Stealth Elf is stealthy

Status: Finished once (played coop with my husband)
Achievements: 26 of 38
Gamerscore: 640/1000
Adventure Packs Purchased: Darklight Crypt, Dragon’s Peak

Skylanders had flown under my radar for a long time, mostly because I have a major prejudice against Activision these days (although not as bad as my hatred of Lionhead) but also due to my increasing dislike of gimmicky games. I’d also been extremely pumped for Skyrim, which had been my big Holiday 2011 game and consumed my life for a month straight.

After coming out of my Skyrim haze and seeing a bunch of our friends talking about how much they were enjoying Skylanders, we decided to take the plunge and picked up the starter kit, and adventure pack and a couple additional characters. Over his Christmas break, my husband and I drove all over looking for the now impossible to find toys and I watched him play at night until we managed to find a few toys I could register to myself.

Once I had Hex (Undead), Whirlwind (Air) and FlameSlinger (Fire) in hand, I was ready to venture into the Skylands.

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure takes place in the magical world of the Skylands. A short, evil maniac named Kaos has designs to bring his Darkness to Skylands but you appear as a Portal Master with the power to summon magically gifted heroes called Skylanders as defenders of the land. As the Portal Master, you will guide Spyro and his Skylander friends through various levels, battle enemies and collect the components needed to rebuild the gate Kaos destroyed and keep the lands safe from his evil.

There are 22 levels in the main game (this excludes the bonus Adventure Pack levels: Darklight Crypt, Pirate Seas and Empire of Ice) for you to explore, filled with treasure chests, hats and Soul Gems to unlock a unique ability for individual Skylanders. For instance, the Soul Gem I needed for Hex’ final ability was hidden inside Darklight Crypt, making me extra glad that that was the one adventure pack we did indeed have.

Spyro's Back!

The use of Spyro’s name in the title of the game is a tad misleading; yes, Spyro is one of the characters you can control in the game, but the game is not specifically about Spyro. There are a total of 32 Skylanders for the player to potentially collect, divided into eight elemental-based classes. Each character has his or her own unique attacks with new ones available for purchase as you progress and gather oodles of coins. They also have added bonuses in power in certain sections of a level and can open special gates to areas containing Legendary Treasures – hats that grant various stat upgrades when equipped.

Skylanders features a proprietary peripheral called the Portal of Power that when combined with RFID technology bring your figures to life inside the game, storing your characters stats, money and current accessory on the chip instead of your game save. This allows you to take your Skylander with you to a friend’s game as well as use them in the web companion game for more adventuring.

Instead of going the route of selling DLC in a digital form, Skylanders released Adventure Packs to keep the fun times going and can be played at any point of the game. To activate and store that level in your game save, simply pop the location piece on the Portal of Power and head to your new destination. Adventure Packs come with one Skylander as well as bonus item objects that can prove useful in any level of the game. Darklight Crypt came with a Healing Potion that can be used once per level until the timer runs out and heals the Skylander currently in use, as well as an Hourglass which helps slow down your enemies until it’s juice is out (also with a one full cycle per level stipulation).

Tripper Happy, my husband's current favourite

The hardest part of Skylanders isn’t the game itself, but finding the figures not packaged with the starter packs. Since the holiday boom, figures have been slowly trickling into stores and selling out within hours of hitting the shelves. We’ve been making weekly runs to Toys R Us, Walmarts, Target and Best Buy looking for the toys to fill my husband’s collection (he currently needs 8 of the regular figures, and we have no Legendary or special edition figures at the moment) and I just would like to have one from each element in my personal arsenal. Here’s hoping the wave of figures rumoured to come March 21st last long enough for us to get our hands on the ones we need.

Overall Opinion

It’s been a while since I’ve played an adventure game as endearing, vibrant and fun as Skylanders. The fact that my husband and I can play cooperatively together on one person’s 360 and then switch to the other’s without that excitement dulling is a testament to that. Sure, there are some slight hiccups with glitches, but nothing that has broken either of our games to date (knock on wood here).

My experience with the web game has been decent enough, I suppose. The Portal likes to forget I’ve installed the drivers every time I hook it up and it does take longer than PixelJunk Monster Online (Facebook) to load most days, but it’s a cute little addition and helps bump up my Skylanders’ stats. Plus, I get to customize and expand my own lair, which isn’t part of the console version.

