Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: the Videogame

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
EA Games, EA Bright Light
Available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2 and PC

Hit movies and videogames seem to go hand in hand nowadays like clockwork. One would almost be surprised if some gaming company didn’t produce some sort of game to launch along aside each summer blockbuster which is why no one should be surprised that this reviewer is checking out the newest Harry Potter game from EA, especially since the latest instalment in the series hit theatres just a month ago.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on the Xbox 360 follows Harry into another year at Hogwarts School for Witch Craft and Wizardry as he deals with learning potions, joining the duelling club, playing Quidditch and fighting against Lord Voldemort .The main part of the game will take you through the storyline from the movie/book and will require you to finish mini games, fetch quests and more in order to progress further into the story. There are tons of side quests for you to take on like collecting badges or joining the duel club, but there is so much already in the main quest that you will have your hands full to begin with.

The game controls will take a bit to get use to as you must learn different button sequences to cast Harry’s spells. Once you get the hang of them, it is quite fun to toss different objects around the room using your levitation spell. Finding your way around Hogwarts School is a challenge in itself, so I suggest everyone take advantage of the in-game guide, Nearly Headless Nick, who will take you to your desired location.

Fans will be quite happy with how accurate EA’s team was at bringing the world of Harry Potter to live. The characters, though a little stiff around the edges, looked exactly like their real world movie counterparts and Hogwarts School was most impressive with its massive size and neat, little details like the moving stairs.

Even the voice acting was pretty good, considering that EA couldn’t secure the real actors to provide the voice-overs for the game. Almost all the characters sounded like the real actor from the movie which made the game, all the more enjoyable to play. Happily the game soundtrack was the same soundtrack from the new movie, so each game moment was enhanced by that magically Harry Potter theme plus a few new tunes.

Playing some of the past Harry Potter, I have to say this game was pretty overwhelming in terms of environment size and number of quests, but the quality is definitely there for your money, so I can certainly say that if you are a big Harry Potter fan, then this is the game for you. The plot leaves a few parts out from the book and the movie but it still gives you enough magic to make you feel like you’re part of Harry’s World.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Buy it!

Missing Reviews: From Under the Game Pile

As many games as I review there are still plenty of great title that manage to get swept under the review pile over the course of my year and I hate to see them not get the once over that they deserve. While some of these titles have been out for a while I found them to be quite worth the time to check them out.

Too Human
Silicon Knights
Available on Xbox 360

Local St. Catharines game developers, Silicon Knights brought Too Human out last Fall and though it didn’t receive huge praise, I did find it to be an excellent title once you got past everyone else’s opinions on it. Honestly I can’t believe I didn’t review this title sooner but it just seemed to keep getting pushed back for other games and then I never got around to it.

Too Human is based on the Norse mythology and has you playing the role of Baldur, one of the Aesir, cybernetically enhanced humans which are seen as Gods to the humans they rule over. Baldur is tasked with protected his people from the sudden attacks of machine-like creatures that are feeding on human flesh. The game has the usual role-playing genre elements but includes some interest first time combat controls using the analog sticks and an item inventory that no one player could completely collect in just one play through.

I found the combination of technology and Norse mythology to be spectacular and the storyline that combined the various Norse Gods and Beowulf storyline was also gripping. While the combat took a bit of getting use to, I found the new use of the analog sticks for directional fighting moves was much easy for pulling off combo moves than most fighting systems I’ve used. Overall this is a beautiful game with an amazing storyline and since it was created by our hometown gaming studio, I think all local gamers should give it a chance.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Electronic Arts, Pandemic Studios
Available for PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Xbox 360

It’s been more than 3 years between the Mercenaries games which would make you wonder if that’s too long to go before making a sequel. Luckily for Pandemic Studio, fun never gets old and that is exactly want you get with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game puts in the middle of a rebellion in the country of Venezuela, where oil has become the main focus of the conflict. While the government has tried to maintain control of the situation, there are a number of factions working within the country trying to take control as well. You can work with 5 of those factions: Universal Petroleum, the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, the Chinese army, the Allied Nations, and the Rastafarian Pirates, each of whom will give you missions in order to get you in better with the main up and comer in the area, Ramon Solano.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was a great “bomb the f@#K out of everything” kind of game. Everything in the world can take damage and best of all; you can run over everything with your vehicles so no more tiny trees stopping your rampage of death. The game sets you up with an A.I. buddy in the game, but playing the game in co-op mode is much better and removes any little glitches you may find with your A.I. pal.

The wide variety of missions and weapons at your disposal make this a sweet game to play through alone or with a friend. Best of all, your choice of 3 different characters to play with makes each time you play through with a different character a new challenge. If you’ve a fan of games like Grand Theft Auto IV, then I definitely suggest checking out this open world game.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Raving Rabbids TV Party
Ubisoft, Ubisoft
Available for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

If you’re looking for a goofy party game to play with your friends at your time drunken house party, then may I suggest adding the Rabbids to your guest list? Raving Rabbids TV Party is a goofy mini-game collection that will have you and your friends acting silly for hours on end.

