Holiday Review Guide: Part 3 - Nintendo Wii & PSP Games

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Sony Computer Entertainment, High Impact Games
Available for PSP and Playstation 2

Jak and Daxter are back and on a mission to save their world from the brink of destruction due to Eco shortages. Along with Jak’s girlfriend, Keira, they speed to the end of the world to search for a new Eco source and happen upon new characters, locations and a whole new adventure.

The Lost Frontier lives up to the successful Jak and Daxter franchise with tons of fun platforming levels, new vehicles to ride around in and more. There are lots of new power-ups to explore but you won’t be able to switch back and forth between Dark Jak and normal Jak like the previous game. Dark Jak does make an appearance once in a while though.

This makes a great holiday buy either on the PSP or PS2 and I know fans of the series will be impressed with the new instalment.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Rockstar Games, Rockstar Leeds
Available for PSP and Nintendo DS

Now I’ve reviewed at Chinatown Wars before on the Nintendo DS, but now there’s a version for the PSP and I know Sony fans want to know if the game is worth the coin. The game still focuses on Huang Lee and his quest to return his stolen father’s sword and seek revenge on the people who took it. You will join up with the Triads and do all the usual car stealing and gun shooting missions you find in GTA games but in this version, the screen is wider, the radio station selection is bigger and there are more missions to complete.

The controls don’t exactly translate well over from the Nintendo DS version to the PSP and the multi-player mode only allows for 2 players on the PSP but overall, this is still a fun game. Fans of the GTA genre will find the same excellent Rockstar flare and humour here as the big console games.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Rent it!

Little King’s Story
Xseed Games, Cing & Town Factory
Available for the Nintendo Wii

Little King’s Story puts you in the role of a young boy, Corobo who is the newly crowned King of a whole kingdom. You must return your new kingdom to its former glory by training your subjects and defending your borders. Taking a page from the book of Pikmin, you must control your groups of soldiers, builders and more by pointing them towards their tasks.

Don’t let Little King’s Story’s childish exterior fool you into thinking this is a kid’s game because this title will have you massively frustrated after the second boss or so. Remember to save often and expect to die a lot. Achieving upgrades and exploring new areas will have you addicting to this title in no time.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy it!

Rabbids Go Home
Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montpellier
Available for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

The rabbids have finally tired of their party life and want to go home. Believing they live in the moon, they begin to steal tons of junk from around the world to build a tower that reaches their home. You need to help the rabbids race their shopping carts around and collect all the junk needed to complete their tower.

Moving away from the normal rabbids mini game genre, Rabbids Go Home has you racing through levels collecting items on a list and scaring humans in the typical rabbids’ humour. There isn’t much of a story here but the need to help the rabbids collect their items and complete their mission will keep you on your goofy path.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Rent it!

Review: Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Rockstar Games, Rockstar North
Available for Xbox Live

The Lost and Damned is the long awaited first downloadable expansion pack to one of last year’s biggest games, Grand Theft Auto IV. Available for the Xbox 360 only at the present time and costing 1600 Microsoft points ($19.99) it is developer Rockstar’s first attempt on expanding an existing GTA game and redefining what downloadable content can be. The Lost and Damned (TLAD) contains a whole new storyline to be played out within Liberty City introducing new main characters and intertwining its plot with old familiar chums like Niko Belic and his associates. It is essentially a brand new game built on the Liberty City foundation but from a totally different perspective.

TLAD’s plot revolves around the notorious biker gang The Lost whose chapter is based out of the Alderny area of Liberty City. You play as Johnny Klebitz, chapter vice president who despite being a badass biker has a relatively levelheaded demeanour. The gang’s leader the oppositely uneven tempered Billy Grey is soon released from rehab and retakes command of the Lost. Billy’s penchant for wreaking havoc, reviving old wars with rival gangs and butting heads with Johnny over business and pleasure becomes the pivotal plot device of most of the story. TLAD revisits with a few characters from the original game that you will interact and do missions for as well introducing Johnny’s junkie ex girlfriend who’ll be calling him to bail her out of a few bad situations.

Gameplay in TLAD differs somewhat from GTA IV’s original solo storyline, as a gang member you’ll immediately have your brethren riding with you on many of your missions. Later on when you are a gun for hire on the side you can call upon your gang members to provide backup. No self-respecting biker would be caught dead driving in a “cage” so you’ll also be primarily riding one of the various newly introduced chopper motorcycles. Thankfully Rockstar has tweaked the bike handling to be more forgiving so if you hit a curb it doesn’t always result in an immediate face plant. TLAD does a great job of capturing what it is like being part of the rolling thunder of a biker gang riding together and if you stay in formation you’ll be rewarded with boosts to your health.

