Go Vacation Review (Wii)

Game Review: Go Vacation
Release: October 11, 2011
Genre: Family Entertainment
Developer: Namco Bandai
Available Platforms: Wii
Players: 1 – 4
MSRP: $39.99 US
ESRB Rating: E10+
Website: www.NamcoBandaiGames.com

Go Vacation has redefined the term “All Inclusive Vacation”. Take a virtual trip to Kawawii Island, where if you can’t find enough to keep you busy, you’re just not looking hard enough. The island is divided into four, huge, un-creatively named resorts: Beach Resort, City Resort, Snow Resort and Mountain Resort. While the names may be lame, each resort is packed with mini-games, activities and NPCs to keep you busy for a very, very long time.

The game opens at the Beach Resort where the main modes of transport are Jet Skis and ATVs, but there is always the option of walking and swimming in the resorts. Transportation is needed because the resorts are vast and spacious with a bit of a commute needed to get from one activity to another. This open-world feel allows you to wander and explore or follow the recommendation of your guide who will point you in the direction of the next activity. Each beach themed activity, such as volleyball, squirt-gun fights, parasailing, jet ski racing, etc. earns a stamp in your passport ,even if you do not win, and earning just four stamps will unlock the next area, the City Resort.

Each of the following three resorts each require four more stamps to unlock them, so earning just twelve stamps will unlock all of the resort area. But wait – there’s more. Get twenty stamps and get your own villa where you can make the two-story home-away-from-home your own by arranging furniture and décor to you liking. There are hidden treasures, clues and quest to be found in each resort, some of which will have you chasing from resort to resort, others are as simple as just kicking back and enjoying the scenery on a train, boat or helicopter ride. Rewards include everything from new clothing for your Mii to wear or new equipment or items for your villa. Did I mention this game was huge?

Scattered all over the island are photo opportunities where you can get your picture taken alone, with the other players in your game and your AI companions and pets. Yep, if you are playing alone, another Mii from your system will show up and you can invite them to tag along with you. There also seems to be several trusting individuals who will loan you their dog to tag along with you also. The collection of “stuff” to do goes way beyond mini-games and borders on a virtual life experience. You can even watch “vacation video” replays of any event before leaving that event.

The best thing about this game is that there is something here for everyone. All of the usual suspects are here: racing, tennis, skiing, shooting, carnival games, etc. but it is the unlikely activities that give Go Vacation that extra push to place it above other mini-game collections. Surfing, Capture The Flag on Skateboards, White Water Rafting and Scuba Diving stand out as being unique and fresh.

With all of these games and activities, there is some switching of controls frequently, such as adding and removing the nun-chuck. I understand having some consistency through the game helps make it an easier learning curve, but using the same controls for horseback riding, ATV racing, jet skis and skateboards feels like an opportunity was missed to make each special and less generic. Unfortunately, the controls are not editable.  All of that aside, Go Vacation supports nearly every accessory you can connect to your Wii or Wiimote including the Wii Zapper, Motion Plus and the Wii BalanceBoard.

I look for Go Vacation to be a hit for families this holiday season. It is priced reasonably and literally could provide hundreds of hours of game play. My family has latched on to this during my review and we have played nearly twenty hours and I feel we have barely scratched the surface. This is a relaxing and frustration-free game that is fun for family members of all ages.

• Huge open world to explore
• Fresh new games and activities mixed with old favorites
• Great value and great fun
• Controls are a bit repetitive
• No helmets or safety equipment on Kawawii?

Final Score : 9 out of 10

Continue to complete article on Platform Nation

SkyDrift Review (XBLA)

Game Review: SkyDrift (XBLA)
Release: September 7, 2011 (PC TBA)
Genre: Arcade Racing / Flight Simulation
Developer: Digital Reality
Available Platforms:  Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Players: 1 – 8 Online Multiplayer
MSRP: 1200 MS Points / $14.99 US
ESRB Rating:  E (10+)
Website: www.SkyDriftGame.com

Racing fans that are tired of driving cars will be thrilled with this new plane racing experience.  Ever wanted to fly an X-wing fighter through the trenches of the Death Star?  This is the next best thing.  SkyDrift puts you in control of 8 distinctively different racing planes to fly in thirty-three different racing events where you will race through industrial structures, caves and valleys in some of the fastest and smoothest flying machines I’ve ever controlled.