After chasing Rayman to his home, an accident has caused the Rabbids to become trapped inside Rayman’s TV. It’s up to you to keep the new Rabbids TV station full of cool program by choosing from several mini games each day. The mini games range from B movie shooting galleries to American Idol parodied dance shows. All the games featured the classic Rabbids humour which is guaranteed to keep your party amused well into the night.

Unlike previous Rayman Rabbid games, this party game won’t force you to play all the games in the programming schedule, so you can just skip the harder mini games if you like. I found that playing this game with any remote other than your original Nintendo nunchuk and remote will make this game harder to complete, so don’t use any third party brands with it.

The controls are still not precise though even with the proper controllers. I honestly found that 75% of the games were pretty easy to pass but the rest were downright impassable. The Star Wars parody game is one that I remember to really hard and confusing in the controls. All and all, this is a great party game and one that I would recommend for family play and party nights.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Buy it!

Review: Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed
Sega, Sonic Team
Available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Playstation 2

Sonic is back again as the Sonic Team tries once more to revive the franchise that was king back in the days of 2D adventures. Sonic Unleashed brings a new element to the Sonic franchise with a strange day and night effect on Sonic and his world. Is this enough though to bring life back to this dying franchise?

The story behind Sonic Unleashed is pretty simple as Sonic is once again doing his best to try and save the world from Dr. Eggman. The only difference though this time is that Sonic has been altered a bit into the form of a were-hog. This were-hog comes only out at night and changes the way Sonic moves, how he reacts to things, etc. This basically takes the entire Sonic character, all of the abilities and such that he is known for, and throws them out the window, introducing a whole new set of things he can do.

The game is really split up into two different worlds as you have levels that take place during the day and the levels that take place during the night. You can get to these levels and such by going through the hub world as you please or going to the different areas, talking to NPCs, etc.

The game shines with the levels that take place during the daytime; as you get all of the good stuff that Sonic fans absolutely love. The sense of speed as you are flying around in the daytime missions is astounding, as you blast through the 360 loops in glorious brightly coloured environments. The game also does a great job of switching through various styles of play from 2D to 3D as you are speeding your way through these levels.

The game feels fantastic during these daytime levels as the game has been built to showcase the true speed and excitement that Sonic has always been known for. Needless to say, you will be on the edge of your seat in these levels as you need to have the reflexes to react to all the elements thrown at you. This is what Sonic is all about, and if the whole game was set-up like this, it would be a home run.

Unfortunately though, there are these levels that also take place during the night, where you have to take control of Sonic the Were-hog. These levels at night feel like an entirely different game as everything is slowed down to a dull crawl.

The combat system is pretty deep for these night levels, but the fighting that takes place gets very repetitive and the controls do not work all that well, as you will grow tired of them and want to get back to the daytime levels as fast as you can. I have to admit this really aggravated me. The night time levels come across as very average and without any real creativity. The only highlight to these levels is the boss battles, which I will admit have some real creativity to them.

In regards to the graphics, the game looks absolutely gorgeous especially during the day time levels with their brightly coloured 3D elements. There are no words that could really describe just how good the game looks when you are playing as the real Sonic, dashing through them at his sonic speeds. The way in which the game flows with its amazing sense of speed, and vibrant colors, it will have you have you awe-struck. The only downside to the visuals is that when there are many enemies on screen you will run into a few frame rate issues.

Sonic Unleashed is probably about half of what Sonic fans were hoping for with the release of this new game. Sonic Team did do one thing right here, and it is that they have proven that Sonic can be just as much fun as it was on the Sega Genesis in this generation of consoles. Now if they could just stick to a basic Sonic plus speed plus gorgeous environments formula for all their games and leave out all the crazy ideas like Were-hogs and King Arthur’s court then the franchise would probably be okay.

I think though this is probably the best Sonic game we can hope for at least for a while, so for the hardcore Sonic fan out there, I would recommend you check this game out.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Rent it!

Review: Guitar Hero Metallica

Guitar Hero: Metallica
Activision, Neversoft
Available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Playstation 2.

Guitar Hero: Metallica is the second attempt for Activision into a band specific Guitar Hero, and the first using the World Tour design. What does that mean for gamers? Well, the biggest thing is being able to play all four instruments. Players can now sing as James Hetfield, play lead guitar as Kirk Hammett, be the bassist Robert Trujillo or go for the ultimate punishment and play as drummer Lars Ulrich. Read on to see if Metallica was worthy of their own GH game.

If you play Career modem, it starts you off immediately with a cut scene of Metallica walking out before the game has you play “For Whom the Bell Tolls” followed by the encore of “The Unforgiven.” It’s after this you can create your own character and actually start the story, which once again involves Lou. One problem I had with creating my character was that even after creating it, you don’t play all songs as who you make. If you play a Metallica song, you play as a group. That’s nice, but I don’t feel like I’m connecting to my custom-made character like I did in past music games.