If only it didn’t make me feel creepy for adding other players who ages are unknown to me to my “Friends” list……

You can buy the Skylanders game and additional characters/adventure packs on Amazon

Status: Starting 3rd movie Coop, playing 2nd movie single player
Achievements: 15 of 40
Gamerscore: 252/1000
DLC Purchased: None

There is just something so perfectly nostalgic about LEGO. You never really grow out of playing with them, building castles, ships, or giant dinosaurs. When LEGO first gave us LEGO Star Wars, I wonder if they thought it would become this successful and lead to such a library of titles. Now here we are, playing LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean barely a week before the fourth movie hits theatres, doing my best to avoid playing On Stranger Tides so as not to spoil the movie for myself or my husband.

For anyone unfamiliar with the LEGO video game library, these games take family friendly movie franchises and LEGO-fy them. All characters are created using the standard LEGO body shapes, while piles of blocks can be destroyed and/or rebuilt to make items that will help you in your environment. There is no voice over work, just grunts, shouts, sighs and other generic audio clips to convey the story alongside cut-scenes and key in-game moments.

LEGO Pirates can be enjoyed as a single player or by playing cooperatively on the same console. I’ve always wished that LEGO titles could be played via Xbox Live or PSN, but they like to stick with single console play. All four movies (Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, On Stranger Tides) are included in the game, each one broken into five chapters. When you begin a new game, you will automatically start with the original movie adaptation. Once a chapter has been completed in Story Mode, it will open up Free Play and allow you to take whichever characters you have unlocked with you to scour the level for items you may have missed (or had been unavailable).

For the most part, LEGO Pirates is straightforward. Smash stuff, build with loose LEGO bricks, fight off the bad guys, look for hidden areas, recruit new characters. Each level also contains hidden Mini-Kits (10 in each) which, once all 10 pieces have been collected, you can set afloat in the Port area. Some of these Mini-Kits will require you build or destroy X amount of a certain item in a chapter, so always be on the lookout for jumping bricks or unique destructibles. As Jack, you can search for 8 unique items in each level, some of which you will have to locate to progress the game, others which are just there for fun. To do so, pull out Jack’s Compass and follow the trail to discover these goodies. And of course, there is the title of True Pirate, which is earned once you reach varying Stud totals in each level. Finding all Compass Items, earning True Pirate, finding all Mini-Kit pieces and completing a chapter in Story Mode add to your Gold Brick pile, enabling you to build gadgets around the Port, and open up new areas for you to explore.

You will want to collect as many of those Gold Bricks as possible, as there are Red Hats littered all over the Port for you to discover. These Red Hats offer in-game perks that you’ll need to remember to turn on at the start of every gaming session you play. From multiplier Hats (I currently have a 768 times multiplier in my coop game), to Invincibility and Water Breathing, switching on the right Red Hats can be the extra bit of help you need in finding that last Compass item or opening a secret area filled with treasure.

Playing with Will and Bootstrap Bill Turner (Dead Man's Chest)

Almost every character you collect in LEGO Pirates comes with his or her own special ability. Jack can use the Compass, Will can throw axes, Bootstrap Bill and Clanker can ooze through green barnacles. Some can walk underwater without fear of oxygen loss, some have big guns and others can shatter glass with their “singing”. Knowing who has what special ability is crucial for unlocking some of the secrets contained within this game. And make sure you’re collecting those Gold Bricks so you can gain access to the Custom Editor.

LEGO Pirates is definitely not without flaws. Other than the fact that Xbox Live/PSN multiplayer is still not supported, there are a couple other problems I have with the game. First of all, the split-screen gets down right ridiculous at times. Depending on where you are on the map in relation to your partner, the screen will divide in half either horizontally or vertically (normal enough) or on a weird diagonal, making it almost impossible to figure out where you are. Not only is this awkward to look at, but if one player is aiming at a target on one side and the other player moves even a tad, the first player’s aim is lost. There have been many occasions in which my husband and I are yelling at the other not to move so we can target something.

