REVIEW: Splinter Cell Double Agent

I'm a fan of strategy games. I also love many of the "Tom Clancy" franchise of games. But, I have only played them on the PC because honestly the controls on Consoles simply sucked for fine control games. Even a newbie with a PC can kick the butt of an experienced Console player because of the crappy controls. I looke at this title with excitement as I have seen both on Raving Rabbits and Metroid the Wii finally rules with fine control on shooters.

I was dissapointed. The game programmers did not even try to make the controls as good as they could be. They instead made it feel like I was using an old Gamecube controller causing frustration. Secondly they did not even try to make good graphics. My old gamecube game 007 everything or Nothing looks far better than this Wii game.

This game gets 1.5 stars for failure of control design and the graphics are pretty cruddy. It's worth $15.95 in the bargain bin. Anything more and you will be disappointed with it.

REVIEW:Intec REchargable Batteries and dock for WiiRemote

The Intec Rechargeable Batteries and Remote docking station is one of the cheaper rechargeable systems for the Wiimotes. It plugs into the wii's USb port for charging and at first look seems to be nicer and better looking than the others out there. All these benefits disappear the second you open the package. The batteries can only be charged if you REMOVE them from the Wiimote. also it reduces your Wiimote to two AAA batteries instead of AA batteries. Meaning you will be charging a LOT MORE. This would not be a problem if it was a drop in charge like the other brands, but this setup will guarantee dead batteries as kids will not remove the battery and put it on the charger. (charges ONE battery at a time.)

I strongly reccomend NOT getting the Intec brand Wii gear. it's really badly designed and a complete waste of money. Get the drop in charger type where all you do is set the remote in the stand to charge.

REVIEW: Metroid Prime 3 corruption

I am a huge fan of metroid. I have played them all, yes even the handheld versions. One thing that always sucked about metroid when it went 1st person shooter is the controls. you CANT play a 1st person shooter decently when you use the silly joysticks to aim. when I played online in Quake 3 against Xbox players I always kicked their butts fast when I was on a PC. the mouse kicks the crud out of a controller hands down in shooters. This version using the Wii controllers makes it a LOT better but it still needs help. you have to hit the edges of the screen to turn your view, ICK. I really wished they did it more like Quake where your crosshairs are ALWAYS center and you always aim your view. But that is the ONLY part bad about the game that you get used to fast. Let's just say that when I rented the game I did not realize that 8 hours had passed until I stopped for a bathroom break. Yes it's that engaging, the graphics are great and push the Wii to the edge. the gameplay and storyline is incredible. My only concern and the ONLY star lost is due to replayability. after you finish it the game will sit and rot. Unlike the other games that are multiplayer, this ine is done when you are done. Quake 4 and Doom 3 are exactly the same. zero replayability after you finish the game.

This get's 4 stars. I'll buy it when it hits $39.95. if you are a hardcore gamer, it is a must buy.

REVIEW: Mario Party 8

I am not big on the party games. the wario ware never seems to get my attention. This one though did. Friends brough it over and we played for at least 4 hours. I was hooked so badly I went out and bought it at full retail price. The gameplay is good, the minigames are complete enough to be very fun and even if you want to play hardcode against a little kid you can give them a handicap bonus so they actually have a chance.

This game shines best when you have 4 live players you can spend hours playing, and I have discovered myself playing single player against 3 cpu player for at least 3-4 hours at a time.

It's a blast. it's a 5 stars! I'll buy it at the $49.95 retail price... in fact I own it!

REVIEW: Wii-Kororinpa: Marble Mania

I am not a puzzle game freak. My wife is, me I can stand them for a while but get tired of logic and want to start killing something on screen. Wii-Kororinpa: Marble Mania is one of those puzzle games that is the exception. Basically the typical marble maze game, you run your marble around and collect things to the end goal. Not very original in idea. The graphics are "cute" but the coolest part is, you can "cheat" by bouncing the marble or tossing it into space to get to another part of the maze if you can catch it. This feature really got me interested as I spent the next hour trying to cheat my way through mazes and levels flicking my wrist or dumping the ball out of the track and catching it with a different part. I found it quite fun being able to play outside the box, trying over and over to do an impossible drop and catch.