Activision also brought back the old set list mode from GH II and III, instead of how World Tour was with the already made lists. After playing to get the certain amount of stars needed, new venues open up with brand new songs. The stars also give you new items as you advance, such as instruments and clothes. After beating a song, extras also open up about the songs, including videos, lyrics, song information and sometimes Metallifacts. Metallifacts are just the band performing the song picked, but with bits of information popping up while watching them (think Pop-Up Video from VH1).

In multiplayer, each band member now has an individual pass/fail meter on the song, but players don’t fail out. If one hits the red, the overall band meter just drains extremely fast. While this is nice to see who’s to blame, just having a member fail out and then saving them still is a nice feature GH hasn’t implemented. On a quick Battle Mode side note, the attack power-ups return, but are all Metallica themed, like “Ride the Lightning” or “Fade to Black.”

Guitar/ Bass: Everything from World Tour is still seen here, including the two note types introduced there. Actually, the new note types make some of the songs easier like Metallica’s “One”. During the fast solo, not having to strum to play the notes made it a lot easier for me than it was in GH III. The difficulty is progressive, so not all Metallica songs are insanely difficult on hard or expert, but the songs that are played towards the end of the Career mode are significantly harder than those at the beginning.

Microphone: Not much is different about the mic from World Tour either. The one thing I did notice, that I don’t believe was in World Tour, was the ability to gather star power constantly while singing. As long as the star power isn’t currently activated, whenever a phrase is song correctly you will build star power. To balance the amount gained, however, you have to sign more phrases to get the same amount of star power a guitarist would get after two star power phrases.

Drums: This is the instrument that received the most changes, one to make it the easiest instrument and one the hardest. By entering a code, players can get an Always Drum Fill mode. In this, as long as the drummer is hitting something during the song, they will get points. This is great for new GH players, or for veterans who just want to mess around.


The graphics in this game are great, but with Metallica being a real heavy metal band I almost feel like the character design should have been better rendered to look exactly like them. However, keeping with the Guitar Hero style, the group still looks great. A lot of their quirks on stage are also captured really well. The backgrounds are also detailed for the game. The venues are based off of previous locations that Metallica has played at and they were replicated quite well.

Obviously, the sound is amazing here as the game is full of master track and some songs were even rerecorded just for this game. I thought the overall list of Metallica’s songs were great with a wonderful mix of new and old songs. I wasn’t a big fan of the guest acts picked by Metallica though as most of the bands were just a bit too hardcore metal for my taste. While some of the extra songs were great like Foo Fighter and Queen, a lot of the choices were head-banging metal that only hardcore Metallica fans would probably like.

Overall, while I enjoyed playing this game I think Guitar Hero Metallica is only suited for hardcore fans and the regular Guitar Hero fan would have been much happier buying Metallica’s music via downloads online. I’ll recommend it but only to Metallica fans like me.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Buy it!

Review: Crash: Mind over Mutant

Crash: Mind over Mutant
Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment
Available for Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation Portable and Nintendo DS

Crash Bandicoot is back and he's better than ever in the latest instalment of the franchise entitled Crash: Mind over Mutant that brings together the Crash family of characters onto the Xbox 360. When a newly rejuvenated Dr. Neo Cortex returns to the world, he has one goal of total domination of the planet and he'll do it one brain at a time if he has to.

Dr. Cortex and his ally, N. Brio develop a personal digital assistant called NV that allows them to control the minds of animals and mutants and turn them into crazed beasts through text messaging. Fortunately Crash and his friend, Aku Aku are not affected by the device and are able to save their friend, Coco and learn of Dr. Cortex’s evil plan via his blog. Upon learning that, Crash and his friend set off to stop the evil Doctor and his plot against the Titans of Wumpa Island.

The platforming game play will take all of two seconds to master for anyone who’s ever played a game in the genre before. Some parts will require the hijacking of certain monsters, such as a telepathic creature that can use its mighty brain to toss foes aside and rearrange towers into bridges, or a rolling titan needed to access hard-to-reach areas. Most of the game consists of traveling from Point A to Point B and then back to Point A again, which will get tiresome very quickly.

As far as combat goes, Crash and his mutant counterparts can level up and acquire new abilities, but for the most part, all you will ever need to do is hit a single attack button over and over again, no matter what character or creature you are using. Crash’s trademark spin makes a return, although for some reason it is mapped to the left thumbstick instead of a button. As a result, it’s hard to stay in one place when you need to keep spinning, and I found it easier to ignore that whole aspect of game play.

The fixed camera also hurts the overall experience, especially when you’re going backwards and sideways and can’t see the area you’re trying to reach. There’s really no excuse in this day and age for a game to not have some way to shift the point of view, and it is definitely a source of frustration while playing the game.