Another big point of contention is having too many playable characters on the screen at once. This became a huge issue in Chapter 2 of Dead Man’s Chest and navigating Calypso’s swamp. With five characters on the screen all trying to do the same thing at the same time, it becomes super frustrating to move. As an example, there is a narrow walkway that you create at one point and everyone jumps onto it at the same time. If one character gets stuck at a junction and is at the front of the line, everything comes to a halt and you need to force others off the walkway or try to jump over them. This can lead to a lot of “dying” in the marsh and is just poorly done. Another spot you need to jump across to perform a task, which would be easy enough if the AI wasn’t trying to force every other character to go with you and push you off the extremely narrow floating debris you are using to cross the gap.

And then there is the camera angle. It’s fixed, meaning you can’t control what you see on the screen. So if you can’t quite make out how far you need to jump to land on the next floating chunk of wood, get used to “dying” until you get it right. Frustrating for sure, but once you get used to the fact that there is nothing you can do about it (and enable the Invincibility and Fall Rescue Red Hats), you can stop threatening to throw your controller at the wall and just do your best to figure out how to finish the level.

Jumping With Jack (Curse of the Black Pearl - Chapter One)

Overall Opinion

While it hasn’t really done anything new for the LEGO game series, LEGO Pirates has been a great coop game for my husband and I to play together. We’re fans of the movies, so replaying them in this fashion together is an enjoyable experience. I feel more compelled to pop this game back into my system than I do LEGO Batman, and I was really pumped for that one when it first came out. There have been some rough patches in figuring out what to do next and trying not to hit up a strategy guide for help, for sure. But I know that once my husband gets home from work the first thing he talks about isn’t what’s for dinner but when are we going to play some LEGO Pirates.

Purchase LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean for your favourite system from Amazon

Nine out of ten gamers have one. We don’t mean for it to happen, but new and shinier things always seem to come our way, leading to last week’s new release finding its way to the stack of games we promise ourselves we will get back to just as soon as the summer lull comes around.

For some of us, it’s not so bad. Less than a baker’s dozen of past releases remain sealed or still have that fresh from the factory smell. And we will get to those, just as soon as we finish up a season of whatever EA Sports title or in-depth RPG is causing the hold up. For others (primarily those working in the industry, whether it be as developer or journalist), that stack of games is more likely triple what a normal gamer has waiting.  It’s not that you don’t want to play them, because you most definitely do, but in between playing or making games for work, plowing through weekly review copies and picking up the ones you aren’t comped, it doesn’t take long to watch your backlog develop into a monster. Right now I have 69 uncompleted (by my standard) titles in my backlog as I am writing this. That is including Dragon Age 2 which I know I won’t have finished (read-unlocked all achievements) before I get my hands on 3rd Birthday. This is how they break down:

Wii – 1, DS – 8, GameCube – 5, PS2 – 8, PS3 – 7, PSP – 9, 360 – 31

Most of these are games I bought with the intent of playing them right away. Like Metal Gear Solid 4 which I did play right away, the night it came out. We had a midnight launch at the store and when I got home at 2am, slightly damp from the automatic sprinklers on my short walk back, I played until I hit the section I’d run through in a demo at the very first E4All Expo. Went to bed and honestly haven’t touched it since. Why? Really, I’m not sure. I haven’t been in the mood to go back to it and I don’t feel that same draw toward my PS3 as I do to my 360. I know I want to play it and the other games in my PS3 backlog. And I will. Just as soon as I finish Tools of Destruction.

When tackling the beast I’ve let my backlog become I try to focus on one game per system at a time. I may have four games on the go, but as long as each system is only working on one title, I feel like I have a bit more control. Husband has the TV for the night and is playing something of his own? Great! That means I’ll sit down and work on something from my handheld stack. During the week I’ll work on my console games in-between writing and the other nonsense I accomplish. If I’m lucky I might knock out two to three games in a month – only to have them replaced with something else right away. I like to buy more games as a treat whenever I successfully remove one or two from my stack. I keep an eye on Amazon sales and check out Fry’s every week or so, looking for some great deal I can convince my husband to buy for me with puppy dog eyes and “I finished X, X and X!”

So just how do I determine when I am finished with a game? When I unlock all achievements/trophies in a game? Or maybe when I’ve completed the main storyline?

