Author: Luke Mitchell

Source: http://palgn.com.au

Easily one of the biggest success stories of recent years comes in the form of the LEGO Star Wars series. Initially released on the PlayStation 2 and giving gamers the opportunity to play through their favourite Sci-Fi epic in a LEGO inspired universe, the game seemed to be targeted at Star Wars fans; but it was the LEGO theme that kept everybody coming back, along with the fun cooperative gameplay of course. It spawned a sequel covering the remaining Episodes of Star Wars, along with a re-release combining the two games together in the one experience and adding in fancy next-gen polish and online features to boot. While they may have run out of Star Wars related storylines, Travellers Tales are back with their LEGO universe, and have their aim fixed squarely on the Indiana Jones movies for their latest release: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Is it more of the same, or has the figurative old dog been taught some new tricks?

Oh yeah, Indy's got style.

Oh yeah, Indy's got style.

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If you're unfamiliar with the way the LEGO games work, basically the entire world you're playing in features objects, characters, buildings and vehicles that are all made of the building blocks we all loved to play with as a kid. This gives the entire game a unique feel unlike any other, with colourfully animated worlds created entirely with LEGO. It's not just aesthetic, of course; when using your characters attacks (ranging from your basic punches to weaponry you can shoot), you're able to literally destruct almost everything in sight, including plants, barrels, enemies and basically anything else that isn't bolted down. Destroying objects causes them to leave 'studs' behind, which you must collect throughout each level to earn unlockables and other bonuses, and combined with some extra hidden bits and pieces to find and some very appealing platforming and puzzle elements, the game is very addictive to say the least.

The best thing about the game by far remains to be the fact that you can play the entire storyline cooperatively with drop-in and drop-out play, both online and offline. This obviously adds to the fun-factor, but also highlights that some of the puzzles require some team-work to complete. It could be something as simple as having two characters pulling two switches at the same time, or something a bit more complicated such as needing one character to control a crane while the other navigates across some movable platforms. The cooperative gameplay is present throughout the entire game, and the fact that each character has different abilities means that teamwork is integral. Indy's whip for example is important for pulling switches and objects from a distance, whilst Marion's ability to jump higher makes her very useful for traversing different climbable sections.

Crack that whip!

Crack that whip!

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There are also a number of other elements which come together in LEGO Indiana Jones; weapons of many different types can be picked up, including a variety of guns, and there are lots of different types of transport which you will be able to use throughout the game, ranging from cars and bikes to more adventurous things like horses and elephants, and some of them are important pieces to some of the many platforming puzzles you'll come across, such as using elephants to travel safely across what would otherwise be a deadly pit. A new feature is also the fact that characters have 'phobias' about certain things - Indy has a fear of snakes, Marion has a fear of spiders, and so on. When a character encounters their respective phobia, they will be stopped in their tracks and won't be able to progress unless their partner smashes said phobia to literal pieces. While it may sound like a small addition, it becomes very important to the progression of the game and allows for some unique puzzles to best make use of specific characters unique skills.

As much as we truly enjoyed our time with LEGO Indiana Jones, much like we did with previous LEGO titles, there are some niggling issues and frustrations that can be difficult to ignore. The camera is annoying at times, sometimes not showing you everything you need to see, and often positioning itself so that you can't quite tell where things are in your depth of field. Ropes and platforms to jump on are sometimes slightly to the left or right of where you jump, turning it into a leap of faith at times where you really require precision if you don't want to lose your life (and unnecessary studs). It can be funny to plummet to your death repeatedly in front of your friends, but it does get frustrating when it happens continually. As a single player experience, the game also falls flat. While it's still playable and you have the ability to swap between your two characters to solve puzzles, it's simply nowhere near as enjoyable as playing with a friend, which quite frankly is how the game was designed in the first place.

They may look cute, but they will still kill you.

They may look cute, but they will still kill you.