The game begins with a single plane available to you; additional planes are unlocked by completing events.  Each plane also has its own distinct characteristics for speed, agility and armor as well as four paint schemes to unlock, similar to the boats in Hydro Thunder.

SkyDrift’s racing events fall into three categories: Speed Races, Power Races and Survivor Races.

Speed Races as the name states are all about speed.  Along the race course there are boost rings that give you a speed boost when you fly through them.  The object is to hit as many rings as possible to maintain top speed.

Power Races have the usual group of power-ups scattered throughout the course that include missiles, machine guns, EMP bursts, mines and shields.  A nice touch in SkyDrift is that picking up a second power-up of the same type makes that particular weapon of shield more powerful.  Also, any unwanted power-ups can be converted into boost at any time to give you an extra push when needed.  Boost is also earned by performing stunts and flying low to the ground.  Overall this mode feels much like Blur in airplanes.

Survivor Races are eliminator style races with a timer that ticks down, and when the time runs out, whoever is in last place is eliminated,  All of the features of the Power Races apply here also, so if you can’t pass your opponents, just shoot ‘em down.

The courses are beautifully designed and rendered making them worthy of a slow, losing fly through just to take them all in.  Some events use the same courses, but in reverse, helping to keep the environment familiar but the courses fresh.  Three difficulty levels keep the game accessible to flyers of all ages even though it is rated for 10+; my four-year old loves flying in SkyDrift.

The best thing about SkyDrift is the controls.  They are not standard “flight simulator” controls, as these are simpler and very intuitive, making control of the planes an absolute joy.  The left stick controls up, down, left and right while the right stick controls the orientation of the plane.  For example, to make a sharp right turn, just push both sticks to the right and the plane executes a knife-edge turn through a narrow gap in the canyon.  This keeps the turns fast, exciting and fun to execute.  The third person view from behind the plane, as opposed to a cockpit view, is key to making the controls feel so smooth, because the controls are always relative to your view (the horizon) and not the plane, so up is always up, even if your plane is inverted.

The online multi-player allows up to eight to race at once and I did not notice any lag when compared to playing the single player campaign.  The only difference is that real players are a little easier to beat than the AI racers in the later levels.  My only wish is that it had a local split-screen multi-player mode.

The only thing I found irritating is that when I would stray a little off course, the game would “nudge” me back onto the course as if I were flying in an invisible tunnel.  Many time this would “nudge” me directly into an obstacle I was trying to fly around.  As I got better at following the intended course of each race, this problem went away.

My final word is to go buy this game.  It is a gorgeous, fresh take on the familiar power-up racing genre that is fast and fun without frustration.

• Well designed controls
• Exciting courses and flight paths
• Up to eight players online
• No local co-op

Final Score: 9 out of 10

You can follow SkyDrift here on Facebook and Twitter.

Continue to complete article on Platform Nation

Age Of Empires Online Review (PC)

Game Review: Age of Empires Online
Release: August 16, 2011
Genre: RTS
Developer: Gas Powered Games / Microsoft Games Studios
Available Platforms: Windows XP, Vista, 7
Players: 1 – 4
MSRP: Free + $ for Add Ons
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone (10+)
Website: www.AgeOfEmpiresOnline.com

Age of Empires is back with a new online “Live” enabled version of the popular RTS game.  With two civilizations to begin with, the Greeks and the Egyptians, you can build your Empire as you see fit.  With a blend of features from both Age of Empires II and III, this is not a watered down version of the game per se, but many of the parts are sold piecemeal (more on this later).

The entry point for the game is somewhat carved  from AOE III – having a Capital City serve as a main menu of sorts – but it’s much more than that.  Here is where you spend Technology Points, placing them in a tree structure to guide the development of your civilizations.  This is also much like a trophy room, as you can add structures, shrubbery (as an upgrade pack, seriously), etc. to show off your accomplishments to your friend, who can visit your Capital City.  Among the buildings here is the online store where a plethora of bolt-on content is available for sale.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

Beyond the “hub world” Capital City for each civilization, AOE Online feels very much like an HD version of AOE II.  Collecting resources such as food, stone, gold and wood allows you to build your civilization, train armies, and advance through the Ages.  Quests are handed out by Quest Givers and initially serve to ease players into the complexities of the game, but the real meat and potatoes is in the player verses player arena.  This is where you go 1 on 1 (or 2 on 2) against other online players to build a civilization to conquer and defend against the others.  Don’t worry if you can’t jump directly into the PvP arena; it’s not available until you have reached level 6.  Sadly missing are the AI opponents, forcing the anti-social crowd out of their comfort zone and into the community.