Honestly, each game is different. I know what kinds of games are my strongest and which are my weakest. Getting through the story mode in an FPS is just as great an accomplishment for me as getting every last side quest in an RPG. Take Modern Warfare as an example. I bought that game knowing full well that I suck at FPS games. I enjoy them immensely, but I know I am not likely to fare well online with more dedicated players (even amongst friends). No clan is going to want me on their squad, and I have no silly aspirations of thinking I could compete with the more serious MLG players. I made it through the story on a fairly easy mode and gave it another shot the next level up. When I hit a wall, I knew it was time to retire the game. Because I had at least finished the story, I count it as a completed title, no longer part of my backlog.

The same cannot be said for adventure and role playing games. With those, I need to explore and complete as many side quests/hidden missions/treasure hunts as possible. Even if they have no achievement or trophy attached to them. I did indeed complete that 100 level grindfest in Final Fantasy X-2…. twice. I will finish every meaningless fetch quest in Oblivion for armour that is inferior to what I have now just so I can see them in the completed quests log. I will spend 90 minutes with that blasted bomber in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood so I can say I destroyed DaVinci’s war machines. I will push myself to finish Alan Wake on Nightmare mode. These are the games where that 100% completion rate matters to me.

Each gamer is different when it comes to defining when they have completed a game. Some gamers play for high gamerscore and trophy counts while others, such as myself, play the games we want to play on the systems we want to use purely for the love of gaming. I know I will never have a 100K gamerscore on Xbox Live or have a platinum collection on PSN to rival those of my friends. And I’m OK with that. Right now, all I want to focus on is enjoying the games I haven’t yet, one to four games at a time while I keep feeding the monster.

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Before I go, I just wanted to share some link-love for the Gamer Banter blog exchange series initiated by GameCouch. This month we’re all discussing how we define “completing” a video game.

Zath: When Do You Know That You’ve Completed A Game?

Gunthera1-gamer: I have never completed a current generation game

Silvercublogger: What Do You Mean By Gamer Banter

The Game Fanatics: Gamer Banter: To Beat a Game

SnipingMizzy: Is it over yet?

Game Couch: The End?

OXCGN: When Is A Game Truly ‘Finished’ For You?

Gamer Banter is a monthly video game discussion series coordinated by Terry at Game Couch. If you’re interested in being part of this, please email Terry for details.

Status: Working through the last rounds
Achievements: 20 of 50
Gamerscore: 430/1250
DLC Purchased: None (yet!)

You Don’t Know Jack is the perfect trivia video game. No silly jumping around in front of a camera when all you want to do is veg out on the couch. Just crazy button mashing, yelling, and Screwing (no, not that kind of screwing!!) all in the name of winning. And collecting awesome prizes (but more on that in a bit). An updated version of the long running YDKJ computer game series and short-lived TV game show, Jellyvision brought this fun and addictive trivia game to consoles everywhere, and gamers are the better for it. Right down to host Cookie Masterson, YDKJ is full of laughter, even if some of the laughter is of the groaning variety. Two five question rounds and the famous Jack Attack constitute each episode, Round Two’s answers being worth double that of the first and correct Jack Attack guesses ringing up at $4000 a pop.

YDKJ brought back the Dis or Dat question in Round One to help the player in last place try to bump up their score. Here you are given two choices, for example is the clue a Britney Spears song or the name of a Pope, and you must quickly select the right one (there are 7 clues in each Dis or Dat) before the 30 seconds runs out. Each correct answer is worth $300 and you’ll lose that if you get it wrong. Other players can also attempt a steal by buzzing in with the correct answer before you make the incorrect choice. There are also new themed questions you will randomly come across as you play through the 73 episodes on the retail disc. These theme questions have special introductions distinguishing them from regular ones. Funky Trash, Who’s the Dummy and Nocturnal Admissions (where you try to guess what movie Cookie was watching when he fell asleep) are my personal favourites.