I give this game 3.5 stars. I'll buy it when it get's below $35.00 when it get's below that price, It's a great game!

REVIEW: GT-Pro Series

The is the first racing game I have played on the Wii and I have to say, this one is fun. I loved Gran Turismo Atype 3 so this one is great, the toon shading does notdetract from it, but the upgrades you get in this game are more ricer/poser types than preformace types like in GT3A. Blue headlamps is an upgrade? oh come on, where is the skyhook wing and neon? Racing is fun, you can draft cars for more speed and the cars actually handle differently. some you wil absolutely hate to drive but are required for a race (like the itty bitty pickup, it steers like a boat) I had a blast on this one, so much so that 5 hours went by before I knew it and I was still having fun.

I give this game 5 stars, it's well worth it, very entertaining and challenging.

REVIEW:Spongebob Squarepants creature from the crusty crab

Ok, I had low expectations going in, this is a kids game. but I was suprised at how little effort was put into the game even for a kids game. The animations are cyclic and pretty darn bad, The lip sync was not even close on the characters and honestly the effort put in for the 3d models was incredibly bad, PS1 quality at best. This game is fun for a kid, very easy and they do not get killed off right away. from 5-8 yeas old I reccomend this game, but certianyl do not pay full retail for it. This is a $19.95 quality game. No effort was put into the quality, gameplay is decent with a few frustrations going on some of the controls.

I give this game 2 stars, certianly get it for your little kid but do not in any way pay full price for it, THQ games phoned this one in and do not deserve to be paid full price for it.

Game Review: Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

I am a big fan of the Zelda series. I played the first few for months loved the puzzles and the game play. It was fun to play and even more fun figuring things out. Problem is the current Zelda for the Wii is not anywhere near the caliber of the previous Zelda titles. To start off you have to let the story play out, you CANT skip the stupid useless dialog cut scenes and you have to spend your first 2 hours playing performing silly things in the village. Granted this is good for newbies that never touched Zelda before but veterans will hate it. Controls are decent some can be improved. Overall I do not find the game to have much repeat playability. I keep popping it out and putting in Rayman or regressing to a good Game cube 007 title.

I am giving this game 3 starts out of 5. Not worth the premium price right now but certainly worth getting for $29.95 in a few months.

Game Review: Rayman Raging Rabbits

The Wii game Rayman - Raging Rabbits is an interesting title. It's not what you expect from other rayman titles and on the Wii you can tell instantly it is a release title as they paid lots of attention to the controls. Basically as rayman you have to play a series of minigames beating a goal on each one until you earn enough plungers to escape your prison. Many of the minigames are fun, shooting rabbits with a plunger gun is a blast, but others have bugs/quirks that make them not as fun... the DDR type keep the beat games that you have to zap rabbits to the tune of a song by shaking the remote and nunchuk have some bugs as in sensing double strikes and actually reducing your score when you hit it dead on ruins the fun. Throwing cows, drowning bunnies in carrot juice and other minigames are an absolute hoot and are actually more fun outside the single player game when you unlock them.

I give Rayman raging Rabbits a 4 out of 5. Losing a point only for the minor control bug.

Game review: Rampage:Total Destruction

My first game review for the Wii will be Rampage:total Destruction by Midway. This game is a rehash of the original arcade classic that many dropped a huge number of quarters into during the 80's. The graphics are great, they took lots of time to make the game look fantastic and sound fantastic.... problem is they released the game 1/2 finished. The controls are horrid, they left out the system to enable the other controllers for multi player and trying to steer your monster is a major pain in the rear! they did stupid decisions like not use the nunchuk for control and made you aim the Wii remote in a direction you want the monster to go, this almost never EVER works. and you are left getting frustrated as you can not aim your monster to where he needs to be.

I give this game a : DO NOT BUY rating. I would not even buy it in the $9.99 bargain bin as it is unplayable. It feels like they spent all their time making it look pretty and work for the other game consoles and then slapped together the wii controls and released it unfinished.