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With all three original Indiana Jones films present and split into episodes of six each, the game's designers have done an excellent job of recreating them in a LEGO themed universe. All of the cut scenes have been remade with the same cheeky sense of humour that was seen in the LEGO Star Wars games, in a way making fun of the plotline while still being faithful to the story. Any violence from the films is handled in a cute and humorous way as well, which all fits in perfectly with the style. The game is technically impressive as well, with crisp and polished visuals combined with some entertaining sound effects and a soundtrack that will be familiar to anybody who has watched an Indiana Jones movie before. Each character will move in a certain way as well, especially Indy, who dropkicks enemies, slides down ropes the coolest way possible and uses his whip in a very over-the-top and entertaining fashion that we'd expect from such a dynamic character.

The biggest issue with LEGO Indiana Jones is that it's not really that much different from its Star Wars counterpart. While the game is definitely the kind of simplistic and crazy fun that stands out in an industry with so many 'realistic' titles available, it's nothing we haven't seen before. Sure, there are some additions such as phobias and specific character abilities that we haven't seen before, and some of the new puzzle ideas are definitely inventive, but the bottom line is that it feels like the game is just going through the same paces with an altered, adventure-style coat of paint. Don't get us wrong; LEGO Indiana Jones is the kind of game that the whole family can enjoy, and is simple and casual enough that even non-gamers can find something to like without it being too complicated. Just don't expect anything drastically different from LEGO Star Wars, or you'll wind up fairly disappointed.

Author: Luke Van Leuveren

Source: http://palgn.com.au

Speed Racer is the game tie in to the film which was released only recently in cinemas. The movie is based on the old Japanese anime and was written and directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, who are best known for their work on The Matrix films. While the reviews of the film weren't overly scathing, the film appears to have been a financial flop, reportedly costing $120 million while bringing in under $20 million in its first week at the box office. This brings us to the Speed Racer game, which was developed by New Zealand developer Sidhe Interactive, so is the game a worthy pickup or a whole lot of colour without any substance?

The Speed Racer film is all about about fast cars and bright colours and the Speed Racer game has the same focus. The best way to describe Speed Racer is F-Zero mixed with Tekken. The vehicles you take control of (the T-180's) are fast, they can go in excess of 500KM/H and Sidhe Interactive has done a brilliant job in giving the player a great sense of speed. You'll fly round corners, and see the crowds whirl past you at an incredible pace. The game also supports the Wii Wheel and the controls are fantastic, driving a T-180 at over 500KM an hour through tracks that twist and turn could have been an absolute nightmare, but the developers have done a brilliant job in perfecting the driving controls. The game is remarkably simple to pick up and we didn't really realise just how fast the gameplay was until we tried (very unsuccessfully) to return to Mario Kart.

This is the type of game where you should read the epilepsy warning.

This is the type of game where you should read the epilepsy warning.

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Rather than directly try and mimic F-Zero, the developers have added their own additions to the futuristic racing game. Much like in the film, the T-180's can jump by simply moving the Wii Remote upward and toward you. This means you can jump on top of other vehicles and destroy them, gaining valuable boost and Car-Fu points. You can also shunt your opponents by moving the Wii Remote very quickly to the left and right. Jumping and shunting may seem like a gimmick, but once a T-180 jumps on top of your vehicle while you're heading towards the finish line, relegating you to the back of the pack, you'll begin to jump and shunt yourself. The AI is aggressive, which means that jumping and shunting soon becomes as essential as steering.

We've mentioned Car-Fu, but what exactly is it? Well, Car-Fu is the artful manoeuvring and fighting of opponents. When you're jumping you can use the directional pad on the Wii Remote to perform stunts, which may send your opponent into a spin, or cause them to crash or even turn your opponent around. As you pull off these moves the name of the move will flash up on screen and you'll get a quick health boost. There are also allies and enemies to take note of and it is even possible to slipstream off your opponents. So while Speed Racer may seem like a shallow racer, once you spend a bit of time with the game it is remarkably and surprisingly in-depth.