Dis or Dat

But Wrong Answer of the Game is the one I am currently obsessed with and when I miss that answer I give myself a mental slap. Each episode has a sponsor with some silly name like Lawn Wax and hidden within one of the nine questions (never the Dis or Dat) is a wrong answer to a question that has to do with that game’s sponsor. It’s the only time you want to get a wrong answer, as it comes with a $4000 bonus (double that if it happens in Round Two) and a special prize from the sponsor. There is, of course, an achievement/trophy for collecting all of the prizes from the episodes included on the disc.

Screwing is another way to try to get ahead in YDKJ. Each player is given one screw to use per episode. When you use a screw on a player, they have 5 seconds to choose the correct answer instead of the normal 15 seconds. If the player you screwed gets the answer wrong, you get the money. But if they get it right, they get some of your money as well as the money for picking the right answer. I have yet to find time to see how this works with more than two players, which I really need to fix soon.

I also love the little twists thrown in during the numbered intros. For instance, at one point in the game during the Question 4 intro, one of the four 4s is shot and another one runs away. The next episode there was a funeral for the fallen 4 and the episode after that an “f” replaces the slain digit. I’m personally hoping that I come across another episode in which the dead 4 comes back as a zombie and eats the “f”. On St. Patrick’s Day, the yodeling 2 slipped and fell off the “wo” mountain he climbs and the 1 and 0 from Question 10 produce some pretty odd “n”s on rare occasions. Waiting to see what will happen next and seeing something new just gives the game that much more character.

Wrong Answer of the Day Prize

YDKJ can be played with up to four players, either on one console or online. The biggest downfall with this (at least on XBL) is that each person needs to be on their own console. My husband and I have attempted to play on his console with his father via Live and it will not allow both of us to play. I can understand this with other games, but with a trivia game? It’s very disappointing that the game has this limitation, and I wonder if it is the fault of the game or that of Xbox Live.

Overall Opinion

This game should be in every single gamer’s home. Not for the younger kids (it does have a T for Teen rating), YDKJ has a wonderful variety of questions to make you dig into the furthest recesses of your brain, quite often making you feel like an idiot when you make the wrong choice. It’s perfect for pick up and play when you are looking for something to fill a half hour or you can marathon through for hours at a time. Jack Pack 1 DLC is available for the game, with at least two more packs planned. Once we finish up the original 73 episodes, we are definitely picking up the additional DLC. Best $30-40 you will probably spend this year.

Purchase You Don’t Know Jack for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS or PC from Amazon

Going completely controller-free is not in my future, no matter how hard some companies might be trying to steer us in that direction. Part of being a gamer is memorizing button combos and having something in your hands you could almost throw at your TV. The controller is a natural extension of who and what we are.

At first I thought that we were set with the ridiculousness of the Wii. A controller shaped like a remote, waving our arms around, starving for real games and then watching as the great games sold horribly while the shovelware flew off store shelves. The Wii quickly became a hot item for the casual and new gamer demographics, with slews of four player sporting games leading the way. Nintendo also brought out some games for their core gamers, however the wait time in between those games turned a lot of those original purchases into dust collecting machines.

At E3 2010, Microsoft and Sony showcased their new motion control line up for the coming Holiday season. I was not at E3, so my opinions below do not contain any hands-on experience, but I believe there are other gamers who share in my hesitance to have another console turn into another fitness program.

Xbox Kinect (aka-Project Natal)

After everything I have seen and read post-E3, Kinect looks to be a large disappointment for its core gamers. Microsoft’s desire to convert more casual gamers to the system is all fine and good, but it’s a major slap in the face to the long term supporters. Not adding optional support for console selling franchises such as Halo and Gears of War doesn’t entice those hardcore FPS and action adventure gamers to run out and drop the $150 on a fancy motorized camera.

Being completely upfront with my readers, I strongly favour my Xbox 360 over my PS3 or the household Wii. I have spent thousands of dollars on retail and DLC games, I pay for a Gold subscription so that I can play online with my friends. I am not against purchasing accessories and games for a console if I believe that I am going to have a great gaming experience. Kinect’s high price tag and a launch line up of completely casual games that remind me of all the shovelware titles that we’ve previously seen on the Wii make me want to keep that $150 in my pocket. And not including any games (as of now) in that package leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

The only impressive game that I saw for Kinect was Dance Central, which I’m sure will be a hit with people who want to dance. Me, not so much. From everything I’ve read about it and impressions of people I know who were able to try it out, Dance Central is fun and challenging and worked well with the Kinect camera.

