Also, if anyone’s in NY this Sat. July 11th, between 1-3 pm the Nintendo store at Rockefeller Plaza is having a Party with Starfy event for fans. If I’m around I might go take photos…

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

When you begin a game, you can choose your leader, who is one of the greatest leaders throughout history. They include conquers, rulers and commanders in chiefs (including Napoleon, Lincoln, Alexander the Great, Gandhi and other). Each has their own special bonuses based on their real life demeanor and skills. Although this seems like a tough decision, overall the small bonuses do not affect the game because you can make up any deficit through some well placed decisions. In my first game, for example, I picked Alexander the Great and had minimal technology, yet still dominated in most battles.

As your civilization grows, you have four opportunities to win the game. You can win by dominating all the other nations, of which there are five total per game, by taking over all the cities within that nation. You can “create the world bank,” which is basically where you amass over 20,000 gold, which seems impossible, but this would take a very, very long time. Another way to win includes acquiring 20 “great people,” who are famous people, who did something great in their lifetime and changed the world. Here, there are too many to list, but think of someone who changed the world with an idea or invention and they will be in Civ. Rev. They can also be used to affect a city perpetually or take a huge increase in one statistic once, which adds another decision to the overall experience. The last way to win is finish off all the technical upgrades and start a shuttle mission to Alpha Centari.

You use various types of unit throughout a single game including military, caravans, boats and settlers. Each one is used for certain tactics. As you go through the different stages of history from their stats really don’t change in a huge amount. When cannons can take out an army of Modern Troops (think Marines), something with the balance is completely off. This was one of my biggest complaints with the game because the realism is not taken into account, which is strange, when this is a true “historical simulation.” Also, the other thing that pisses me off is the tutorials. They really don’t help you all that much and each little help interjection is usually something that was only necessary in the first five turns. I wish the team at Firaxis had put in an “advanced tactics” help so I can actually win a match in each of the five difficulties, eventually.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take advantage of the multiplayer experience on my DSi, so I will keep my journalistic integrity and not give you my “experience.” The modes include ad hoc gameplay with a DS near you and Nintendo Wi-fi connections via friend codes. The other mode that is included in the game, no multiplayer, is a “scenario mode” with a ton of scenarios that you can play through, buy it if you need to know them all.

Even with its feel downfalls for new gamers, Civilization Revolution for the Nintendo DS is an experience that allows for a simple version of the newest entry into the Sid Meier series for the PC. I have really enjoyed my time with the game and it is going to make long flights and layovers much easier for me. For gamers who travel and do the majority of their gaming on the road, this game is a must have because of its great empowerment, yet simple gameplay. Until the Sid Meier can figure out a way to bring the Civilization 4 gameplay to a handheld device then Civilization Revolution DS will help you pass the time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I am not going to sit here and bore you on any of the true details about this version of the game. If you have played Peggle than there is nothing truly innovative in this version, but I will go into some of the additions and connectivity provided in Dual Shot. Now, you have the ability to beam a trial version of the game to any other DS, which is a cool feature to spread the casual goodness to the world. The only other difference is that the sound is lower fidelity, which is not a bad thing and gives the player a retro feel to the fairly new titles. Although, I would have wished the dual screens were utilized a little more and maybe the multiplayer features could have been expanded to be similar to those on the XBLA or PSN version, but that could have been much harder on the DS.

If you know that you have an obsession with Peggle, then you have probably already run out and bought this title. Even though I am reviewing this game, I would still go out and buy this game because I love me some damn Peggle Dual Shot. Go and continue the Peggleness that which Popcap and Q Entertainment has given to us in a small awesome package. I would recommend this game to anyone especially those who love Peggle and Bjorn the Unicorn.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The graphics are as simple as they need to be and no major computing power is required to display all the knobs, sliders and switches needed to produce all the different effects and sounds. What is necessary is precision to place each option to the optimum setting necessary for what the user wants to create. This precision is never more apparent then with the keyboard, which is ultra precise and responsive. I would have wished the developers included a zoom feature because for those of us that require vision correction, the text is quite small.

The amount of settings and options in the synthesizer makes my head spin, especially because I am a novice with music creation tools. I was able to create a few simple beats that sound comparable to a SNES or NES soundtrack. It sounds more like a Castlevania soundtrack, but I can’t seem to let you all listen because there is no, and I mean no, export feature. The only way to get your sounds to another format would be to record them from the headphone jack into recorder of some type. I did not try this due to that fact that my music sucks and you would be flabbergasted by the simpleton nature of my creations.