Control, level design, and camera issues aside, the one thing that is really missing from Mind over Mutant is a sense of challenge. This might be good game for a younger gamer just being introduced to the series, but for someone who has been playing video games for twenty years, I would have much rather have game with a bit more challenge to it.

What does shine through in this game is the humorous dialog which features the wonderful voice talents of Mark Hamil (Star Wars) and John DiMaggio (Futurama). Despite the fact, the game needed a bit of work when it came to the controls and level design, I did find myself giggling at the cut scenes and enjoying the plot.

Putting aside the level design for a moment, I was happy to see how colourful and bright the graphics were in the game. I’m a big fan of cartoons and it was fun to sit and play a nicely designed 3D cartoon game. The cut scenes were presented in different styles like old time black and white reels to full 3D animations, which made them really fun to watch.

Ultimately the Crash Bandicoot franchise is started to fall into the same hole as Sonic the Hedgehog and needs a good reboot. The developers need to realise that adults still want to play their games and make sure they develop for both markets. It’s not that hard to put difficulty levels in games nowadays. While I did enjoy the animations, the voiceovers and storyline of the game, the controls, level designs and camera problems really stopped me from loving this game. Hopefully the next instalment will solve these problems and we’ll have a Crash game worthy of the original.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Pass on it!

Review: Spiderman: Web of Shadows

Spider-man: Web of Shadows
Activison, Shaba Games
Available for Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Playstation Portable.

Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can. This week I pulled Activision’s Spider-man: Web of Shadows off the shelf to see how good a non-movie related Spider-man game could be and apparently the developers at Shaba games can’t be trusted with a plotline, because this Spider-man has some serious problems.

The plot of Web of Shadows revolves around Venom’s attempt to take over the city and its heroes & villains with multiple versions of him, plus you get the added bonus plotline of Spider-man’s struggle with the black suit … again. Unfortunately though this sounds like a possibly cool storyline for a game, the developers destroyed any shred of credibility to it when they added the cheesy dialog and repetitive missions. Spider-man sounds like a whiny little creep and you don’t even want to get me started on characters like Wolverine.

Even the concept of the black and red suit fell flat when the developers failed to add significant differences between the two. Both had different powers in combat, provided different plotlines and even sparked different reactions in the crowds around you, but there were no consequences or benefits for Parker using the black suit all the time, other than a different plotline. The black suit was supposed to make Parker stronger and more evil and you really didn’t fully see that in the game.

Missions in the game were very repetitive and generally involved beating up 5, 10 or 50 guys and then leaving, or escorting someone somewhere. Later on you get into some better, more ludicrous missions but for the most part, you spend the game just beating on people or escorting them somewhere. Even the boss fights were pretty mundane with their quick time events.

The web slinging in the game thankfully remained perfectly in tack from former Spider-man games and was actually one of the few fun aspects of the game. Swinging from building to building gives you a huge sense of freedom in these games and I do have to give kudos to the developers for getting this part right. The rest of the controls were chaotic though from the web crawling to the camera system. I would be crawling up a building and Spider-man would be going the wrong way half the time or my camera would be moving through the side of the building’s wall.

Web of Shadows doesn't even look particularly good. Spider-Man's model is about the only thing with style and polish, but the rest of the city is dreadful in comparison to other game‘s environments. Standing atop one of the higher buildings is where this becomes most obvious as you look out upon the many rectangles sprouting from the ground… It's a far cry from the thriving metropolis presented in the films, and it makes swinging through the city a little bit confusing when no building really stands out. Thank God for the target icon.

The voice acting is probably what killed this game the most, not only because the actors were terrible, but because the dialog was written like it was written by a teenager for his internet fan fiction. Spider-man is supposed to have a wit about him and he came across more like a whiny, annoying jerk.

Activision did a fabulous job on Spider-man 2 which is probably the best Spider-man videogame to date, but Web of Shadows is a disaster. I wouldn’t even recommend this game to a fan of the comic books, because they would probably die a little inside to play it. Generally I’m not harsh when it comes to my videogame reviews, but when Activision has produced a better Spider-man game than this; I can’t help but be completely disappointed to play such tripe.

(Note: Xbox 360 Version Reviewed)

Rating: 4 out of 10
Pass on it!

Review: James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace

James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace
Activision, Treyarch
Available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS & Playstation 2

I honestly feel sorry for the developers of James Bond video games. Past and present they have all tried to live up to the legacy of developer Rare’s 1997 GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 which was not only the best Bond game ever but one of the greatest games of all time. EA tried for years to make as good a game coming close with their best effort in 2004’s Everything or Nothing but eventually gave up after several critically panned titles, relinquished the license to kill to Activision. They in turn tapped developer Treyarch to make the first 007 game for current generation systems to try and breathe life back into the franchise. The result is the newest 007 game, Quantum of Solace.