If Kinect remains a tool used only for casual and family games, it will inevitably fail. As much as they believe their hardcore gamers will be buying this on day one, I think that they will be shocked when that does not happen. I don’t know too many people who want to wave their hands around or use voice commands to play movies. Voice commands are fine if you’re the only person in the room, but what happens when you are having a party and everyone is talking? Who’s voice will the system respond to? How will it be able to differentiate amongst everyone in the room and pick out only your voice? And if someone walks behind you while you are playing, how can the Xbox be certain that person is just walking by and not mistake their actions as someone else trying to sign in? These are just a few questions I have not found the answers to, and we probably won’t until much closer to the November launch.

They talk a big game on how Kinect will be something their core gamers will embrace, yet I fail to see anything that makes me feel the need to run out and pre-order this today. We’ll see how things change as we come closer to the Holiday 2010 launch of Kinect and what Microsoft does to counteract a potential loss of sales to the Playstation Move.

Playstation Move

Instead of going completely controller free, Sony’s Move is a lot like the Wii – two unique controller pieces working together with the Eye (camera) to bring the player a new sense of involvement with their Playstation gaming. So while you can choose to play games swinging your arms around, you’ll at least look as though you’re actually doing something.

The key difference between Kinect and Move is that Sony is ensuring it’s motion controllers will resonate with the potential new and casual gamer markets as well as their core gamers. They are bringing a solid mix of family, casual and hardcore games to the PS3 that will make use, if you so choose, of the Move controllers. Killzone 3 and the newest SOCOM title will both offer DualShock 3 and Move support, giving their core gamers a perfect reason to invest in Move. It’s nice to be able to play with your family every once in a while, but there are times when you want to play online with your buddies, and pretending to look down the scope of a sniper rifle is more fun with a controller than it is just pointing your finger at a screen.

Another bonus with Move is that Sony has announced that their Move line-up will be retailing for $39.99 per title (this does not include other titles that support Move controls such as Killzone 3, etc). Smarter still is their introduction Move bundle for people who would like to be up and running with a  game. Granted, it is the standard sports collection, but it is better than getting a peripheral without any software.

While games like Invizimals and the sports collection are not titles I would spend my money on, Sony will be bringing out some action adventure titles such as Heroes on the Move and the Sly Cooper Collection which has a lot of the core gamers talking. These are the kinds of games that Microsoft is missing from it’s launch line up – games that do more than have you swat flies from the screen or run on the spot. Sony already made those types of games for the PS2 when they released the EyeToy.

My only concern with Move is that I might experience the same stiffness/soreness in my wrist that I get when playing a Wii game for more than 20 minutes. Holding a traditional style controller is much more natural position. While I may not play a Move title for an extended period of time, they are bringing some excellent titles to the system that I am sure will have me using my PS3 more often than I do now.

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I’d love to hear any thoughts or concerns that any readers of this post might have. Objective thoughts only, please!

Super Mario Galaxy 2 shares a lot in common with it’s predecessor: your primary objective is to collect the Power Stars needed to fuel the Luma starship, a Mario shaped planetoid, from one galaxy to another. Along the way you will pick up Star Bits, free trapped Lumas, meet inhabitants from a wide array of unique planets, and cross paths with members of the Toad Brigade scattered about, looking for ways to help you rescue the Princess.

Mario travels the universe with a Luma who hides under his plumber’s cap and gives him the ability to perform spins. Some galaxies also feature Yoshi, the lovable green dino with an appetite for almost anything he can grab with his tongue. And of course there are plenty of Bowser’s minions just waiting for you to pounce on. So far, everything sounds like business as usual for Mario.

Each World contains several galaxies with various stars hidden deep within. Progressing to the next World requires a minimum Star count and an encounter with Bowser Jr. There are your normal golden Stars as well as bonus ones waiting to be discovered. As with Super Mario Galaxy, these can be found by clearing a level with a Comet Coin or performing other tasks on certain planets. You can also purchase access to hidden galaxies by feeding Star Bits to Hungry Lumas. Green Stars only become available once you have unlocked Luigi as a playable character, much like the first Wii adventure.