Believe it not, activating boost means you'll go even faster.

Believe it not, activating boost means you'll go even faster.

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Gameplay wise Speed Racer is a very solid game, but it does contain a few problems. Once you've passed the first class things become ridiculously punishing, if you crash your car you're basically doomed to finish near the end of the pack. The cars often also have a habit of turning the wrong way, often at times beyond your control, such as when you take a large jump, but overall these are only really minor issues and Speed Racer is a surprisingly solid game.

One avenue where the game does fall down is when it comes to the gameplay options. Players can do a time trial or a single race, but the main single player component isn't all that in-depth and is simply a championship mode. There are three classes in the championship mode (as well as an unlockable class) and as you progress you'll unlock new tracks and new racers, but overall the single player mode is rather underwhelming. There is no story mode, which means the game is rather light on content and we didn't unlock any film clips from the movie, which is a bit bizarre for a movie game tie in. One of the things that will have you coming back to Speed Racer is the multiplayer. The game does not support online play, or more than two players but the game is a lot of fun in multiplayer. All the Car-Fu moves transfer over to the multiplayer mode and it's also possible to play through all of the championship options in multiplayer, which is a great addition.

As you progress you'll unlock new cars, but not a lot more content unfortunately.

As you progress you'll unlock new cars, but not a lot more content unfortunately.

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The main thing that lets Speed Racer down is the lack of content. With only a few championship modes those who prefer to play on their lonesome will probably be a little bit disappointed by how quickly they will finish the game. However, in terms of gameplay Speed Racer is a very solid game. Any Wii owner who has been hoping that F-Zero would make the leap to the Wii should immediately rush out and purchase Speed Racer, as the game is the closest you can get to F-Zero until the game appears on the Wii. Speed Racer is a classic example of exactly how to do a movie game tie in correctly and even though the multiplayer is the highlight of Speed Racer the single player component is a lot of fun, while it lasts.

Author: Daniel Golding

Source: http://palgn.com.au

How would you describe Super Smash Bros. Brawl to an alien? The packaging of the Wii-friendly iteration makes simple work of it: “Nintendo Worlds Collide!” It’s a neat summary, and one that captures the basic appeal of the series from its early days on the Nintendo 64. Like Disney of the 1990s, Nintendo now possesses a handful of franchises that are well-loved and guaranteed to line the company’s pockets. However, unlike Disney, in Smash Bros., Nintendo have found a way to successfully combine these separate parts into the one appealing whole. It’s Pikachu versus Mario. Donkey Kong versus Kirby. And now, Nintendo are outsourcing: Sonic versus Snake, that great fanboy fantasy, is finally a reality. The appeal of the game is almost a given. But the quality itself? Brawl is a game that redefines the sheer depth of features, options, and possibilities for players. But why, we ask, does it seem so uninspired?

We should mention that it’s quite possible that the delayed PAL release for the game has dulled its impact somewhat. If you’ve got an internet connection and have more than a passing interest in the series, you’ll have known everything there is to know about the game months and months ago, via The Smash Bros Dojo blog. The world of gamers is now an instantly global one: think of the YouTube videos you’ve watched, the reviews you’ve already read, the forum posts you followed. Perhaps you even managed to import the game. This distance is both an advantage and a disadvantage for obvious reasons. Ultimately, though, the game should speak for itself, hype or no hype.

Mario had trouble explaining this position to Peach.

Mario had trouble explaining this position to Peach.

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Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the definitive full stop to the series, the punctuation mark that indicates the completeness of a franchise. Here is a game so evolved (and we use that word carefully) from the initial incarnation that it has reached saturation point, and it is impossible to imagine further development. Any wish you’d ever had while playing the original, or Melee has now been made possible. You want online play? Granted. You want to play as Sonic the Hedgehog? Granted. You want a level builder? Granted. Perhaps it even indicates an analogy between videogames and computer software: what we have here is Super Smash Bros. 3.0, with improved options and features. It is undeniably an amazing improvement, and those who loved Melee will undoubtedly want to upgrade to Brawl, but only in the same sense that those who use Word 2003 will want to upgrade to 2007. At its absolute core, the game is the same.