Along with some new vehicles The Lost and Damned introduces new weapons such as automatic pistols, pipe bombs, grenade launchers and automatic shotguns. You’ll need that new firepower, as the difficulty level on some missions has been definitely amped up. There is also the welcome addition of mid mission save checkpoints so if you do end up dying you don’t have to start the whole mission over again. Playing through TLAD’s main storyline will take the average player about 8 to 10 hours, which is pretty good, but many of the new side missions will extend the experience. New and much more challenging races have been added as well as random gang wars pitting you against many of Liberty City’s syndicates will keep you and your gang busy. Johnny Klebitz can also participate in some unique mini games such as arm wrestling, card playing and air hockey.

Graphically there isn’t much to say about TLAD that already hasn’t been said about GTA IV. As the episode is integrated into what was already a visually stunning game you won’t see much difference aside from a curious visual grainy effect the developers added for some reason. I found this to be distracting and turned it off. The voice acting is superb as usual with some great one-liners being tossed about by the characters, especially the unbalanced Billy Grey. TLAD also features many new songs, shows and DJ banter on the radio. There are also some fresh TV shows to watch; new websites to browse and a new foul mouthed stand up comedian to see at Liberty City’s comedy club.

The multiplayer experience has also been expanded and improved. A better and faster option for getting into multiplayer via your phone and skipping the lobbies is a nice improvement. New modes like Own the City, Club Business and Witness protection offer multiplayer games that are more complex and more fun than simple old school team death match which is still available.

Overall The Lost and Damned squeezes a huge amount of gameplay into the confines of what is available as downloadable content and ranks high in value right up there with games like Portal. It sets an amazing standard for what downloadable episodes can do. It extends the GTA experience and is basically a whole new game at the same time, though it may primarily interest those that have completed GTA IV’s original storyline and are hungry for more.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Buy it!

Thanks for the Penis Shot, Rockstar ...

Being hopefully one of the many adult female gamers out there playing the new Lost and Damned downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV, I thought I would drop my two cents on the interesting additional of full frontal male nudity in the game.

While I have no problem with nudity or sex of any kind in videogames as long as the content is properly rated in the game, I have to wonder why the developers decided to throw in some penis in a game directly marketed at a straight male demographic and yet decided to cover up all the female breasts in the game?

That makes no sense what so ever. As a woman, even I would have preferred to look at naked women in the game than a floppy naked penis. I would hope in the long run this penis addition is some sort of "comment" on the controversy that always surrounds the GTA franchise and its content. At least I really hope it was.

Custom Niko Bellic Sculpture from GTA IV

This sculpture of Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV was created from sculpey.

You can view the creator, Jaime Margary's gallery to see comments on his techniques for making the piece.

[Via Toycutter]

And the Parent of the Year Award Goes to...

Happy Birthday Lil Derrik! Now let's blow out your candles, so we can go bust some caps in some gangsters and then finish the night with some brews and some hos.

Nice birthday cake for a 4-year-old kid who shouldn't even know what Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is. Great parenting there.

[Via Wonderland]

Best of the Videogame Custom Toys: Part 1

I found this cool custom Munny on the Offical Munny Website. Earthworm Jim was created by Andrew Bell.


Scavenjer33 also has a wicked hand for making custom Munny figures and he created this spot on Munny Niko Bellic for his friends at Rockstar Games NY.



And then he also made this mini Munny version of Niko Bellic sporting his handsome suit and new accessory.


Kody Koala has been creating some wicked pieces for a while now. He has a sweet collections of Munnys, Dunnys and Lego figures.

Moon Pearl Bunny Form Link Dunny from The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

Custom Link Lego Figures
Click here for larger pictures

Custom Super Mario Bros. Lego Figures

Toad Munny from Super Mario Bros.

Lakitu Munny from Super Mario Bros.

Piranha Plant Munny from Super Mario Bros.

Look for more sweet custom videogame toys soon.

Happy Birthday to Me! Beware the GTA FLU!

Today's my birthday and millions of people are suffering from the GTA IV Flu.

Kind hard not to feel small, when every gamer you know cares more about the GTA launch then the celebration of your birth. Stupid Niko. Gets more attention than me today.

I'm home today too, not because I got the GTA Flu though; I'm home because my back is screwed up and I'm still experiencing problem with weird stomach pains.

So I'm spending my b-day flat on my back and not in a good way. I find some way to still shove some cake down my throat though. ;)

Wacko Jack Finally Chimes in on GTA IV

Jack is back! Jack Thompson jumped back in the saddle one day before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV to carry on his battle against the evil that is Take Two. Jack has written a letter to the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, R. Alexander Acosta demanding that legal action be taken against Take Two and retailers for selling the game .