You will also encounter various “Power Ups” which are at Mario’s disposal. New to Super Mario Galaxy 2 are the Rock Mushroom (giving Mario the ability to turn into a giant boulder and smash things), the Cloud Flower (allows you to create clouds for reaching new heights), and the Power Drill (spin-dig your way through the ground to get from one point to another or enter underground caverns). You’ll also have access to the Fire Flower, the Rainbow Star and the Bee, Boo and Spring Suits.

The game gets major points for the beautiful planet levels, even the ones that I completely loathed playing through. Each level is well detailed and bursting with vibrant colour, sometimes so gorgeous you just have to stop and play with the camera, checking out every single angle. Whether swimming, sticking, rolling or flying, Super Mario Galaxy 2 delivers the graphical eye candy gamers have come to expect from the franchise since it moved to three dimensions.

Unfortunately, the game suffers from a horrible range of difficulty. You’ll go from an incredibly easy level with minimal puzzle solving to a level that frustrates you to the point of nearly throwing your Wiimote into the closest wall. Super Mario Galaxy 2 simply lacks proper difficulty progression which is a major turn off to young children and regular gamers alike. Not everyone has the patience to make twenty-plus attempts to clear a level. And with the exception of Yoshi’s new role in the game, so much of the game feels re-hashed. I kept waiting to be wowed by something other than the graphics, only to continually be let down.

As an example, I was playing through a level with fall-away platforms, meaning you do have to be pretty quick on your feet. No problem, as that’s to be expected in Mario titles. However, the fixed camera angle I was forced to suffer with did not help at all and more often than not, a jump which I should have landed made me hit the edge of the platform and fall to my demise. In that same level, there were several occasions in which I attempted to jump over the moving saws and ended up clipping them, causing me to be stunned. Makes sense, but by the time I recovered and was back on my feet, the saw blades would have pushed me off the edge of the platform. It took me over twenty lives to finally get to the Star in that level, and once I did that, I didn’t want to touch the game for at least twenty four hours.

Depending on what galaxy you are on, you may run into the Cosmic Guide who will assist you in reaching your final destination for that area. If you choose to use her, she will not go out of her way to pick up coins or unneeded special items. It will also cost you upon reaching the Power Star. Instead of the normal Gold Star, you will acquire a Bronze Star. It will allow you to move past the galaxy to what lies beyond, but only Gold Stars add to your tally for unlocking new galaxies. You can always go back and retry the galaxy in which you gained a Bronze Star in hopes you can make it through without the Cosmic Guide’s assistance and reach the Gold Star. I have not noticed the Cosmic Guide to be available in all galaxies though, which means you could be replaying a level dozens of times over before you either give up or hand someone else the controller.

If you didn’t take the original Galaxy title for a spin and you are thinking, “Hey! This supports two players. That’ll be perfect for my kids,” think again. As the second player in the game you have the rather boring role of collecting Star Bits and shooting them at enemies. The supporting role in the Super Mario Galaxy games is ridiculous. There is little in the way of team work, and can (and most likely will) cause arguments. While I was working in video game retail, I had many parents trading in or returning Galaxy disappointed with the 2 player feature.

And let’s be honest, Mario chasing off after a kidnapped Princess Peach every year or so has gotten pretty stale. While the story behind each Mario title is more of a backdrop to exploring the Mushroom Kingdom’s nooks and crannies, there is a definite creative rut. We are only a few years away from the big 3-0, so why not freshen things up a little? Maybe Bowser will retire, Mario & Peach can finally start a family and their offspring can battle it out against one another for the next 30 years. The Toads could finally do something other than tell us the obvious. Anything to have the franchise end on a high note instead of running it through the mud. Mario deserves better than that.

Maybe it’s just the rage-quit rage talking, but I just do not find Super Mario Galaxy 2 to be fun. And really, that’s what I want from my video games. There is nothing wrong with throwing in difficult levels or mind-numbing puzzles, as long as at the end of the day I am enjoying the game I’ve chosen to sit down with. Sadly, Super Mario Galaxy 2 does nothing more than infuriate me and make me want to tear out my hair more often than not, and masochist I am not. Sorry, Mario, but this Princess needs to be rescued from you.