In Quantum of Solace you play the part of super suave secret agent 007 James Bond, the game is played mostly in first person perspective but occasionally jumps to third person allowing players to see real life Bond actor Daniel Craig who lends his likeness and voice to the game. It is mainly a first person shooter based on the successful engine of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Quantum uses the engine well and adds a cover system similar to Gears of War allowing players to dive behind cover during firefights.



The game’s plot combines the storylines of the current movie of the same name and the previous movie Casino Royale. Unfortunately the plots of both movies are not told well, especially Quantum’s which is interrupted part way through to have you flashback and play through the main highlights from Casino Royale. By the time you return to Quantum’s storyline you’ve forgotten about what was even going on. In between all the levels of shootouts much of the storyline is told through boring and incoherent cut scenes that feel completely detached. In fact it seems like the game was originally designed with the Casino Royale plot as the main focus with the Quantum of Solace plot parts tacked on later to cash in on the movie’s concurrent release.

In most of the game’s levels you’ll be told stealth movements such as avoiding cameras and using silenced weapons are the best approach to mission success but no matter how careful you move inevitably you’ll find yourself in a firefight with multiple converging enemies. While the AI does a good job of flanking you, its movements are repetitive and predictable. The game features a variety of typical weapons for gunplay but Bond can also perform up close takedowns that are too easy to accomplish and feature the same animation over and over again. It also wouldn’t be a Bond game without the prerequisite exploding containers such as barrels and fire extinguishers for you to shoot, in Quantum of Solace they are everywhere and out of place.

Quantum of Solace claims to provide the player with the experience of being Bond but in most of the game’s exciting situations such as chase sequences or boss battles (if you can call them that) it simply gives you too little to do but press a button and watch a cut scene play out. You wish you were more involved in what is happening. The third person perspective of watching Bond sneak around window ledges avoiding enemies gets old by the third time around and the lock picking mini game is simply unoriginal and too simple.



Aesthetically Quantum of Solace is also uninspired, at times I honestly felt like I was playing a last generation game on my Xbox 360. The environments and audio could have used some polishing though there were some nice lighting effects The waves of enemies all look the same, act the same and die the same and with all the exploding containers lying around haphazardly you’d think the developers would have designed better explosion animations.

Quantum’s multiplayer offers the standards with Bond themed versions. One includes a mode where everyone is playing as Organization members with one Bond on the map, basically everyone gangs up on Bond. Whichever game designer thought 6 against 1 would be a fun scenario should be fired. The classic Golden Gun mode makes a reappearance and then there is another mode where two teams each have a Bond VIP that must stay alive. For the most part the multiplayer just felt like a stripped down version of Call of Duty with less interesting maps.

Quantum of Solace falls short as not only an interesting shooter compared to what else is available this season but also as a fun James Bond video game. The main storyline is short and can be completed within four or five hours and with a lackluster multiplayer experience even the biggest Bond buffs should make this game a rental.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Rent it!

Review: Madden 09

Madden 2009
Electronic Arts, EA Tiburon
Available for the Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, PS2 and Xbox

Even if you aren’t a football fan, as a gaming fan it is hard not to recognize what the Madden Football franchise has accomplished. This year EA Sports celebrates the twentieth edition of the series with the release of Madden 09 and even after all this time they’re still managing to keep it fresh and on top of the yearly sales charts. Versions are available on all systems this year including even the original Xbox system, but I checked out the Xbox 360 edition.

A common complaint about the Madden franchise as of late has been from casual players that don’t necessarily have the time to learn so much of the intricacies of the game. The inability to just pick up and play without getting smoked every single time has alienated those casual players into forgetting the series altogether. EA strives to bring these fans back into the fold this year with a few adjustments on how the game recognizes and adapts to a player’s skill level.

When first starting the game you’ll be prompted to take the Madden Test hosted by the big guy himself. This test will run you through a few basic drills, assessing your overall football skills and assigning you a Madden IQ from which the games skill level will be based around. If you are great at running the football the game adapts to this and your computer opponent will toughen up its run defence. Oppositely if you lack skills in the passing game, opponents soften up their pass coverage.



The Madden IQ levels the playing field even against human opponents with a better IQ score than yours which is supposed to bring a little more parity to the game. As you play more, getting better or worse your IQ fluctuates and the skill level changes. I found the IQ setting did not keep up well with my actual abilities, thankfully manual adjustments can be made to suit your needs. Further helping out the noobs this year, EA also added a rewind feature that lets you completely retry a fouled up play and “Backtrack“ which replays your mistakes and shows you what you should have done.

Hardcore Maddenites probably don’t care much about the introduction of the IQ feature so there is also plenty of gameplay enhancements this year to keep them happy. Slide protection, formation subs on the fly, bluffing plays and rivalry games are nice additions and a revamped and much more functional play calling screen moves things along more efficiently. The running game has improved with much more user control over breaking tackles, juking and the animations associated with them.