Ars Technica received a copy of Wacko Jacko's letter and posted the following on their site:

"Indictments should be returned against Take Two corporately and its Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, along with other Take Two officers. Indictment should also be against Sony and Microsoft which are making this pornographic game available to minors, and openly so, on their PS3 and Xbox systems," Thompson wrote. "Further, indictments should be handed down against Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, and all other retailers distributing this game to minors at their retail stores, openly, to kids who are only seventeen."

He then compares the game to, of all things, polio. "Grand Theft Auto IV is the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio. We now have vaccines for that virus... The 'vaccine' that must be administered by the United States government to deal with this virtual virus of violence and sexual depravity is criminal prosecutions of those who have conspired to do this. If you doubt me, look at the aforementioned streaming audio/video. It will make you sick."

Apparently Jack also provided a link to a video on IGN.com to a video called "The Ladies of Liberty City" as proof of the game being full of nothing but sex and violence, but Jack fails to mention that this video is all clips put together by the team at IGN.com, that only shows the nasty portions of the game.

GTA IV has tons more content available then just killing and screwing hooker and strippers and players can even avoid those portions of the game completely if they wish, so really who cares if it's in there.

Of course, Jack is dead set on going after Rockstar, but if regular media goes after GTA IV like they did Mass Effect, they better do their research this time, because Rockstar is prepared to defend their game. They were smart to avoid any nudity this time around and they put a morals system in the game, so players now have to deal with the consequences of their choices. You can choose to play Niko like a criminal with a heart of gold, much like Tony Soprano but with less pasta.

I doubt anything will come legally from Jack Thompson's side, because he has his own problems, but hopefully the Fox News hounds will behave too and won't rally any other nut jobs with a degree to their side.

[Via Ars Technica]

Grand Theft Auto IV: What are you doing? Trailer

Next week Grand Theft Auto IV hits store shelves and more people in North American will be calling in sick than on Madden release day. Trust me.

I haven't been really excited about this game until I watched a trailer on Gamespot that the embed code won't work for, so here's a working version of the trailer from Gametrailers.com. Wow! This game is coming out on my birthday ... I'll be 27 ... arg, and so far not a bad birthday present, Rockstar.

Look my review later in May.

Is this Heaven or Hell? Either Way, Kratos is Here.

This week has been very weird for me as a blogger. Tuesday was wicked awesome as I finally got the last two gaming units to complete my next generation collection. I finally got a Playstation 3 and PSP, so I now can official play any new game out there on any system. My PC is finally up to snuff to play most of the newest games out on the market (no, not Crysis and no, not Hellgate London), I have both handhelds, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP and I have all three console, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 and Xbox 360.

Plus I got a few new games for my new systems: Patapon, which you can read the review for below, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Hot Shots Golf and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. I also got a new Duel Shock 3 controller, because who can live without vibrating controllers nowadays. These were an early birthday present from a friend of mine and he totally rules the gaming world for it.

For the rest of you, my birthday is April 29th and I don't need multiple copies of GTA IV in the mail box that day. Final Fantasy figures will be just fine. :)

Anyways, so that Tuesday and what a wicked day it was. Best of all, I got a paid day off and my dog finally got shaved, so he's in a better mood now.

Wednesday, however was a completely different story. After reading this story on Game|Life about how bloggers are practically killing themselves for their hobbies, I start experiencing these horrible pains in the side of my stomach at 10:00am and at first I think they're muscle pains or something, but they just kept getting worse and worse until I couldn't sit, stand, and just barely lay down.

I managed to get dressed and my bf took me to the hospital. After one angry nurse, a security call threat, one urine test, one blood test, one ultra sound and exactly 8 hours with no food or water, and one major headache, the doctors concluded that either I had a problem A or problem B, neither which they could test for and both would go away in a day or two.

All I can do is eat light and take it easy = videogames and soup.

Somehow karma always get you in the end. One good day always means a really sucky day later down the road. I guess my good day was just too good and I had to pay the ferryman the next day.

Anyone wanting to hook up with me online can find me on the PS Network as CPAIR747.

VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Originally there was a review here by a writer I thought had a great view on Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Now I just realise he's a totally douchebag who's more concerned about where his work should be posted and threatening the blog owners with legal action, rather than the fact that someone is actually supporting him. So instead I'll post a link to his original review and the fact that Kris Kallies is a totally douchebag. Enjoy!

Click the link to read the Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories review at Tuscaloosa News.com.

That way Kris Kallies and The New York Post won't sue me.

SOURCE: www.tuskmag.com