Purchase Super Mario Galaxy 2 from Amazon

Originally Reviewed for GamingAngels – Jan 2010

I never jumped all over the Spore bandwagon. To me, Spore was just an alien version of the Sims with some more customization and the added bonus of exploring the galaxy. Not my taste, but for a lot of people, Spore was going to be the next big thing. Sadly, it suffered from people finishing the game quickly and way too many people creating creatures not suitable for the Spore universe.

But this is not that game. In this game, you land on the planet as an egg stuck in a shiny blue meteor rock. These rocks are affecting the inhabitants, helping them evolve. However, there are other meteors which negatively interact with the planet being deployed by your nemesis. You must travel to all the areas available and locate pieces to add to the great idol statue, usually by battling a boss character and solving puzzles in order to reach hard to get areas. Once you pimp out the statue, an ancient god should descend from the heavens and save you all.

Plot seem a bit thin? Well, this is a game that I personally feel is geared more towards a younger crowd, hence the E10+ rating and the fact that it is on the Wii. The story is very linear: complete a quest, gain a new part (sometimes with an ability like swimming or flying), equip new part at nearest nest, access next quest, rinse, wash and repeat.

Customization is key in Spore Hero. It is a Spore title after all, and there are 327 parts for you to discover and edit your Sporeling with. You can morph body shape, add colour and texture, and equip and remove pieces as you need, maxing out or adding new abilities. Equipping parts depends on your blue meteor meter and DNA chain. Each part will cost you a certain amount of blue meteor to equip, however your equip limit depends on what level your Sporeling is currently at. There will be times when you may have to sacrifice one in order to use another. Not to worry though, seeing as nests are plentiful and you can edit as you wish.

Edit and save your Sporeling at a nest

You will find parts are easy to come by in Spore Hero. Whenever you locate a pile of bones, shaking the Wii remote will make your Sporeling dig, uncovering either a part for yourself or sometimes a part for the idol. Some bone piles are larger than others and will offer more parts. Keep digging until the bones disappear. Completing quests is another way to earn parts, as is battling other Sporelings and winning. In particular, you can take on the Combat Master in the Ancient Grounds. Defeating him in battle fifteen times will allow you to take away his title as well as gain one new part for each victory.

Ah yes, the battle system. I am going to be brutally honest here: I hate it! Sure, it seems simple enough when you fight your first battle. Simply shake to hit, B to bite and Z to block. Then they throw some more at you. Jump with A then shake to kick, etc. They continue to pile up fight combos, but when it comes time to use them in battle, half the time you can’t pull them off. The AI seems to recover way more quickly than you can from a hit, and they can also pull off an attack quicker, too. More than once I had to put down the controller and walk away for a while. Incredibly frustrating for me.

Fight to earn parts and respect

In addition to fighting, Spores like to sing and dance. Sing, you say? Yes. However no microphones are involved. When you are prompted to sing, its all about how your controller is angled and holding the A button during the appropriate times. Angled up, straight across or angled downward will cause your Sporeling to “sing” different melodies. Mimic the actions of the other Spore creature you are singing with and aim for 100%. If you do not reach 100% you will fail and have to retry. I did encounter a few instances when the Wii remote did not properly register the direction in which it was pointing had changed, so keep an eye out for that. Dancing works by shaking your remote, nunchuck or both in accordance to the instructions on the screen. Just like singing, you must get 100% in order to win. If you do not, you will have to retry the event.

Spore Hero seems a bit on the short side, too. I mean, yes, you can spend hours fine tuning your Sporeling to look however you want it to. But the fun in that only lasts so long. If you play more like I do, you can find yourself finishing the game in about thirteen hours or so, not incredibly long for a $50 game. That said, the game is still enjoyable. Yes, I hate the fighting control scheme and yes, I found it a bit short, but if I still have fun playing the game, then they obviously did something right.

Overall Opinion

Pick this one up if you find it new on the cheap – I’d say $35 and under is a good deal for the amount of play time you will get with it. There is a bit of reading but not too much, so if you buy this for a younger child or one with lower reading comprehension you may need to be nearby to give them a hand.

Review product was provided by Electronic Arts (EA), and does not affect the outcome of this review.