The successful core football gameplay hasn’t really changed that much over the last few years but it is the smaller enhancements this year that build Madden 09 into a better experience for fans. Aside from a much slicker TV style presentation there are also a lot of nice graphical touches that update the game with more details this year. Weather effects are a huge standout, especially how realistic a snow covered field looks now with piles of the white stuff building up on the sidelines. When playing in the rain the players jerseys can be so muddied that it almost gets difficult to tell them apart. Gameplay audio this year is also richly detailed both on and off the field. A new play-by-play team of Tom Hammond & Cris Collinsworth take over in the booth, Collinsworth is excellent but the robotic Hammond not so much.

Madden 09 offers several different game modes, Superstar, Exhibition and Franchise. All of which remain relatively unchanged from previous editions. There are two new additions this year, Madden Moments and Online Leagues. Madden Moments selects one memorable portion of a game from last season and recreates the situation. You can try and recreate the famous finish or be the guy that rewrites history. Online Leagues allows up to thirty-two players to form into a league, complete with its own championship trophy and players can play in a series of games as their favourite team.



Much like any sports games, Madden 09 isn’t without some obvious faults. A.I. quarterbacks are still way too accurate this year and stopping quick slant plays is nearly impossible. I also found using the quarterback sneak play on third or fourth down was much to easy to accomplish. On the flipside your own interception rate seems much higher, so pass wisely. Computer controlled receivers also inexplicably like to stroll out of bounds a lot even though there is plenty of daylight in front of them.

Small imperfections aside, overall Madden 09 is probably the best NFL football game to date released by EA Sports. The improvements made this year will most certainly continue to draw the perennial fans but more importantly they also really do give the people who might have given up on the franchise a reason to come back.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy it!

New Releases July 6th to July 12th, 2008

Unreal Tournament III - Xbox 360
Midway Games

Beijing Olympics 2008 - PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Sega

Carnival Games - Nintendo DS
2k Games

Civilization Revolution - PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS
2K Games

Devil May Cry 4 - PC
Capcom

Space Chimps - PC, PS2, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS
Warner Home Video Games

Sports Party - Nintendo Wii
Ubisoft

Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice - PC
Her Interactive


Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon - Nintendo Wii
Square Enix

SPOGS Racing - Nintendo WII
D2C Games

Ghost Online - PC
Game Flier

Ducati Racing - Nintendo DS
Bethesda Game Studios

AMF Bowling Pinbusters! - Nintendo DS
Bethesda Game Studios

King of the Monsters - Nintendo WII
No Company

Baseball Mogul 2009 - PC
Strategy First


SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes- Mobile Phone
Square Enix

Purr Pals - Nintendo WII
Crave

Golf: Tee it Up - Xbox 360
Activision

Schizoid - Xbox 360
Torpex Games LLC

New Releases June 22nd to June 28th 2008

Alone in the Dark - Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, PC
Atari

American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge - PC
THQ

Baseball Mogul 2009 - PC
Strategy First
Battlefield: Bad Company - Playstation 3, Xbox 360
EA Games

Big Beach Sports - Nintendo Wii
THQ

Cakemania 2 - Nintendo DS
Majesco

Cocoto Kart Racer - Nintendo Wii
Conspiracy Entertainment

Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wraith - Xbox 360
EA Games

Elements - PC
Mumbo Jumbo


Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift - Nintendo DS
SquareEnix

Gourmet Chef - Nintendo DS
Ubisoft
Guitar Hero: On Tour - Nintendo DS
Activision

Gyrostarr - Nintendo DS
High Voltage Software

Hail to the Chimp - Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Gamecock Media Group

Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm - XBLA
Sega


Hellboy: Science of Evil - Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PSP
Konami

Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Ninja - Nintendo DS
Capcom
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Saurian - Nintendo DS
Capcom

Midnight Play Pack - Nintendo DS
Ubisoft

My Weight Loss Coach - Nintendo DS
Ubisoft
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress - PSP
Namco Bandai Games


Operation Darkness - X360
Atlus Co.
Overlord: Raising Hell - Playstation 3
Codemasters

Rock Band - Nintendo Wii
MTV Games

Roogoo - PC
Southpeak Interactive

Samurai Warriors 2 - PC
Koei

SimCity Societies: Destinations - PC
EA Games

Supreme Ruler 2020 - PC
Paradox Interactive

Supreme Commander - Xbox 360
Aspyr

Ticket to Ride - XBLA
Playful Entertainment Inc.

The Political Machine 2008 - PC
Stardock

The Sims 2: Ikea Home Stuff - PC
EA Games

Top Spin 3 - Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS
2K Sports


Wall -E - PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2
Disney Interactive

Review: The Dog Island

The Dog Island
Ubisoft
Available for Nintendo Wii and Playstation 2

Ubisoft has jumped into the Nintendog market with their latest kid friendly creation for the Nintendo Wii, The Dog Island. Played from the perspective of a puppy, players get to choose their character from a list of 48 different breeds of dogs and then modify its colour.