Game play and the controls feel like a well worn pair of boots, nice and comfortable, especially for those who are already familiar with AOE.  For those new to PC gaming who are overwhelmed easily by keyboard shortcuts – the entire game can be played with the mouse.  Graphically, the makeover looks great and can be adjusted to compensate for available PC horsepower.

GAMEPLAY VIDEO

The best thing for me about Age of Empires Online is the integration into Games for Windows Live which connects me with my Xbox 360 and PC gaming friends.  It also allows players to trade or gift items to other players via email message via Live.

One of the requirements for this game is a broadband Internet connection.  Not only is the connection needed for delivery of the game to your PC, but, let’s just say that when they call this game Age of Empires Online they really mean it.  If you are not connected to the Internet, the game simply will not even load, so take the ONLINE part very seriously.

I will miss the AI player matches; it was my favorite part of the past renditions of the game.  This is mainly because I could set the difficulty level to keep from getting my ass handed to me while taking my time and trying various strategies.  However, my main concern with this “free to play” game is the “free” part.  It feels so stripped down it could pass as only a demo, leaving the two included civilizations in need of the premium content upgrades just to be able to create player vs. player arena matches and have access to configure the match the way you would like it – or – to be able to invite other players of the free version to join your game.

Granted, there are package deals being offered to the early adopters.  One such package is a season pass that includes all the downloadable content for the first six months at 30% off.   That’s not bad until you realize that it cost 8000 points or $99 US.  It includes more civilizations, campaigns, even plants to decorate your Capital Cities.  It sort of feels like Gordon Gekko picked up the aging franchise for a song and is splitting it up into pieces and selling it all off individually at a huge profit.  Unless there is a ton of content coming for that hundred bucks, it will fall very short of what was included with AOE II (13 civilizations) or AOE III ( 9 civilizations) for half the price when they were released.  Additional “Premium Civilizations” will be $20 US each with other additional content costing from $5 US to $10 US per pack.

For my final take on Age of Empires Online, I am torn.  It’s a game that is true to the canon of the Empires franchise, with a bit of social network city building thrown in – thankfully without the micro-transactions.  In order to get the full Online experience, is it worth a hundred bucks?  Maybe.  You can pick and choose the content you want, so there are certainly cheaper routes to enjoying this game.  My advice is to download and try the free version and go from there.  My gut tells me that content pricing is going to come down or be restructured to appeal to more people, but that probably won’t keep me from buying some nice shrubbery for my Capital City, and it’s just this level of addiction that Microsoft and Gas Powered are counting on.  If it wasn’t habit forming, do you think your first hit would be free?

• Great looking HD graphics makeover
• Familiar Controls
• Fully integrated with Live for Windows
• Free to play with Greeks and Egyptians
• Potential high cost for completists

Final Score 8 out of 10

Continue to complete article on Platform Nation

Game Review: Conduit 2
Release: April 19, 2011
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: High Voltage Software / Sega
Available Platforms: Wii
Players: 1-4 Split Screen / 2-12 Online
MSRP: $49.95 US
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Website: http://www.sega.com/games/conduit-2/

First person shooters and the Wii are strange, and infrequent bed-fellows – and when this formula has been tried in the past, it has been disappointing and far short of hardcore gamer expectations.  While I typically would stick to other consoles for shooters, this game stands apart on the Wii – especially considering the hardware limitations.  There are probably few hardcore gamers out there with only a Wii at their disposal, but this game may be a good enough reason to blow the dust off and put some fresh batteries in the Wii-mote.