That might seem like a thinly-veiled insult, but it’s more a simple observation. After all, keeping the same basic gameplay might not be a bad thing in any sense. In fact, you could mount a pretty good argument that changing what isn’t broken would be a bigger mistake than to leave it untouched. The previous Smash Bros. games were wildly successful for good reason. The initial ‘pull’ of the game might have been the chance to beat the pulp out of your least-favourite mascot, but long after the novelty wore off, players kept coming back. The mascots eventually ceased to be characters and instead became simple avatars with strengths and weaknesses within the Smash Bros. universe. The gameplay just somehow stuck. Maybe it was the fresh and unique approach to the fighting genre that stood out. Maybe it was the sheer fun of the multiplayer, and the real sense of competition and reward it offered. One of the major strengths with all Smash Bros. titles is that (and like all good Nintendo games) there never feels like there is a barrier standing between you and your character. What you do really counts. The game never steps in to help out your movement or attacks. It is your skill on trial, and nothing else.

We never understood what was so deadly about sausages. We think Ness is vegetarian.

We never understood what was so deadly about sausages. We think Ness is vegetarian.

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And of course, that remains true for Brawl. The gameplay is wonderfully tight, and victory feels as rewarding as it ever did. There is still a beautifully held line between competitive balance and fun, and we’re sure that this game will still be doing the rounds until the next Nintendo console is released. The little tweaks that have been made to the gameplay are for the better as well. The combat has somehow been shifted upwards, and you’ll now spend the vast majority of your fighting time airborne without noticing it. There are no obviously useless characters, though some will take practice to reach their full potential. The dreaded ‘clones’ of Melee are now all but eliminated (though the Starfox triplets leave a little to be desired), and the Final Smash Ball brings a great new surge of tension to the game. The levels are aggressive in the truest sense - it often feels as if the landscape itself does not want you to be there and is doing the best it can to help eliminate you. Returning Melee levels provide well-needed respite, and the option to make your own and share with others provides potentially limitless variety.

Additionally, the game is leaps-and-bounds ahead of its siblings, aesthetically speaking. Many stages, such as the Pikmin-inspired ‘Distant Planet’ are nothing short of beautiful, while others, such as ‘Warioware, Inc.’ provide some great and quirky art. The effort put into the music is nothing short of exhaustive, with an enormous track list filtered from every game that has a remote connection with Smash Bros. Most are completely fresh arrangements, as well, and with over 30 composers working on the game, it’s more than likely the arrangement was done by the original composer. Cutscenes, so often implemented to the detriment of good gameplay, are here a work of magnificence, with one late sequence in particular being truly breathtaking.

Moments later, Mario regrets serving baked beans as Wario's evening meal.

Moments later, Mario regrets serving baked beans as Wario's evening meal.

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In fact, so much love and devotion to detail has obviously gone into this game that it feels somehow unfair to criticise it. If the problem is that now, everyone who loved Brawl’s predecessors can now play the game the way they want to, what kind of criticism is that? It’s certainly not a stinging rebuff of the game, but it is a flaw. If ever there was a game pulled down by the weight of its feature set, it’s Brawl. The game feels like Masahiro Sakurai and co. have created a sandbox to surpass the sandbox genre - there are simply so many ways to play that Brawl lacks identity. For example, the game can be played with any controller set-up imaginable on the Wii: Wii remote, Wii remote plus nunchuck, classic controller, or GameCube controller, while the buttons can be configured to your slightest whim. Taken on its own merits, this means that any player can play in their preferred fashion, but it’s indicative of a larger feeling - that the makers were afraid, or unable to push Brawl in a single, definitive direction of its own.