The plot of The Dog Island starts with your little puppy’s sibling sick and after sneaking out of the house to watch you win the actual festival’s treasure hunt, he/she collapses into a worse state than before. The town doctor is unable to do anything further to help your sibling, but he knows of a doctor on The Dog Island that could cure this strange illness. Of course, you volunteer to bring the Doctor back and your exciting adventure to the Island begins.



While Nintendogs had you interacting with your puppy, Dog Island has you controlling your puppy in a world inhabited by dogs and other animals. You must navigate your way through the world completing tasks given to you, to ultimately bring the Doctor and his cure for your sibling back to your hometown. Most of the tasks will involve you sniffing around a lot and collecting items to bring back to other dogs on the island, but there are other games you can play along the way like soccer, fishing or racing.

Most of these tasks will have you running back and forth a lot and even after you open up some warp points in the game, you’ll still find the game requires you to do a lot of running around. As you complete these fun tasks, you receive dog bones from your doggy friends which can be use to purchase items in the town’s stores. You can use them to dress your puppy up in hats, glasses or other fun accessories.



Parents buying this game for their kids will probably like the fact that there is no violence whatsoever in this game. Any enemies in the game really only scare your puppy with their nasty noises and your only attack is to bark back. The trick to succeed in this situation with enemies is to read their thought bubble to determine if they notice you and then try to sneak past without a confrontation.

Using the Wii remote, movements are performed with a point and click system, while actions are performed with the A & B buttons. Accuracy in your puppy’s movements is difficult especially while trying to sneak past enemies in the game, and I found if I didn’t run past really quick or clicked an inch at a time to sneak past, I would accidentally end up somehow on top my sleeping enemies.

Graphically, Dog Island looked a little too much like the Nintendogs games and for a Nintendo Wii game, I was hopefully for a little bit more. The different dog breeds in the game do look a lot like their real life counterparts and I was impressed that the developers took the time to put so many different choices in the game, but they could have put a little bit more of an effort into making the graphics just a little bit more updated for the console it was running on.



The song at the beginning of the game is so cute and with all the puppies running around your TV screen, you almost want to run out and adopt every dog at your local Humane Society. The music is very public television, sugary-sweet, kid’s show type stuff and you almost expect Sesame Street characters to jump out during the game at some point.

I know this is a kid’s game, but part of me still likes to play with puppies. Nintendog and Animal Crossing fans might find The Dog Island right up their alley with the mix of puppies and community fetch missions, but hardcore games who love their FPSs might want to stay away from this game, unless they plan on buying it for their kids.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Buy it!

New Releases June 1 to June 7, 2008

Playstation 3

Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
The Incredible Hulk - Sega
Grid - Codemasters
The Bourne Conspiracy - Sierra Entertainment
Kung Fu Panda - Activision

Nintendo Wii

Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
The Incredible Hulk - Sega
Kung Fu Panda - Activision
Cabela's Trophy Bucks


Xbox 360

Ninja Gaiden II - Microsoft Game Studios
Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
The Incredible Hulk - Sega
Grid - Codemasters
The Bourne Conspiracy - Sierra Entertainment
Kung Fu Panda - Activision

PC

Dracula: Origin - The Adventure Company
Grid - Codemasters
Stronghold Crusader Extreme - Gamecock Media Group
Kung Fu Panda - Activision



Playstation 2

Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
The Incredible Hulk - Sega
Kung Fu Panda - Activision

PSP

Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 - SCEA

Nintendo DS

Kung Fu Panda - Activision
Lego Indiana Jones - Lucas Arts
Summon Nights: Twin Age - Altus Co.


Xbox Live Arcade

Aces of the Galaxy
RooGoo - South Peak Interactive

Virtual Console

Protothea
Ninja Combat

New Releases May 4th to May 9th, 2008

Nintendo Wii

The Dog Island - Ubisoft
Boom Blox - EA
Speed Racer - Warner Bros. Interactive

PS2

The Dog Island - Ubisoft
SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 - SNK Playmore

PC

Iron Man - Sega
Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold Edition - Atari
Hope Springs Eternal - Merscom LLC
Great War Nations: The Spartans - DreamCatcher


Nintendo DS

Speed Racer - Warner Bros. Interactive
Brain Voyage - Eido Entertainment
Crossword DS - Nintendo
Sony PSP

R-Type - Atlus Co.
SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 - SNk Playmore
Chameleon - Tommo

XBLA

Wits and Wagers -Microsoft

Virtual Console

Renegade - Taito
Pokemon Puzzle League - Nintendo

New Releases April 27th - May 3rd 2008

Xbox 360

Iron Man - Sega
Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar

Playstation 3

Iron Man - Sega
Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar
Echochrome - SCEA


Nintendo Wii

Iron Man - Sega
Mario Kart Wii - Nintendo

PS2

Iron Man - Sega

PC

Droid Assault - Puppy Games
Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight or the Arnor - Stardock
Polar Games 2 - Wild Tangent


Nintendo DS

River King: Mystic Valley - Natsume
Let's Pilates - Konami
Let's Yoga - Konami
Toy Shop - Majesco
Iron Man - Sega

PSP

Iron Man - Sega

XBLA

Roogoo - South Peak Interactive

Virtual Console

Double Dragon - Tradewest

New Releases April 20th - 26th 2008

Playstation 3

NBA Ballers: Chosen One - Midway

Xbox 360

NBA Ballers: Chosen One - Midway

Nintendo Wii


Battle of the Bands - THQ
Target Terror - Konami
Wild Earth: African Safari - Majesco
Heaven Guardian - Tommo
The Red Star - XS Games

PC

Turok - Touchstone

PS2

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES - Atlus Co.


Nintendo DS

The World Ends With You - Square Enix
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness - Nintendo
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time - Nintendo

PSP

Chameleon - Tommo

XBLA

Lost Cities - Sierra Online

Dawn of Mana for PS2 in Stores Now

Allow me to give you another reason why you shouldn't give up on your PS2 yet. Meet Dawn of Mana, the next game in the World of Mana series and hopefully the next big hit in the Square Enix series of RPGs.

Here's the official press release from Square Enix:

SECRETS REVEALED AND NEW DIMENSIONS FOUND IN SQUARE ENIX’S DAWN OF MANA – SHIPPING NOW

Origin of the Sword of Mana and the Mana Tree Revealed in this Exciting 3D

Adventure LOS ANGELES (May 24, 2007) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix™ interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that DAWN of MANA™, the next installment in the WORLD of MANA™ series, has shipped to retail outlets across North America. Just in time for summer, this exciting adventure, developed exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, is the highly anticipated follow-up to SECRET of MANA™, the timeless classic that originally mesmerized North American audiences in 1993. HEROES of MANA™, developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS™ and the next title released in the series, will ship August 14, 2007.

After the unveiling of the WORLD of MANA series of titles in 2005, fans have been eager to experience the next installment in the popular MANA series. DAWN of MANA at last reveals the origins of the legend behind the Mana Tree and the Sword of Mana. Freed from the limitations of two-dimensional graphics, DAWN of MANA brings the world of MANA into 3D for the first time while preserving the atmosphere that fans have come to know and love. New characters and environments join familiar monsters and elemental spirits from previous MANA titles, with cutting-edge rendering techniques that preserve the signature beauty and subtlety of the acclaimed series.

About DAWN of MANA

STORY

Long ago, when the world was at peace and magic was yet unknown to man, the beautiful isle of Illusia floated in the center of the Inner Sea. Over the island towered the Great Tree, the source of all life and creation. There it had stood since the dawn of the world, but over time, the tree gradually turned to stone and slept as though death had at last arrived. So begins the story of how a boy came to wield a sacred sword and how a maiden became a goddess, entwining the fate of spirits, mortals, and the entire world into a captivating tale of hope and despair.

FEATURES

• Cinematic production values are amplified by a gripping opening theme composed by Grammy and Academy Award winner Ryuichi Sakamoto, and a sweeping score from series composer Kenji Ito

• Instant accessibility makes the game fun and intuitive for a wide variety of gamers – simple controls and quick “pick-up-and-play” mechanics make the game fun for long-time fans and newcomers to the franchise

• Witness a beautiful lighting system that softens the game world, exuding a feeling of warmth and subtlety that cascades through trees, over the hills and onto the elements of vividly detailed landscapes fans have come to expect from the MANA series

• Different weapons and gameplay mechanics allow multiple ways to approach enemies – attack head-on with the sword, use the slingshot from afar or manipulate the environment with a whip to cause a fantastic avalanche of boulders – guaranteeing no two adventures are the same!

For a limited time and while supplies last, the Breath of MANA™ music sampler disc will be available at Amazon.com, Game Crazy, GameStop, and EB Games as a gift with the purchase of Dawn of Mana.

About HEROES of MANA

Breathing new life into the vaunted MANA franchise, HEROES of MANA takes the beloved series into an entirely new dimension. In the first real-time strategy title for the series, generals will plan, plot and strategize their way to victory on the battlefield. Command an army of heroes, creatures and beloved rabites with the use of the Nintendo DS Touch Screen, and experience an all-new perspective on the ever-evolving MANA saga. Players can see how they rank among others in the country by accessing the HEROES of MANA servers via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. HEROES of MANA is being developed by BROWNIE BROWN Inc.

Both entries in the WORLD of MANA series continue the legacy of the MANA series, as they provide fresh and unique takes on the familiar universe that has captured the hearts of fans around the world.

DAWN of MANA has been rated T (Teen) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). DAWN of MANA is available at North American retailers for the suggested retail price of $49.99. For more information on DAWN of MANA please visit http://na.square-enix.com/dawnofmana/. HEROES of MANA has been rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB. For more information about the ESRB please visit www.esrb.org.

Look for my review of this game in a week or so.