Our story takes up where the first game leaves off, although knowledge of the first game is not needed.  As Michael Ford, we pursue John Adams through a portal-like gateway (or Conduit) in an attempt to stop a plot involving aliens wanting to take over the Earth.  Our faithful companion, Prometheus, an alien consciousness that resides in a talking sphere, is also along for the journey to assist with hacking locks and translating alien graffiti scrawled on the walls.  The storyline is kept loose and light, with some toned down Duke Nukem style one-liners sprinkled throughout.  There’s just enough plot to let you know what to do and where to go, but not so immersive as to make you learn the economy and social structure of a dozen alien races.  It’s a shooter.  It something moves, shoot it.  Enough said.

The graphics are top notch when compared to everything else I’ve seen on the Wii.  Game play is smooth and the load times are very short – making death quick to recover from.  Level design feels just right with checkpoints all placed appropriately, even though there is some repetition.  Even the NPCs comment about the architecture being inspired by levels in a video game.

Continue to my complete review at Platform Nation

Full House Poker Review(XBLA)

Game Review: Full House Poker (XBLA)
Release: March 16, 2011
Genre: Card and Board Games
Developer: Microsoft Game Studios
Available Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7
Players: 1 (30 Online)
MSRP: 800 MS Points ($10 US)
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) – Simulated Gambling
Website: Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade

Take all the excitement of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, blend it into the Xbox 360 world of Avatars, add over 150 in-game unlockable rewards and a TV style game show and you get Full House Poker.  Anyone who has ever played on any of the popular online poker sites or has attended a poker tournament will feel right at home here.  Everything that you would expect to find is here, and so much more.

In Full House Poker you earn experience for each hand played. If you make a smart fold – you get extra experience points for that.  If you go all in and win – extra points.  Win a showdown – more points.  Show an opponent how it’s done (Schooled!) – more points.  These experience points add up to promote your Avatar experience level and unlock tons of in-game items like venues, poker table custom felt tops, custom poker chairs for your venue and decorative card decks to play with.  Also as you level up, in-game pro’s can be challenged and taken down to earn even more experience.  These in-game pros are not licensed versions of the famous poker players that you see on TV; instead they are fictional pros that have preset skill levels.  Once you reach the save experience level as them, you can try to take them down in a one on one shootout.

The wide spectrum of commonly used poker rules are all here and nearly all configurable. Games can be either “normal rules” using fixed blinds and allowing players to come and go as they please and re-buy into the game once busted or “tournament rules” with no re-buy and blinds that increase over time.  Want to split the pot between the high and low hands?  You can do that too.  Other than custom configuring the blinds, I couldn’t find anything that I couldn’t change to my liking.

The basic controls for playing poker are so well implemented that the controller just disappears and it feels like you are at the table playing poker.  The advanced controls that allow you to emote via your avatar (timid bets, fold aggressively, etc.) really make the game come to life.  There are even chip tricks such as chip shuffling that are earned with experience and fill the time while waiting for other players.  Want a specific view of the table?  Complete camera controls let you pan the camera up, down and around the table to get the view you like.  Your avatar can even be made to look at a specific other player to check out their chip count and poker stats – but everyone at the table will know you are looking at them.  All of this allows you to broadcast the actions you want others at the table to see – just like you would when sitting at a real poker table.

As if this isn’t enough for a $10 game (in the age of $15 XBLA games), there is also a regularly scheduled “TV Game Show” called Texas Heat. The game is 30 minutes long and in the spirit of the canceled 1 vs. 100, you compete against thousands of other players to get the most chips and experience, earning in-game rewards along the way.

While very few of the rewards can be used on your avatar outside of Full House Poker, they are mainly used to get your poker style on for the game.  Personally I want the Dog Heads so my friends and I can reproduce the famous painting of “Dogs Playing Poker”.

For the anti-social – everything outside of Texas Heat is available in the single player side of the game. The AI for the “house players” is very acceptable and keeps the game fun, even in the large 30 person tournaments.

Having played a lot of poker, in person and online, I thought I could find much here not to my liking.  Other than not being able to configure the blinds; I am at a loss for complaints.

I’m all in – Full House Poker is the bomb.  This is a must for poker players and fans alike and gets my highest recommendation.

• Priced Right – Great Value
• Huge Multiplayer Ability
• Tons of In-Game Swag
• Highly Configurable Game Rules

Final Score: 10 out of 10

Continue to complete article on Platform Nation