There is multiplayer in this title, but I don’t have anyone else to play with, please don’t feel bad. But you can exchange data between Nintendo DS’. Overall, the goal of this multiplayer is to allow two or more users to work on the same data, which is a neat idea, but it is not included in score for this title. If you do buy this game, make sure you try it out with a friends and let us know.

Taken as a whole package, this title is a cool tool for anyone looking to get into musical creation. I feel like it could be used to create chiptunes, NES style music, and that would be a reason for any gamer, who likes that kind of music, to buy this game. Although, Korg DS-10 Synthesizer also has a steep learning curve and a 55 page manual (which is massive). I can only recommend it for a gamer who wants a music creation tool on the go and is willing to put in the research time. Korg DS-10 Synthesizer isn’t really a game and does seem daunting when you first open it. Also, it is hard to find, due to the fact it is such a niche title. Just give it a rent and only purchase it if you feel it is worth the thirty dollar price tag. I have created some awesome stuff, but I hope that any further titles will support some sort of transfer to SD media, especially on the DSi, so we can all share our awful creations. I look forward to all subsequent follow up games to this title by XSEED Games and will be willing to try them out.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

You start the game as a new student at a ranger school, where you have to learn about Pokemon, taming and helping Pokemon creatures in the wild. Like in the first Pokemon Ranger, there is no battling here, it’s still quite important to listen to it because it provides you with most of the information which you need to be able to start the game.

As you complete your school school, you become a full Pokemon ranger and you take on a job stopping “Team Dim Sun”, which is a criminal organization from brain washing Pokemon, you are really coming out of the school and jumping right into the game, something I like about this game, you don’t waste time doing nothing and straight away you have something to do.

One of the key features in this game, is the Pokemon capture system, by this I mean, when you want to capture a Pokemon to train yourself, you have to draw a circle around the Pokemon on the touch-pad, this may sound easy, but a small bump in the line can been the Pokemon will get away.

Any Pokemon which you capture can be used for its special ability during any other battle / capture attempt, for example you can use a grass type Pokemon to slow down the Pokemon you are trying to capture, so it doesn’t react as fast when you attempt to capture it.

Any Pokemon which you do capture may be useful during the game, for example a large boulder in your way on a path, a strong-Pokemon may be able to crush it / move it out the way so you can carry on with your adventure!

Along with the main adventure, there are also a number of side-quests along the way, this means you can take a break from the main adventure and complete some fun-side quests, which may be things like, find, rescue or calm down Pokemon and other tasks similar to this.

The world of Almia is well presented in 2D graphics and quite large sprites, each area you travel has a different feel to it and unlike in the previous Pokemon Ranger, you are also now able to go underwater and explore the deep-sea with your Pokemon.

Nintendo has made some great improvements on Pokemon Ranger, although I was quite disappointed the fact the game took two years to release and it’s nothing over the top special, overall it provides a fun, rather-long game to complete, taking at least 24 hours, it’s a nice game for all ages!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There isn’t very much to do in Skate IT, you don’t have access to the open world, you just win challenges and move onto the next challenge. Although each area has different kind of possibilities trick rise, for example one area may have a number of rails which you are able to grind down, while another may have a number of steps to go down etc.

Some of the challenges can be quite hard, although you are still able to progress though the single player campaign quite-quickly. After completing a number of goals, you are able to progress though your career and move onto a new map with new challenges.

The stylus has a very unique controls, for example if you draw a vertical line, going up, you’ll perform a olly, for then left to right will perform a kick flip, it’s quite fun just to play around with, but because of the fact you need to draw the tricks, you do end up doing something you didn’t mean to do quite a lot of the time, you can learn all the tricks yourself just from playing around with the controls.

After you’ve completed the campaign which takes 6-10 hours depending on your gaming skill, you are then able to go create your own skate park, or even play multiplayer via the DS wifi system, or connect to the internet and play with people across the world in different mode, they are quite easy to setup and there is next to no lag, which is great for when you play online! You can pick to compete with your friends on the default maps, or you can share your custom-made skate parks with them!

As you complete goals in the game, you unlock near objects which you can put into your skate park, so completing the game before you play online/build your own skate park is a good thing to do, so you can have the best looking and most fun to play Skate Park! This means that if you complete the game, then create a skate park, it looks much more impressive when you show it off your friends in multiplayer mode! Also you know your park better then do will, so you have more of a chance of winning!

With the unique controls, solid multiplayer modes and deep skate park creation mode, Skate is great for the first skateboarding game ever on a portable consol and the fact it was a DS, not a PSP makes it even more impressive. It still takes some getting used to, but it’s a enjoyable on the go skateboarding game, for anybody who enjoys skateboarding!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.