The one area where Brawl takes a chance and tries on a new hat for the series, so to speak, is the story mode, here amusingly titled ‘The Subspace Emissary’. All Smash Bros. titles have had a single player mode, but this marks the first major attempt to actually tell a story. It’s reasonably engaging and can hold your attention (which is more than can be said for the previous single-player modes), but unfortunately fails to be anything more than an interesting barrier to unlocking all characters. The Subspace Emissary showed all the signs of being an interesting and modern take on the side-scrolling platform-adventure, but it seems that it was not to be: the enemies, with the exclusion of some bosses and reoccurring Nintendo faces, are uninteresting and the stages uninspired. It’s still enjoyable, and certainly the first thing that you’ll do in the game (as, unfortunately, Brawl falls prey to that familiar trap of forcing players to play lengthy bouts to unlock the most interesting characters), but it won’t be the first thing you think of when you recall Brawl in a decade’s time.

Perhaps by being willing to limit itself, Brawl could have been a great game. As it stands, it is simply the strongest iteration of a great series. This is no understatement, or a downplaying of the game’s strengths. The game that hits store shelves tomorrow is a very, very fine example of design and will undoubtedly remain one of the Wii’s most attractive multiplayer games until the end of the system. In saying that, however, it’s worth noting that by squeezing so many improved features into the one game, the makers have somehow managed to turn Brawl into something not too dissimilar from its GameCube sibling.

By Loveday Morris

July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Game Group Plc, the U.K.'s largest video-games retailer, said sales growth accelerated in the second quarter as new releases including Nintendo Co.'s ``Wii Fit'' and ``Grand Theft Auto IV'' boosted revenue.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 25 percent in the 22 weeks ended June 28, the company said today, faster than the 20 percent gain it reported for the first 13 weeks of the period. First half pretax profit will surge to at least 33 million pounds ($65.7 million) from 2.7 million pounds a year before, Game said.

Game Group fell 4.2 percent in London trading as some analysts said sales can't get any better. Releases including Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s ``Grand Theft Auto IV'' and ``Wii Fit'' went on sale in April, drawing shoppers even as higher fuel and food costs weigh on disposable incomes.

``Despite this continuing strong performance, the current gaming cycle is going to peak at some point, as it has done with previous console generations,'' Landsbanki Securities analyst Mark Photiades wrote in a note. ``The current cycle has been extended by the number of consoles available, and because the Nintendo Wii has attracted substantial numbers of non-core gamers to the market.'' Photiades has a ``reduce'' rating on the stock.

Game dropped 11 pence to 251.25 pence in London. The stock is little changed this year, the second-best performance in the 19-member FTSE 350 General Retailers Index, which has declined 41 percent.

Xbox, PlayStation 3

``People are increasingly starting to look toward the down cycle,'' said Numis Securities analyst Andrew Wade. ``As we move toward the down cycle, the stock will gradually be de-rated.''

Take-Two has said consumers purchased 8.5 million ``Grand Theft Auto IV'' units worldwide from the April 29 release through May 31, helping U.S. video-game sales gain 41 percent in the month.

Same-store sales in the U.K. and Ireland climbed 28 percent in the 22 weeks, while revenue at international stores open at least a year rose 17 percent, Game said. Growth was slower outside the U.K. because of an ``insufficient'' supply of Nintendo products, particularly in Spain, the retailer said.

Software sales are increasing while demand for consoles including the Wii, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 continues, Game said. Rising sales of games, which are more lucrative than consoles, will help the gross margin to widen by between 0.5 and 1 percentage point this year, Game said.

`Brain Training'

``The bears keep expecting Game's fantastic sales growth to slow down, but it never does,'' Pali International Ltd. analyst Nick Bubb, who doesn't rate the stock, wrote in a June 30 note.

Video games have moved beyond the stereotypical audience of teenage males to become a mainstream product, aided in particular by Nitendo's Wii and DS Lite, the company says. Games developed for the DS Lite include ``Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training,'' a series of tests and puzzles intended to stimulate the brain.

News source:  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aDRS0BE0Dl50&refer=uk