Fable II Pub Games
Available on Xbox Live Arcade
Fable II developers released Fable II Pub Games on the Xbox Live Arcade this month in a neat pre-game tie-in, so players can have a chance to earn gold and items for their character before the main game is released.
Pub Games contains 3 casino-style games on which players can gamble their hard earned gold pieces through. The 3 games which you have to choose from are Fortune's Tower which is a solitaire type card game, Keystone which is a cross between crapes and roulette with a collapsing archway thrown in for fun, and Spinner box is basically a slots game.
Positive:
This arcade pack gives you a chance to boost your character's gold and items count before you even get a copy of Fable II, which will really help those of us less skilled fighters make it through the first few levels. The games, characters and unlockable items also give you a peek into the world of Fable II months in advance.
Negative:
While players can use the pub games to boost their gold before the game comes on, putting your character into debt before the game can also have negative affects on your character too. Both Keystone and Fortune's Tower are decent games and require a bit of skill to win, but spinner box is nothing more than a button pusher and doesn't really add to the value of this game pack. Only worth a download if it comes with your Fable II pre-order.
Forget it!
PixelJunk Monsters
Available on Playstation Network
PixelJunk Monsters is a whimsical defence game on the Playstation Network that has you setting up various types of tower weapons to protect your nest of tiny monsters against waves of oncoming enemies. Each tower has different types of attributes like rapid fire, long range or wide spread attacks which you must match up to defend against the various types of enemies that try to kill off the tiny monster you are defending.
An expansion has been created for this game with 15 new levels inspired by arcade games like Pac Man and Space Invaders.
Positive:
The variety in level designs, tower and enemy types will have you using every brain cell possible to protect your nest. There is definitely not a boring moment in this game. The graphics are simple but funky and stylish. You can't help but get addicted.
Negative:
Don't let the simple graphics fool you though, because this game gets insanely hard after the 3rd level. Even with the expansion pack providing some tweaked game play, this game will have you spending hours and hours just trying to clear the easy levels with all your tiny monsters in tacked.
Buy it!
Toy Home
Available on Playstation Network
Toy Home is another whimsical title available on the Playstation Network that also players to drive mini toy cars through tracks built in people’s homes. As you drive through these tracks, you can drive into toys, blocks, dishes, cartons of milk and other household items all while trying to reach the next checkpoint and collect coins and medals. Each player is ranked at the end of each track on their item collection and track time.
What’s unique about this little racer is that you control your car’s direction with the SIXAXIS control which makes this cute little game very difficult to master. There are 8 tracks to race on, a one or two player racing mode and an online mode which allows you to race against 7 other players online.
Positive:
The track layouts are creative and reminiscent of stages from Katamari Damacy. You’ll love racing your car through stacks of blocks and off ramps over toy crocodiles. Great game to play against friends and family as you’ll love racing around in this silly little game.
Negative:
For serious racers, the controls are difficult and take lots of practice to master, which makes it hard for those who really want to rank high in this game. Tracks only become available as you open them and you only get two cars to choose from in the beginning.
Buy it!
Echochrome
Available on the Playstation Network
Echochrome is a puzzle game that was only released on the Playstation Network in North America, but was released on the PSP in Japan. This puzzle game is inspired by M.C. Escher’s artwork - each puzzle is a 3d series of pathways that change depending of which angle you view them from. By changing the position of the 3d puzzle, the little man that traverses along the paths of the 3d puzzle can move from one path to another to meet up with his shadow.
The puzzle world is ruled by several laws that allow you to change the structure of the 3d puzzle in order to move your man. By using these laws, you can reach each shadow and solve the puzzle. The laws range from point of view, “out of sight, out of mind”, line of sight, etc. Players must truly think outside the box to solve these puzzles.
Positive:
The concept of Echochrome is something I’ve never seen in the gaming industry ever and it’s always wonderful to see completely unique ideas making into mainstream. Plus this game merges game play with art. This game is really challenging for those that like a good puzzler and the game has an occasional update that rotates in new sets of user created levels.
Negative:
This game can have you tearing your hair out with its incredibly hard puzzles. The rotating axis points never seem to move to the points I need them to and you have to wait for your little man to walk on his own to the points you need him to.
Buy it!
My Life as a King: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Available on Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console as WiiWare Title
My Life as a King is a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles title created by Square Enix to be a high profile WiiWare title. This city-building simulator follows a young king as he turns a barren town into a booming city with the help of a magical crystal in the center of town which bestows upon him the power of Architek.
As the little King, you must create new buildings, draw new residents to your town, hire adventurers and assign them to quests, and finally boost the moral of your townspeople.
Positive:
This game's addictive nature will have you spending all hours of the day running adventurers through quests and talking to your townspeople, just so you can unlock the next new building type. The graphics are beautiful on the Wii and if not for the short and basis game play, this could have easily been a full Nintendo Wii game.
Negative:
Once you unlock all the buildings by mid-point in the game, the king spends every day just waiting for his heroes to return from quests and talking to his townspeople, all in order to advance the game's storyline. This can become massively repetitive and can destroy any hopes you have for this being a great building sim like SimCity.
The add-ons for the game which range from costumes for 100 Wii points to 800 Wii points for a building pack, if all purchased, cost more than the initial game and really don't add that much to it. Besides, 800 Wii points could buy me a whole game on the virtual console, so why would I want a couple of extra buildings for my town? Didn't anyone learn from Oblivion's horse armour fiasco?
Forget it!
LostWinds
Available on Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console as WiiWare Title
LostWinds is unique WiiWare title developed by Frontier Developments that follows a young boy named Toku tasked with saving his homeland from the vengeful elemental Balasar. He gets help on his journey from the wind elemental Enril, who teaches him to master wind in order to jump higher, farther and affect other elements in the world around him.
The game uses the Wii remote like a wand to control the direction of the wind, while the nunchuk control is used to control the character of Toku. Frontier Developments has already started work on a sequel to this title that will continue the storyline on from its “to be continued” ending.
Positive:
The similar cell-shaded graphics and game play will definitely impress Legend of Zelda: Windwaker fans and Nintendo Wii fans will enjoy the innovative use of the Wii remote control system by Frontier. The game is also challenging enough that players will have to use their head to make it through the landscapes and figure out their next move in the story.
Negative:
Expect to spend a lot of time retracing your steps as you fall off ledges over and over again. The controls can be hard to handle at time and some moves must be so precise on their landing that they’ll take 30 tries before you land it. This can get really frustrating, especially if you have to reclimb the level each time too.
Buy it!
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