports updates are simple to crank out. It is a much more difficult proposition, both creatively and commercially, to create an entire new ecosystem as BioShock does. Labelled as the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, BioShock puts you underwater, in the world of Rapture, where genetic modification and extreme capitalism caused an utopia to disintegrate. Now it’s up to you to use weapons and genetic modifications yourself to escape from this nightmarish vision. The game has everything: perfect atmosphere, incredibly artistic visuals and sounds, this game available on PC and Xbox 360 truly refines first-person shooters.
Next up: 2007 Worst Games of the Year
Dec 16 2007
Microsoft’s second attempt at gaming console has had a stellar year in 2007. Finding both critical and commercial success, Microsoft Xbox 360 saw plenty of exclusives that cemented its position as the main console to have this console war.
Runner-ups:
2007 Xbox 360 Game of the Year: Mass Effect
BioWare managed to cram an entire universe into a single DVD: if this game doesn’t showcase there’s no urgent desperate need for BluRay or HD-DVD in game consoles, I really don’t know what will. Sure there are some graphical glitches like textures that pop into place, but this space opera features gorgeous graphics and full, high-quality voice acting for all of the characters in this universe. Mixing third-person shooter, tactical squad commands and RPG character customization blend in perfectly for the best game available on Xbox 360. It doesn’t have the commercial muscle that Halo 3 possesses, but this game will end up being a lot more memorable for many people who give it a go.
Next up: 2007 Game of the Year
Dec 15 2007
Again Nintendo has defied critics and found incredible success with Nintendo Wii, a console that still remains elusive for many consumers. This year finally saw release of long-awaited games (that were not simple collection of minigames). With its innovative control scheme that none of the other major consoles possess, some developers have struggled but others have shined to produce truly great software.
Runner-ups:
2007 Wii Game of the Year: Super Mario Galaxy
Brand new Mario adventure finally releases on Nintendo Wii with amazing results. Mario goes to space and defies gravity in what many have described a perfect Mario game. It isn’t as innovative as the first time you’ve played Mario 64, but it is the finest Nintendo game for a long time. Its blend of platforming and puzzle-solving ensure you’re constantly in new environments, giving into your sense of wonder and you’ll keep playing just to uncover what the next planet will bring. If you’re getting sick of all those minigames available on the Wii, this will surely cure your malaise.
Next up: 2007 Xbox 360 Game of the Year
Dec 15 2007
Rock Band (PS3, X360, PS2)
Rock Band is finally getting released in Canada, after over 1 month delay compared to the American launch. Expect massive shortage of this guitar/microphone/drum bundle.
Other releases:
