Stuff for Dads

  Army of Two: The 40th Day (Xbox 360)

Rated: 18.

Story: You are a mercenary hired to do a simple piece of infiltration work in Shanghai. As soon as you pull it off, however, the whole city goes up in flames. You and your partner are left to fight your way to safety through a lawless disaster zone overrun by the private army of a lunatic.

That said, you still find time for witty banter about pandas...

Gameplay: The 40th Day is a shooter where you view the action from over the shoulder of one of a pair of mercenaries. It's essentially a case of working forwards through each level, moving from cover to cover and taking out the enemy soldiers with a selection of sniper rifles, machine guns, grenades and pistols.

In the single-player game, you can order your partner with a tap of a button to advance, stay close or defend their position. A second tap makes them more aggressive, dealing out greater punishment but drawing heavier fire on themselves. While they're busy distracting the enemy, you can flank armoured positions or snipe from hiding.

On occasion, the pace is broken up by opportunities to rescue hostages or steal supplies. This requires a little more stealth and subtlety. You're also given a few situations where you must choose whether to help others or simply look out for yourself.

The game can be played cooperatively by two players (either on the same console or over Xbox LIVE).

Save System: Automatic saving on a regular basis. Checkpoints are only a few minutes apart.

Comments: I wasn't sure what to expect from The 40th Day. I didn't play the original Army of Two but I don't recall the reviews being particularly flattering. It also promised to be a similar ordeal to Gears of War 2 which I got bored with long before the end. I imagined an endless slog through a succession of brown corridors, interrupted only by an occasional irritating boss battle...

I was amazed to discover a colourful and well-paced game involving plenty of blasting and explosions combined with just enough strategy to keep it interesting but not overly taxing.

The game is obviously going to be most fun played with a friend but it's still very enjoyable played solo. The artificial intelligence of your partner is good enough to pull off satisfying pincer movements and gives a genuine illusion of working as a team. An 'Aggro' meter, showing which of you is attracting the most attention, makes enemy behaviour easily understandable. The result is a single-player campaign which is effortlessly more entertaining than either Gears 2 or Resident Evil 5.

The experience is helped by the fact that someone else appears to have finally realised that there are a few simple things to avoid when creating a computer game. Joyously, The 40th Day has a lack of pointless padding, irritating alarms and superfluous story. The save system is friendly, you can see what's going on and it's possible to select the difficulty level each time you play. Even better, there are no frustrating, tedious boss battles - only some extra-tough grunts who turn up every so often to force a change in tactics.

From the level design to stage content, there just seems to have been more thought than usual applied to The 40th Day. The hostage rescues and some gung-ho shoot-out sections make a refreshing change from the vehicle and turret interludes that are almost obligatory in the genre. Even the cover system works differently from most other games. Instead of pressing a button to 'stick' to cover, you simply stand or crouch behind it. You then control which way you peer out from behind it by switching your view from one shoulder to another. This takes getting used to but it quickly becomes a very natural way of doing things.

All the care which has gone into the game does make the few minor niggles all the more baffling, though. Why aren't there options for balancing the sound volume between speech, effects and music, for instance? What about subtitles? These are oddly basic omissions. I also encountered a bug in the controls menu. Inverting the y-axis (i.e. making it so that pushing the thumbstick up made me look down) failed to work first time. I was unable to shoot straight until I'd restarted the game and briefly tried the left-handed control setting. After that, inverting worked fine but I'd almost given up on being able to play the game by then.

I'm glad I persevered, though. As a spectacle, Army of Two: The 40th Day has more explosions than most action films and yet still contains more to think about. As a game, it's a linear third-person shooter without many new ideas. Nonetheless, some clever tweaks to the formula make it vibrant and engaging. How often do you get to ponder the failings of modern society while sneakily shooting bad guys in the head from behind a dead hippo?

Conclusion: Explosive, cathartic and really rather good.

Graphics: Technically competent and frequently artistically striking. It may not have the detail of some other similar games but it's a lot more interesting to look at. I kept having to stop to gaze at the scenery.

Length: Short (although the 6 or 7 hours it takes to play through the single-player campaign has become pretty much standard for this kind of thing). Getting to see the outcome of different moral choices encourages a replay.

Rating: 4/5.

Labels: computer game review, Xbox 360

 
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  Risen (Xbox 360)

Rated: 16+.

Story: Some generic fantasy world has undergone a cataclysm thanks to the release of a whole load of titans. You're shipwrecked on a small island that's remarkably untouched by the chaos elsewhere. (Well, apart from the ancient temples full of deadly monsters which have risen out of the ground, that is.)

You rifle the corpses of your shipmates for supplies search the beach for survivors and then head inland, looking for clues as to what is going on. The stern warriors of the king's Inquisition have taken control of the only town and have a plan to deal with the titans. Are they part of the problem in the first place, though? Then again, the rebels led by the former governor, Don Esteban, are a dubious bunch, too...

Gameplay: This is a serious role-playing game. The kind where you have to blat countless opponents over the head to gain enough experience to go up a level and then spend ages sifting through your character's inventory in order to trade items and equip the best loot. There are quests to go on and dungeons to explore. There are also endless monsters to be eaten by because your armour's rubbish and you haven't levelled up your sword skill enough.

You control a single character from a third-person perspective. Combat is surprisingly tricky, involving a mix of timing, footwork and strategic use of the environment. Going up a level brings learning points which can be used to improve skills, provided you can find a suitable trainer and enough gold to pay them. Skills range from sword and bow proficiency to alchemy (for making potions), lock picking, prospecting, smithying and sneaking. Later on, magical abilities can be learned as well, allowing such things as telekinesis, levitation and transformation.

Save System: Save at any time. It's a pretty slow and clunky process, though, considering how often you'll want to save. See those ostrich things just next to the start location? They'll kill you. See that wolf over there? It'll kill you. See its four friends hiding in the undergrowth? They'll kill you quickly. See that empty corridor? It will kill you quicker than that... Then the lizardmen hiding round the corner will kill you some more, just to make sure.

Comments: I'm a big fan of the sort of computer role-playing games that are descended from Dungeons & Dragons. I can't be doing with the tedious battles and melodrama of Japanese RPGs but I like exploring ruins, collecting loot, running errands for villagers and agonising over whether to spend my next upgrade on improving my lock picking or sword skills. I originally bought my 360 to play Oblivion and didn't regret it.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you shouldn't play Risen. Simple as that. Risen is for fans of the genre. It doesn't pander to newcomers and is full of foibles and irritations that only veterans will put up with. If you like the sound of exploring an open world and living the life of a wandering adventurer, play Oblivion and Fallout 3 first. If you love them, Risen might be worth a look.

Since Oblivion came out, similar releases have been thin on the ground. There's been maybe one a year - Two Worlds, Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Sacred 2. (I suppose Fable 2 counts as well but it's more an adventure with RPG elements than a full RPG.) I've had to make do with what was available. Despite all their flaws, I quite enjoyed Two Worlds and Mass Effect.

Risen should be onto a winner. It's easily better than Two Worlds and much more complex and expansive than Mass Effect. The only problem is that two similar games came out in the same month - Ego Draconis and Dragon Age Origins - and, in the New Year, there's Two Worlds 2 and Mass Effect 2. Suddenly there's competition in the world of wandering exploration and looting.

Risen doesn't really seem to have been expecting this...

The game goes out of its way to kick you in the teeth. This is probably best exemplified by the way it displays a gold value for treasure you find but only ever lets you trade stuff for one-fifth of the marked price. Handing over mountains of treasure for almost no return is demoralising. Much of the game is taken up by scraping together the gold essential for training. This involves fighting monsters but fighting monsters without being killed requires getting some training.

Gah.

All in all, Risen is rock hard. On 'Normal' difficulty, it's consistently as difficult as Fallout 3 ever gets on 'Very Hard'. This can be tiresome. That said, there are well-designed dungeons, excellent quests and some interesting moral dilemmas as you decide which faction to side with. For every flaw, there's a fantastic feature to be discovered - if you're prepared to persevere. It can easily take twenty hours to get to the point of learning basic magic, for instance. The dialogue is well-written but presented in a tedious manner. Some elements of the interface are cunningly adapted for the Xbox, others are ripped straight from the PC and are laborious without a mouse...

It's a bit of a mess.

It's not broken, though, and it's already being sold cheap. If you know your bolts from your arrows and your teleport stone from your ice crystal, it'll make you smile (when you're not gnashing your teeth in frustration).

Conclusion: The very definition of a 3/5 game. If you like complex, free-roaming RPGs that take their influence from Tolkien rather than manga, then you'll get plenty of enjoyment from Risen. If you don't, or you're not sure, you're liable to give up in disgust after half an hour.

Graphics: Dark and rough but adequate. An update from Xbox LIVE fixes the worst problems but you'll still have to be willing to put up with distant objects popping up from nowhere, combined with some stutter when the action gets hectic.

Length: Very long.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, Xbox 360

 
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  Playmobil Pirates Boarding! (DS)

Rated: 3+ but there's lots of complex text. Players will need to be able to read fluently to get the most from the game.

Story: Pirate One-Eye must search out the nine pieces of Blackbeard's sea-chart in order to find the mermaid and rescue her from the 'wicked' soldiers.

There's a possibility this may not be all that historically accurate...

Gameplay: The two main elements of Pirates are sailing and platforming. The sailing involves steering your ship between islands, avoiding reefs and enemies. Once you've upgraded your vessel and acquired cannons, you can defeat opposing ships and monsters to claim loot. The platforming is some basic 2D jumping with a touch of sword-fighting thrown in.

The main way to make money for ship upgrades is by trading goods between islands. This adds a little more interest to the missions, since most of them merely involve sailing between two islands, doing a brief spot of platforming and then sailing back again.

Occasionally, One-Eye must dive for treasure or fire rubber rings using a catapult to rescue shipwreck survivors. There are also a number of mini-games. These are simplified and limited versions of Blackjack, Air Hockey, Zoo Keeper, Battleships and Boom Boom Rocket. It's only necessary to win each one once to progress in the main game but they can be played additional times to win extra gold.

The Battleships mini-game can be played 2-player using 2 DSs and a single cart.

Save System: Automatic save on landing, setting sail or completing a mission. It's worth noting, however, that if your ship sinks, you don't die and get to return to your last save - you wash up on the nearest island and have to buy a new boat. This can be a huge setback. It's worth switching off the DS and reloading the game before the auto-save kicks in.

Comments: First impressions of Pirates are favourable. The graphics are good and the intro movie is reminiscent of the style and humour of the LEGO computer games. More than that, the dialogue is tongue-in-cheek and there's an ambitious mix of gameplay styles. It appears that Pirates has the potential to be a Playmobil take on Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass and deliver an epic free-roaming adventure.

Sadly, although there's plenty of freedom to sail anywhere, there's very little point. A free-roaming adventure normally has a fairly linear main story but plenty of distractions, side-quests and hidden corners to reward experimentation and exploration. Pirates really only has a main story and it's mostly made up of what would count as side-quests and distractions in a better game. It consists almost entirely of 'go there, fetch that' missions.

None of the constituents of the game are particularly broken but they've all been done better elsewhere. The diving sections are a direct borrow from Phantom Hourglass, for instance. In terms of level design, the platforming segments are twenty years out of date. Much of the sailing feels like filler. Without puzzles, secrets or even much variation, completing the game becomes a question of perseverance. Sprog1 (aged 9) lost interest after an hour or two and went back to the complexities of Pokémon.

That said, Sprog2 (aged 7) loved Pirates. He enjoyed the trading and didn't mind the repetition and lack of challenge. He was just annoyed that once the mermaid was free, he couldn't go back and do more sailing around without starting a new saved game.

Pirates is by no means a disaster. It's certainly been given some love and care (if not much imagination). Ultimately, however, the game will only to appeal to a very narrow age range of children. Children not much younger than eight will struggle with reading all the dialogue, while children who aren't much older will get bored with the basic nature of the gameplay.

Conclusion: Diverting for eight-year-olds and Playmobil fans but quickly becomes a grind for anyone else.

Graphics: Some pleasing 3D characters on a 2D background. Captures the Playmobil look.

Length: Short - 5 or 6 hours.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, DS

 
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  Countdown (DS)

Rated: 3+.

Gameplay: This is based on the long-running quiz show on Channel 4. You play 1-on-1 against a computer opponent to gain the most points. In Letters rounds you have to make the biggest word you can from nine random letters. In Numbers rounds you must use the six numbers provided to get as close as possible to a target number using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In the final Conundrum round it's a race to unjumble a nine letter word.

There are 11 Letters rounds, 3 Numbers rounds and a conundrum in a match. Each round has a thirty second time limit.

Save System: You can save and quit after any round.

Comments: Countdown has been going for nearly thirty years. If you live in the UK and have ever visited an elderly relative, then you've probably been forced to watch it at some point. It's an institution.

As such, I don't need to describe what this game is like. Imagine a videogame of Countdown... There we go, you've got the basic gist. Now imagine a much more cheaply produced version... Nope. Cheaper that that... Yep, you've got the idea. This is essentially a picture of a clock bolted to a dictionary and a calculator... except less entertaining or useful.

For the first couple of goes, Countdown is OK, giving a reasonable approximation of the TV show. Unfortunately, the cracks quickly become noticeable:

Tapping on the letters and dragging the numbers is actually a lot slower than writing them down. Since you get no points if time runs out before you're finished, this can be hugely frustrating. Thirty seconds may be the authentic time limit but it's simply not long enough given the limitations of the interface.

The opponent AI is laughable. It knows a huge list of words but has no idea which are common and which are obscure, choosing between them at random. Its 'mistakes' are equally unbelievable. ('CAOLS' instead of 'COALS', for instance.) Beating it on higher difficulties feels more a matter of chance than brilliance.

When the conundrum throws up words like 'CROCOSMIA', there's nothing much to do but sigh. Then again, that's better than figuring out the conundrum but not having time to tap out the answer. One shot, I actually tapped the 'K' of 'SHIPWRECK' only for the clock to run out as the letter was sliding across the screen into position, denying me the points.

Most of these issues are moot in the single-cartridge multiplayer mode. Sadly, a big new one is introduced - you can't play a proper game. Crazily, multiplayer consists of choosing a particular type of round and then playing the best of 3, 5 or 9. There are no points or mixed events. I can only assume this is to cut loading times but, honestly, with the minimal presentation and gameplay, there shouldn't be loading times anyway.

Ho well. At least the clock countdown music is as it should be... until hearing it once a minute drives you insane and you have to switch it off.

Conclusion: Looks and plays like an undergraduate Computer Science project. It's unmistakeably Countdown, though - in an absolute emergency, it might distract an elderly relative long enough for you to escape.

Graphics: Almost non-existent.

Length: Each match only lasts fifteen minutes but winning on the hardest difficulty will take perseverance (and some luck). Sprog1 (aged 9) played it for a couple of hours until it got too hard and he gave up. Not even the promise of in-game medals to collect could entice him back.

Rating: 2/5.

Labels: computer game review, DS

 
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  A Boy and his Blob (Wii)

Rated: 7+.

Story: A blob falls to Earth, searching for help. He finds a young boy and together they set off to defeat the evil Emperor who is terrorising Blobolonia.

This task involves a surprising number of jelly beans.

Gameplay: You control the boy as he explores the 2D platform levels. On his own he can't do much other than make tiny jumps, push small objects and come to a sticky end. Progress requires feeding the blob specific types of jelly bean to transform into useful objects. The available objects include a ladder, anvil, space hopper, giant hamster ball and (improbably) a hole.

The main levels are more about puzzling than quick reflexes. The boy is extremely fragile and guiding him past environmental hazards, dead ends and evil blobs is a case of working out which beans to use, in which order and where to throw them.

Each of the 40 levels has treasure chests hidden within it. Finding all three unlocks one of another 40 bonus challenge levels. These don't have to be completed to finish the game but getting through each one unlocks rewards such as concept art. The challenge levels tend to concentrate on exploring the uses of a single type of bean or on harder platforming.

There are no pointless motion controls. In fact, the game can be played using the Classic controller.

Difficulty: Seven-year-olds should be able to take a crack at it with some help.

Save System: Automatic save at the end of the level only. This can become a bit of an issue on later levels. That said, if you do have to quit halfway for some reason and come back later, making your way through a level is much quicker second time round.

However...

The game only has one saved game slot.

Count it. One.

Whose idea was that? Only one person can play through the game at a time on any given Wii unless they're prepared to share a saved game (which takes away much of the fun of finding the treasure chests).

There's absolutely no reason for this and it's just stupid. The only way around the problem is for every player to have their own SD card and move their saved game onto it after every play session. (Copying isn't enough. The data has to be moved entirely off the Wii and onto the card.) This is a fair amount of hassle, is potentially costly, and has the clear risk of a deletion disaster.

It's insane and worth thinking about carefully if more than one person in your household is going to want to play.

Comments: Sprog2 (aged 7) took one look at the box of this game and jumped up and down in excitement. He instantly loved the blob. I think he wants one of his own...

The game is initially a bit confusing, thanks to a lack of menus and tutorials. There's a short cut-scene and then you're pretty much left to your own devices. You have to work out the controls and mechanics for yourself. This adds to the haunting atmosphere but isn't entirely helpful. Fortunately, the graphics are deeply endearing, maintaining interest until the basic concepts have established themselves and the puzzles becoming absorbing in their own right. Watching the boy hug the blob is enough to make even the toughest housedad go, 'Aaaahhhhh...'



The first few levels are pretty easy, with lots of signposts showing which beans to use. These gradually peter out, though, and the treasure chests become better hidden, causing the game to require much more thought. Despite only having access to a maximum of eight types of bean in any given level, there are still often multiple ways to negotiate obstacles. It's easy to end up trying some convoluted series transformations, only to suddenly realise there's a much simpler solution. Controlling some of the blob's forms can be a trifle fiddly but the actual puzzling is a joy.

Collecting all the treasure chests quickly becomes obsessive (particularly for children) and greatly adds to the longevity of the game. There's an excellent balance of exploration, problem-solving and platforming. The numerous checkpoints, infinite lives and endless jelly beans help avoid frustration but the clever puzzles ensure the game maintains a steadily increasing challenge. Besides, although there's no great penalty for dying, the hand-drawn animation ensures a little pang of guilt every time you carelessly guide the boy to his doom (especially whenever the blob is close at hand to mope).

With heart-warming graphics and intuitive but complex gameplay, A Boy and his Blob is fun, challenging and charming.

When it comes right down to it, I want my own blob, too...

Conclusion: Essential... as long as you have enough memory cards to go round.

Graphics: Touching and beautiful. Imagine what a game based on Laura's Star would look like.

Length: Medium (if you make sure to collect everything).

Rating: 5/5 if you don't have to share it with anyone (or you simply don't tell them about it).

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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  Hasbro Family Game Night Vol. 2 (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Gameplay: This is a collection of virtual versions of five well-known family games: Operation, Jenga, Bop It, Pictureka and Connect 4x4. Each game can be played in a manner approximating the real world format or in a 'remixed' interpretation with aspects only possible in a computer game.

• Operation - Extract unlikely items from a patient by quickly and carefully pointing and twisting the wiimote. The remixed version includes additional stages, such as scrubbing wounds.
• Jenga - Use flicks of the wiimote to pull blocks out of a tower without it falling down. Extra features include bomb blocks which must be removed quickly before they explode.
• Bop It - Press buttons and shake the wiimote as instructed without messing up.
• Pictureka - Hunt through a jumbled mass of doodles to look for specific pictures or a set number of a certain type of item. Remix makes things harder, giving only the silhouette or the sound of what you're looking for.
• Connect 4x4 - In Connect 4, two players take it in turns to drop discs of their own colour into a vertical grid, attempting to get four in a row in any direction. Connect 4x4 requires four players and uses three different kinds of counter: rings, discs and double-thickness blockers. The grid is two counters deep, with rings going down one side, discs the other and blockers both at once. This means that each position in the grid can have a ring of one colour and a disc of another, leading to all kinds of strategic complications.

Each game has options for varying the difficulty and winning conditions.

Solo players can play against the computer or take on the High Score Challenge in a selection of mini-games based on the five main games. With multiple players, a Family Game Show is available. In this, success in mini-games brings extra lives for a final challenge which decides the ultimate winner.

The whole package is presented by Mr or Mrs Potato Head. Doing well in specific challenges wins new accessories to dress them up.

Difficulty: Children under seven may struggle with the fine movement required to play everything other than Connect 4x4 and Bop It. Bop It will have even adults pulling out their hair in exasperation.

Save System: Progress and rewards are associated with Miis rather than actual save game slots. When a player wins a reward, it is automatically saved for use with the Mii they're playing with at the time.

Comments: At first glance, turning board games into computer games seems crazy. The main point of board games is to get families away from the TV and sitting round a table together. Also, much of the fun of board games is in being able to touch and feel. Counting the money in Monopoly might be a pain but the whole reason for playing is the prospect of being able to wave a huge wadge of notes at your opponents. Even with the waggling options presented by a wiimote, that kind of thing is hard to replicate.

On closer inspection, however, there are a few possible advantages to board game conversions:

• An entire shelf of entertainment can be squeezed onto one disc. (Which, believe me, is becoming more of an attraction all the time as the kids get older and my house is filled with Gogo's and LEGO.)
• The computer can make up the numbers when extra players are needed.
• Laborious set up is avoided. (Good news if you've ever attempted Jenga with a child and spent more time stacking than playing.)
• Cheating is much more difficult.
• The computer can keep track of the score.
• The game can be expanded in new ways.
• It's impossible to lose pieces down the back of the sofa.

The version of Connect 4x4 in Family Game Night 2 is a nearly perfect example of when such a conversion goes right. With the remix adding interesting power ups, it ticks every item on the list. As long as you go for a set number of points to win, rather than a time limit, the computerised edition surpasses the real game.

Pictureka, meanwhile, gains and loses in equal measure. The Wii can shuffle the doodles around in a way impossible with a 'proper' copy of the game and it can also fairly judge who found an item first. Control is somewhat fiddly and frustrating, though.

Things start to fall apart after that. Operation, Bop It and Jenga are very tactile games. Much of their appeal is lost in translation. Using the wiimote to approximate the normal lever-pulling actions in Bop It brings a level of abstraction that takes away any fun. It's simply hard work. Without physical feedback, Jenga becomes more luck than judgement. Operation, at least, has been sensibly stylised to make it more suited to life on the Wii but unfortunately this means it doesn't actually feel that much like Operation.

Happily, these problems are less of an issue in the bite-sized mini-games, meaning the Family Game Show is still playable. Nonetheless, most players seem to opt for Connect 4x4 whenever possible. Despite being the hardest of the five games to explain, it's easiest to pick up and play. It's also much less of a lottery than the others, particularly for newbies. (Jenga and Bop It are impossible without practice.)

All in all, the selection of games isn't what it should be. That said, there's still fun to be had. Children obsess over collecting parts for Mr Potato Head and the Game Show is organised so that everyone stays in with a chance until the end.

It's just a shame about Bop It...

Conclusion: A mixed bag but worth considering for Connect 4x4 alone.

Graphics: Perfectly adequate for the task in hand.

Length: Solo play isn't going to hold anyone's attention long but the multiplayer can keep kids entertained for days. Connect 4x4 is the only game with really lasting appeal, though.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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  Goosebumps HorrorLand (DS)

Rated: 7+.

Story: You find a ticket to HorrorLand, a new and terrifying theme park. Once you're inside, however, you're trapped for all eternity. The only way to escape is to master the rides and, er... play crazy golf.

Gameplay: This is a mini-game collection dressed up as an adventure. You get to wander the theme park, talking to people and collecting tokens, then play the mini-games. There are bronze, silver and gold challenges in each mini-game and beating them earns 'Frights'. (Frights can only be earned once per challenge.) The more Frights you have, the more games that are available.

The mini-games are a varied bunch. Among other things, there's a deathmatch on the dodgems, an on-rails shooter, target practice, a mine cart ride, games of skill and timing, and the crazy golf. There are thirty mini-games on offer but only around twenty of them are unique, with the numbers being made up by variations and harder levels of what's gone before.

Nothing's very scary.

Save System: Regular automatic saves.

Comments: Goosebumps is a strange game. Certain parts of it, such as the cut-scenes and music, have received plenty of care and attention, while others appear to have been thrown together without any thought. Take the plot and structure as examples. A mini-game collection is perhaps the least ambitious genre choice possible and the spooky theme park justification for it all feels tired before the gates have even opened. Initially, everything points to a hastily-produced mess.

Then Goosebumps throws in a surprise - the mini-games are actually good. They're much more substantial than in most similar collections and are generally rather enjoyable. Some of them take several minutes per shot, involve plenty of skill and employ graphics at a level that I'd forgotten the DS was capable of. It's all much more shocking than anything the story ever throws up.

Given the quality of the mini-games, however, it's rather peculiar the enormous lengths which Goosebumps goes to in order to prevent you from playing them:

You have to collect Frights to unlock new areas of the theme park, only to discover you have to collect yet more Frights to unlock half the games in these areas. Even when the games are unlocked, you still need to pay tokens to play them. When the tokens run out, you either have to go and play the dullest mini-games on offer to win more or you have to wander the park searching the bins. (Really.) This just isn't much fun. Even when you have all the Frights and tokens you need, getting from one ride to the next is a tedious traipse through the park that's confusing and fiddly despite the map being permanently on the top screen. There are occasional people to talk to and there's a little exploring but it's mainly mind-numbing padding. Perhaps the original plan was for a Zelda-like adventure. Unfortunately, all that's in place is lots and lots of plodding through atmospheric scenery in a zoomed-out third-person view.

It could be worse, though - at one point, a plot twist reduces your walking speed by about half. It's like plodding through atmospheric treacle. By the time that's over, the normal traipsing feels like bliss in comparison.

The game is also hard. Getting to the end of the story requires the accumulation of well over two-thirds of the Frights. Considering that acquiring the bronze award in some of the mini-games is challenging, this means plenty of perseverance (and rifling through bins). Sprog1 (who's 9 and a hardened videogame veteran) started to struggle about halfway through.

That said, the mini-games are addictive and I kept coming back for more. It's just a shame that the rest of the game is so laborious.

Conclusion: Fun and frustrating in equal measure. Should keep children in the 8-12 age range busy for a while, though, even if they're not familiar with the books.

Graphics: Impressive despite looking rough round the edges. Many of the mini-games are in full 3D and the design is suitably spooky.

Length: Short.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, DS

 
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  Ultimate I Spy (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Story: You've found a mysterious contraption. The only way to power it up is by solving riddles.

Gameplay: The game consists of a series of scenes, such as a science display in a classroom and a fish tank in a kid's bedroom. There are ten scenes and each one has four riddles to solve. Each riddle is essentially a selection of things to find by moving the camera angle around using the d-pad (or thumbstick) and then clicking on them. Some objects instigate a mini-game which needs to be completed to cross the entry off the list. These are mostly pretty basic affairs involving a bit of wiimote waggling.

Ten of the mini-games are slightly more involved and have a high score challenge separate from the main game.

Save System: It's possible to save progress and quit at any point. There's also an auto-save after the completion of each riddle.

Comments: You're probably not going to believe me but this game is brilliant.

I know it's called I Spy and sounds about as much fun as searching your lounge for a lost piece of LEGO. I know it's a budget game on the Wii. I know it gives the impression of being vaguely educational. I know all these things mean it should be rubbish. That doesn't matter. Ultimate I Spy is great.

What's hard to get across about the game is the fantastic design of the scenes. Items are so well hidden in plain sight that it's possible to still be discovering new objects even after half an hour of peering at a collection. Despite this, the scenes are beautifully arranged and never seem unfairly jumbled. Solving the riddles is a case of learning to shift focus between different levels of depth and detail and to question assumptions about everything from size to colour. Sometimes just working out what to find calls for lateral thinking. Each scene requires more concentration and brainwork than most games do in their entire length. It all goes to show just how lame and unimaginative the 'puzzles' are in things like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil.

Every session of Ultimate I Spy is a chance to discover and explore and slap yourself on the head for not spotting the 'obvious'. It'll give you a better mental workout than Brain Training. It seldom becomes frustrating, though, and it's always possible to progress with a little perseverance.

The game is ideally suited to the Wii since it's so easy to point at things using the wiimote. That said, it does feel like the developers' first experience of the hardware, thanks to the copious motion-sensing and rather excitable use of the wiimote speaker. For every inspired sound-effect and moment of enjoyable controller waggling, there are five pointless cranks to turn and twenty bizarre noises coming from your hand. This isn't a major problem but some of the mini-games can be quickly tiresome.

The real issue is the game's length. Play it in a determined fashion and you'll become used to the devious tricks employed by the designers, whistling through in around five hours. Theoretically, children will take much longer but they're liable to either ask for help or work together, so the time increase isn't as large as it might be. Nonetheless, the quality of what's on offer and the budget price ensure decent value for money. (There are also the high score challenges if they happen to take the kids' fancy.)

Overall, Ultimate I Spy is an excellent game. Your children may not be convinced initially but if you sit playing it in the lounge, anyone who passes by will be sucked in. Eventually, everyone in your entire household, no matter how young or old, will be staring at the screen, muttering to themselves as they look for 'four jacks, a hen, a bed; a fox on blocks and a marble that's red'.

Conclusion: Ties with House of the Dead: Overkill as the most fun I've had on Wii this year. Strange but true.

Graphics: Beautiful.

Length: Short.

Rating: 4/5.

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  Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Story: The eighth Harry Potter book - Harry Potter, Star Wars, McDonalds, LEGO, Rock Band and the Shameless Marketing Cash-in of Doom - fails to materialise due to various legal wranglings. Someone somewhere comes up with the next best thing...

Gameplay: Choose from one of twenty Nintendo and SEGA characters and then compete in twenty-five chilly Olympic events. These include skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, curling, ice hockey, figure skating, the bobsleigh and speed skating. In most events, control is achieved by tilting the wiimote to change direction and flicking it to pull off jumps and tricks. Unlike the previous game based on the summer Olympics, frantic wiimote waggling is kept to a minimum, restricted to short activities like pushing off the bobsleigh and sweeping the ice in curling.

Events can be played individually or as an extended 'festival' of challenges to find the overall Olympic champion. There are also three party modes where success in events leads to an advantage in some other form of competition, such as trying to capture more squares on a board than your opponents. All these modes can be played solo or multiplayer.

When played individually in single-player, about half the events can be controlled using the Wii Balance Board.

Doing almost anything earns Star Tokens which can be spent on outfits and equipment. On top of that, dozens of emblems can be unlocked as rewards for achieving specific goals.

Save System: Achievements are automatically saved after every event. Quitting the multi-event festival on the event selection screen allows progress to be saved for the next session.

Comments: It's hard to get excited about another minigame collection for the Wii, even one where you can control a bobsleigh with your bottom. While the console's selection of first-person shooters and role-playing games is almost non-existent, there's already a 'wealth' of titles featuring a random assortment of wiimote-waggling tasks tied together in a perfunctory fashion. Unsurprisingly, most of them aren't that good, so I tend to approach a new one with more fear than anticipation...

Fortunately, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games has a couple of things going for it, namely... Mario and Sonic. I can't imagine my boys (7 and 9) opting for a figure skating simulator under normal circumstances but with the addition of a portly plumber and a blue hedgehog, they were all over it. More than that, Mario has a reputation to maintain for only appearing in decent games and so MSOWG features a good sight more polish than the average minigame collection.

The main irritation with the game is the enormous numbers of menus, cut-scenes and loading screens which need to be navigated between each contest. Skipping through them as fast as possible can still take forever. It's particularly bad in the short events like ski jumping where it feels as if you're spending more time watching Wario do his victory dance than actually playing.

There's a reasonable variety to the games (given the source material) and the motion controls add to the fun rather than getting in the way. Much effort has also been made to increase the longevity of the experience. Winning gold in each event isn't that hard but there are plenty of modes and collectibles to reward those wanting more of a challenge.

That said, although there are officially twenty-five events, many of them are merely variations of the same thing, such as different distances of speed skating. Disappointingly, events like the bobsleigh and downhill skiing have only two courses - a real life one and an outlandish Nintendo or SEGA themed one with power-ups. If you're not fussed about breaking records or buying your Mii a Santa outfit, it's possible to try most of what the game has to offer in a few hours (much of which is reading instructions and watching victory dances).

It's initially a surprise that there's no use of Wii MotionPlus but it would appear that this is a very deliberate design choice rather than laziness. All the games can be played with only a wii remote, making them more accessible and greatly reducing the equipment required for 4-player matches. (The nunchuk can be used in a few events but it doesn't add much more than something for your other hand to hold.)

If you're looking for innovation and complexity, Mario & Sonic isn't for you. It's much more a game for kids to teach to their gran. It's got recognisable characters and objectives, plenty of content and simple controls, making it a safe bet for some family entertainment in front of the telly at Christmas. (If you can stop the children fighting over whose turn it is...)


NOTE: This isn't me. My kids only look this pleased when I mess up the ski jump and plant my face in a snowdrift at 100 miles an hour.

Conclusion: Who knew that a curling simulator could be such fun?

Graphics: Pretty good.

Length: Obsessive collectors and multiplayer fans will be kept busy for ages.

Rating: 4/5.

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  Halo Wars (Xbox 360)

Rated: 16+.

Story: Twenty years before the events of Halo, a human military expedition sent to clean up remnants of a Covenant invasion on the colony world of Harvest discovers the aliens unearthing an ancient installation left by the mysterious Forerunners. What is found inside leads to a chase across uncharted space, a battle for survival, a first encounter with the Flood and plenty of clicking on lots of little green tanks to send them off to pummel lots of little purple ones.

Gameplay: Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game. In the single-player story, you get to control the human forces over fifteen missions as they battle various aliens. Most missions begin with establishing a base and choosing what buildings it should contain (e.g. barracks for producing infantry, a vehicle factory for tanks, multiple reactors to allow more advanced units, etc). Once the base is up and running, it's a case of manufacturing military units, moving a pointer where you want them to go and then sending them off to explore and fight. The quantity of resources available to build units is mainly determined by the number of supply depots in your base.

Mission objectives vary. Examples include: destroying all the opposing forces, holding out for a set amount of time, protecting civilian vehicles and escaping to an extraction point.

Save System: Save at any time. (Hurray!)

Comments: There's something about ordering tiny soldiers into battle that's quite compelling. There's a thrill from looking down on the battlefield, taking command of the situation and carving out new territory. I like to take my time over my planning, though, and way up the odds of every skirmish. As such, I tend to find real-time strategy games somewhat unsatisfying. The speed of events makes me panic and simply charge as many units as I can produce in the direction of the enemy, hoping to eventually wear them down. That this approach usually works is both a relief and a disappointment. I prefer turn-based gameplay which relies more on thoughtful tactics than lightning fast use of a controller.

The last real-time strategy (RTS) game I played at any length was Warcraft 2. That was over ten years ago. I suspect there have been plenty of advances in the genre since, most noticeably in terms of depth and complexity. Halo Wars takes a different approach, however. It's real-time strategy for beginners. Everything has been simplified and streamlined. There's no need to mine resources, pore over complicated technology trees or co-ordinate multi-pronged attacks with ninja levels of dexterity. Halo Wars cuts quickly to the fun bit of amassing a big army and sending it out to cause explosions. Strategic input is mainly limited to constructing a suitable mix of units for any given situation and making sure bases are upgraded quickly and efficiently. Far from being a letdown, though, this makes the game fun and accessible.

Halo Wars knows its own limitations and moves forward at a swift pace. The high production values, involving story and short, varied missions distract attention from the shallow nature of gameplay. Combined with a perfectly adequate control scheme and a brief but eventful campaign, these features provide a great introduction to the joys of being an armchair general without the frustration or head-scratching that other games can bring.

Conclusion: RTS for Halo fans with two left thumbs and a short attention span.

Graphics: Excellent. Units are detailed and clear and easy to tell apart. The movie sequences are amongst the best in any game.

Length: Short. Most single-player missions are around thirty minutes long on normal difficulty. There are extra maps which don't form part of the story, though.

Rating: 4/5.

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  EA SPORTS Active (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Contents:

• Game disc and manual.
• Leg strap to hold the Wii nunchuk to your thigh during some exercises.
• Resistance band. This is a long stretchy length of material with handles. You stand on the middle and then pull on the handles to work your arm muscles.

Story: Your kids are getting older so that you don't have to spend your entire time running round after them anymore. You're getting more sleep and you don't have to push a buggy everywhere you go. There is no more wrestling over nappies.

Nonetheless, you're still eating just as many chocolate biscuits as when you were chasing toddlers 24/7. Your trousers no longer fit. Something has to be done before you're forced to go and buy new clothes!

Gameplay: This isn't a game really - it's an interactive workout video. There are dozens of exercises arranged to form numerous half-hour routines aimed at increasing your fitness and building muscle-tone in different areas of your body.

The exercises include basic things like squats, running on the spot and bicep curls but there are also some sport and dance minigames. A few of these can be enhanced using the Wii Balance Board but it's by no means essential.

The Wii tracks your movements as you perform the exercises to make sure you're doing them right and a trainer offers constant feedback.

There's a '30-Day Challenge' involving a prescribed series of 20 workouts to be done over a month. There are also various one-off workouts and options to customise your own. Three levels of exertion can be selected.

Save System: Your achievements are automatically saved after each workout.



Comments: I think it's finally time to admit that I need to do a bit more exercise. I can no longer say with complete honesty that looking after the kids is enough in itself to keep me in shape. There just isn't as much physical activity as there used to be. My years of toddler hefting and buggy racing are gone. Any day now, I'm going to wake up fat and bald.

Active can't do much for my imminent hair loss but it has got me burning calories regularly. Switching on the Wii is much less time-consuming than a trek to the gym and has the added bonus that I don't have to leave the house in the rain. It's simply much more likely to happen.

While Wii Fit is about balance and well-being, Active is about heart-pumping sweatiness. All pretence of being a game is dropped in favour of increasing the amount of exercise involved. As such, it's not gripping entertainment but the real-time estimate of calories burned and the constant changes of activity are enough to maintain attention. After a while, it's a case of focusing on keeping breathing anyway. The very enthusiastic woman offering constant praise and encouragement is embarrassing if anyone else can hear but it's actually rather pleasant and motivating getting such positive feedback. You'll want to turn the music off and switch on your own MP3 player before long, though.

Each exercise routine takes around half an hour once you've got the hang of things but the first few take much longer thanks to the need to watch the instruction videos for each activity. It also takes time to get to grips with the equipment. The strap works best with leggings and has a tendency to slip down unless done up very tight. The giant elastic band is a little limp and needs to be folded over for some exercises. Swapping between activities while changing accessories and juggling the wiimote and nunchuk requires practice to do efficiently. Fortunately, the Wii waits until you're ready and then monitors your movements, so the routines stick to your pace. I'm looking into getting a wireless nunchuk, however, because the wire can be restrictive in a few of the activities and I keep whipping myself in others.

The main issue with Active (apart from getting sweaty) is that you'll need somewhere suitable to play it. Some of the exercises require plenty of space and/or a ceiling high enough to reach straight up without destroying a light fitting. Worse, such things as running on the spot and side-to-side jumping make the floor shake. Exercises can be easily removed from the supplied routines but, even then, if you live in a flat, you're going to have to make sure the downstairs neighbours are out.

The use of the Wii Balance Board is fairly cursory. That said, it's still nice to get a little more service out of the thing.

All in all, Active is surprisingly good. As with any exercise regime, it requires perseverance to get results but it's a great way to work your whole body without having to go outside in the cold and rain and without filling your house with expensive equipment.

Conclusion: Brings the gym to your living room (minus the monthly fees and scary blokes called Sven).

Graphics: It's all pleasantly bright and sunny.

Length: Depends on your willpower.

Rating: 5/5.

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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  Madden NFL 10 (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Story: Two lines of men wearing helmets and Dynasty-size shoulder pads charge at each other, a ball flies through the air, some of the men fall over and then everyone has a little rest.

Repeat.

Gameplay: Pick a play, put the ball in motion and then flail the wiimote around, hoping it does something.

Save System: Automatic save after each game.

Comments: I'm probably quite unusual in that I'm from the UK and yet I've played some form of American football. It's like finding an American who's played cricket - it doesn't happen much. Admittedly, it's only a low-violence 'touch' variant I've tried but I had to play it a lot when I was an exchange student in Illinois. I was unexpectedly good at it, too. My normal habit in team games of running away from the ball and keeping clear of trouble at the far end of the pitch turned out to be a winning tactic. The play would start, I'd leg it to safety, everyone else would charge at each other in an apparent desire to form a large heap in the middle of the gym, the ball would sail over the top of them and I'd clumsily catch it. Touchdown! I never entirely followed what was going on but, to this day, I still find American football strangely soothing to watch if I'm up late at night feeling unwell.

Basically, I have more clue about American football than many Brits. Even so, it's a while since I've been so befuddled by a game as with Madden NFL 10. Over the years, I've got bored by inaccessible games featuring micromanagement of the ecosystem in a small puddle, I've been laughed at by music games that have shown up my rhythm deficiencies, I've had my fingers tied in knots by action games with overly-gnarly bosses and I've risked RSI from any number of incompetently implemented Wii party games. I've very rarely, however, experienced a game where I've simply stared at the screen in bafflement and had no clue what was going on or what I was supposed to be doing. Honestly, I spent half my first game attempting to control the wrong team. The really weird thing was that my actual team's performance got worse after I realised my mistake...

There are plenty of options and modes in Madden NFL 10 but there's no proper tutorial. Since American football takes place in a series of short bursts where everything moves at once, it's hard to experiment with the controls and grasp what's happening. If you don't have a good idea what the real game involves, you'll be totally lost.

Beyond that, I can't make much comment. If you're an NFL fan, there's a lot here, including licensed teams, advanced controls and a host of multiplayer variants. If you're just wondering what American football is all about, though, you might be better off hunting out a previous version on the cheap or just staying up late and watching Channel 5.

Conclusion: A polished game of American football. (If that's what you want...)

Graphics: Not hugely detailed but very fast.

Length: More than enough American football to keep you going for ages.

Rating: x/5 where x is how much you like (and understand) American football on a scale of 1 to 5.

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  Ready Steady Cook (DS)

Rated: 3+.

Story: Just like in the TV show, you must race against time to produce a tasty dish from an odd assortment of ingredients. Defeat your opponent by doing well and winning the audience vote.

Gameplay: Each recipe is split up into a succession of mini-games controlled entirely by using the stylus. Some of these mini-games mimic the real life action, so chopping involves swiftly moving the stylus in straight lines over a picture of the item to be diced. Other games are much more stylised - opening a can requires tapping dots as they appear, while draining peas is simulated by catching them in a colander at the bottom of the screen as they fall down from on high. One or two of the games need a bit of practice to get the hang of them but there's a handy training mode where you can work on specific ones.

There are 60 recipes in total, each playable at three different difficulties. The more complicated ones need to be unlocked by completing the simpler ones but they're all available to read in cook book form from the start if you want to try making them for real. There's a selection from British, Mexican, Oriental, Indian and Mediterranean.

The game can be played two-player with two DSs and only one cartridge. Players attempt the same recipe simultaneously. The one who makes the fewest mistakes is the winner.

Save System: Automatic save after every recipe attempt.

Comments: If you play plenty of computer games, you're probably suspecting that this is a cheap and cheerful Cooking Mama clone aimed at your mum. It may surprise you to learn that it is, in fact, an open world adventure featuring acrobatic exploration through seedy gang territory in search of mythical ingredients while being chased by aliens and bald space marines with big guns...

Actually, no, that's a lie. You were right all along.

Ready Steady Cook is a competent collection of twenty short, culinary mini-games. These are put together in different combinations to simulate recipes. Each recipe takes around four minutes to play and has a good mix of memorisation, precision, timing and frantic stylus waggling. Played for a quarter of an hour, it's quite entertaining. Play it for longer than that in one sitting, though, and it becomes incredibly repetitive. Most of the mini-games only last a few seconds, so you'll have played them all before you know it.

The game is a passable diversion for short bus journeys and coffee breaks, nonetheless. As a bonus, once you've spent a while staring at the pictures of food, the proper recipes are presented in a clear and well-organised fashion so you can prepare them yourself if you're feeling industrious.

Alternatively, you could buy it for your mum, let her play it for a bit and then stand around looking hungry...

Conclusion: It's not going to set the world alight but anyone who finds the idea of a Ready Steady Cook game appealing will be happy enough with this. (Those wishing to be chased by aliens and space marines should look elsewhere.)

Graphics: Limited but adequate.

Length: Short. Beating all the recipes on 'Hard' will take a while but this is really a game to play for a few minutes every so often.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: computer game review, DS

 
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  G.I. Joe (Wii)

Rated: 16+. This is somewhat ludicrous, however. It's a game involving lots of shooting but there's no blood, and defeated enemies discretely fade away. If the faceless, body-armoured adversaries were given a silver coat of paint and called robots, the game would most likely be a 7+. It's about as realistic as two eight-year-olds playing war with their action figures.

Story: Some secret military squad of good guys is after an equally secret organisation of bad guys. The bad guys have an army of goons; the good guys have a selection of big guns.

Put them together and...

Gameplay: G.I. Joe essentially involves running round shooting things (from a third-person point of view). Two players can work together cooperatively or one player can take on the horde with the help of a computer-controlled assistant.

Each character has their own standard weapon and can unleash special attacks every so often. More rarely, it's possible to power up for a brief burst of invincibility. Characters can hide behind cover and there are occasional vehicle sections.

Save System: Automatic save at the end of a level.

Comments: Even by the standards of movie tie-ins this is dreadful. The cover system is fiddly and ineffective, the vehicles are a pain to control and the levels are forgettable and linear. Those are only the minor issues, though.

On the easiest difficulty, it's essentially impossible to die - take too much damage and you disappear for a few seconds and lose some points. This works in the LEGO games because the puzzling and exploring is as important as the fighting. In G.I. Joe it simply means that pressing up on the control stick and holding down fire is enough to progress through most situations. Watching the screen is frequently unnecessary. If anything, the longer I spent with my eyes shut during a level, the better my score got...

On the next difficulty setting up, if your character dies, the other player has to progress on their own to the next checkpoint. In a single-player game, you switch control to the character formerly controlled by the computer. If the surviving character reaches the checkpoint, the other character is reinstated. If they don't make it, it's right back to the start of the level. Even if they die while fighting the end-of-level boss.

This is obviously hugely frustrating. There's nothing for it but a tedious trudge back along the same route using pretty much the same tactics. The game isn't hard but even one such defeat is liable to test your will to continue, particularly as it probably won't be your fault. The automatic targeting system almost invariably selects the explosive barrel you're standing next to rather than the enormous gun emplacement a bit further away which is filling you full of bullets. This is not good. It's possible to switch targets manually but the system often switches back if you move around or chuck a grenade. In the heat of battle, this sometimes isn't clear until you're dead. Grrr...

Then there's the awkward fixed camera angles to mention and the hopelessly uninteresting story and characters. Oh, and almost no use is made of the Wii's special controls as well. Shaking the wiimote launches a hand-to-hand attack and shaking the nunchuk causes a roll. That's it. Nonetheless, in a final touch of disaster, this is enough to mean the game doesn't even work with jOG - try running on the spot and your character somersaults around like a loony.

Sigh.

About the only thing G.I. Joe has going for it is that there aren't many similar games on the Wii. Anyone swayed by that argument, though, should head down to their local second-hand store and pick up an original Xbox and a couple of better games for a similar amount of money...

Conclusion: I suspect few people have sufficient fondness for the subject matter to bother slogging through this.

Graphics: Bland.

Length: Longer than your patience.

Rating: 1/5.

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Wii)

Rated: 12+. Given that the film is a 12A and much scarier and more violent, this is somewhat bewildering. Certainly, any child who can read the book is pretty unlikely to suffer mental trauma from playing the game (due to the content anyway - the repetitive gameplay is perhaps a different matter).

Story: Teenage wizard attempts to keep up with his school work as the world crumbles in the face of the return of He Who Must Not Be Named.

Events whizz along at dizzying speed, though, re-told through a scattering of computer animated recreations of scenes from the film. If you haven't got a fairly firm grasp of the plot beforehand, you won't have the foggiest notion of who anyone is or what on Earth is going on.

Gameplay: Most of the gameplay revolves around three mini-games:

• Potion making. Choose and pour ingredients with the wiimote in order to finish the recipe within the time limit.
• Broom riding. Point the wiimote at a trail of stars on the screen to travel in the correct direction.
• Duelling. Wave the wiimote and nunchuk in different directions to fire spells while dodging incoming attacks.

Beyond that, there's not much besides wandering the halls of Hogwarts to locate hidden crests using a mix of exploration and spell-casting.

Save System: Frequent autosaves.

Comments: Most movie tie-in games aren't very good but have the excuse that they were rushed to meet the release date of the film. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is different. It's not very good but there really isn't any excuse. The book has been out for years and Electronic Arts have five previous Harry Potter games behind them, meaning they've had a while to plan and haven't exactly been starting from scratch. The movie was even held over for several months, allowing plenty of opportunity for polish.

Clearly, however, there's been no long-term vision devoted to the series because Half-Blood Prince is little more than three mini-games coupled with a virtual tour of Hogwarts. Mix a potion, run down some corridors, play Quidditch, fight a couple of duels, run down some corridors, fight another duel, mix a potion, run down some more corridors. Repeat.

The potion making at least uses the motion-sensing controller well, as you pick up, shake and pour ingredients and then fan the flames under the cauldron, but the hardest part is trying to match the stylised pictures and colours in the recipe with the actual versions around the cauldron. It all wears rather thin very quickly.

The broom riding is initially exhilarating until you realise how little control is possible over events. It's merely a case of pointing the wiimote at the centre of glowing stars as they rocket towards you. There is, however, a modicum of extra fun (and difficulty) to be had by holding the thing like an actual broomstick. (Although you may want to close the curtains before putting the wiimote between your legs and waggling it.) Since nearly all the flying takes place in and around the Quidditch pitch, it gets repetitive even more quickly than the potions.

Duelling is more interesting but the controls aren't particularly accurate. In the heat of battle, movements can be entirely misinterpreted, leading to shields instead of fireballs. In the end, it tends to boil down to dodging about until the enemy is open to a stun and then running in to spam them with a succession of Stupefy spells.

There's not much else to the game. Hogwarts is open to explore but the story is nearly always advanced by making a potion, playing Quidditch or duelling. It's like they made a Harry Potter version of Zelda or Grand Theft Auto and forgot to include the missions. Thus, what would pass for a handful of side-quests in other games becomes the main event.

Collecting the crests hidden around the school involves a little bit of puzzling and spell-casting. Finding them all is more hard work than fun, though. There's plenty of traipsing along endless corridors required to complete the story as it is. Shaking the wiimote at everything which glows to harvest mini-crests to trade for proper crests becomes tiresome after five minutes. On the plus side, it's impossible to get lost, thanks to the ability to summon a friendly ghost to lead you to whatever destination is required. This cuts down on plenty of frustration.

Ultimately, Half-Blood Prince is sadly lacking and doesn't even have the charm of Night at the Museum 2. It's fairly harmless, however, and works well with jOG, making a rental worth consideration if you're a Harry Potter fan who fancies some mindless exercise (but the combination of frantic arm-waving and running on the spot this brings to duelling makes closing the curtains absolutely essential...)

Conclusion: A very small collection of mini-games connected by a very large number of corridors and a selection of dubious cutscenes.

Graphics: Hogwarts looks nice but its inhabitants don't. Dodgy animation, non-existent facial expressions and poor voice acting combine to unfortunate effect.

Length: Short. The main adventure can be fairly easily completed in 5 hours, even with a bit of sight-seeing along the way. Collecting the bulk of the remaining crests and badges probably adds two or three fairly laborious hours to that.

Rating: 2/5.

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  Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Gameplay: Golf. Absolutely loads and loads of golf. Honestly, imagine any type of competition or mini-game you can think of involving hitting a small white ball with a club - if it doesn't involve killer whales, it's here.

The game is played by selecting the club you want to use, the type of shot you want to hit and taking aim with the d-pad. After that, it's a case of swinging the wiimote like an actual golf club. Speed and accuracy affect where the ball ends up and it's possible to curve the trajectory by altering your grip on the wiimote. When putting, a grid of moving arrows shows the undulation of the greens to help you aim your shot.

Various different options are available to alter the complexity and difficulty. On the easiest settings, the controls are simplified and the game shows you where your ball is going to go. On the hardest settings, shot and club selection become an arcane science and a mis-hit leads to disaster.

The game is compatible with the Wii MotionPlus add-on which tracks position of the wiimote as well as direction and speed. In theory, this should add extra realism.

The single-player career mode involves a full calendar of PGA events. Multiplayer options include normal golf for 2-4 players and a party mode of golf mini-games. There's also online multiplayer. On top of that, there's crazy golf, 2-player Capture the Flag, target practice and even Frisbee golf.

Save System: Stupid. Some of the modes don't allow the game to be saved at all, so if the phone goes halfway through your eighteen holes, then you're stuck. Others can be saved at any point but it's impossible to have more than one round in progress at a time. If you've saved the game in the middle of a one-player career round, there doesn't seem to be any way of starting a multiplayer game without finishing off the one-player game or wiping it. There doesn't even seem to be a way for two different people to have separate one-player rounds on the go.

This is madness.

As far as I can see, the only method of overcoming this problem is for each member of the household to have their own SD memory card to store their saved game on and to copy it to and from the Wii at the beginning and end of their play session. This isn't convenient and it has huge potential for catastrophe. Not exactly ideal.

Comments: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is one of the first games designed to work with the Wii MotionPlus unit but I still don't have one. Happily, however, unlike Grand Slam Tennis, it's still a great game without it. The control options allow everything from fun pitch-and-putt for casual players to a marathon career challenge for hardened golfers.

With so many previous games in the series, there's a vast accumulation of modes and features, making it huge value for newcomers. The only downside is that the controls don't always feel as accurate as they should be - it's very easy to massively over-hit putts on harder settings and the Frisbee mode is prone to all kinds of spasms. It's as if the series has gone as far as it can without a more accurate wiimote...

Oh, hang on...

Conclusion: If the idea of playing golf in your living room excites you at all, then go out and buy this. The only thing likely to be better than Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with the addition of MotionPlus.

Graphics: Less than you might hope for from the Wii but better than you've probably grown to expect. The courses are perfectly presentable and the create-a-golfer options are staggeringly comprehensive.

Length: Will last you until well after Tiger Woods 2011 comes out.

Rating: 4/5 without Wii MotionPlus (although the save system will drive you to distraction if you plan to share the game with anyone else).

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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  Game mini-reviews

This time last year, the release schedules had been quiet for months and there was the prospect of nothing worthwhile surfacing until the autumn. By the time September arrived, even a Star Wars prequel game seemed like reason to rejoice.

Then the deluge hit.

I still haven't worked my way through all the decent games which were released in the space of a fortnight at the end of October. Since then, though, there's been a steady stream of quality titles and it appears that the usual summer lull may only last weeks rather than months. This generation of consoles is now established, developers have got a handle on them and a whole load of projects are approaching fruition - suddenly there's room to pick and choose.

Make the most of it. Another eighteen months and publishers will be jumping on the motion-sensing bandwagon of Microsoft's Natal camera, Sony's magic wand and Nintendo's inevitable HD Wii. There will be nothing to play but tennis games. Consider starting through Fallout 3 again to help eek out this glut of interactive goodness until 2014. (Not to mention the fact that, with all this competition, prices are bound to tumble, and waiting a few months to pick up the latest releases will save a big bundle of cash.) In the meantime, here's a mixed bag of older offerings to keep you going:

Tomb Raider Underworld (12) - Xbox 360 - If you've never played Tomb Raider before, go play Anniversary now. If you've played a couple of Tomb Raiders before, however, you probably know what to expect.

Yep, that's right - more of the same.

The plot, which builds on both Legend and Anniversary, is less than gripping but most of the locations are suitably epic and the emphasis is firmly on exploration and not combat. It's still not quite as good as the first one but it's getting there. 4/5.

Prince of Persia (12+) - Xbox 360 - POP: Sands of Time is one of the stand-out games on PS2, featuring a superb blend of acrobatics and sword-fighting in an atmospheric Middle Eastern setting. Every POP game since has messed with the formula and broken it in a slightly different way.

This reboot of the series is presented as an open world to explore but it's more an interlaced selection of linear routes. Getting from A to B is normally a case of pointing the prince in the right direction and then watching him go as you press a sequence of buttons with the correct timing. Almost all need to think has been removed. The game feels like an enormous interactive cutscene.

On top of that, the fights are repetitive tests of endurance and the experience is padded out by forcing most areas to be done twice. It still looks great and has plenty of charm but feels like a shadow of what could have been. 3/5.

Uncharted (15) - PS3 - The first level of Uncharted wants to be Tomb Raider, complete with jumping, climbing and puzzle-solving. Slowly, however, the platforming decreases and the number of bad guys with guns ramps up. Before long, it's all about hiding behind cover and pointing a shotgun at anything which moves. By the end, it involves creeping around in the dark shooting zombie Nazis. (Really.)

Despite some lack-lustre level design, the result isn't bad. It's just unexpectedly much more Gears of War than Lara Croft. 3/5.

Farcry 2 (18) - Xbox 360 - This is an admirable attempt to do something new with the first-person shooter genre. You're a mercenary in a war-torn corner of Africa and your brief is simply to assassinate a particularly loathsome arms dealer. How to do it is up to you. You must win friends, earn cash and explore the landscape, taking work where you can find it. The freedom is both liberating and disorienting.

Sadly, the game ends up with neither focus nor breadth of gameplay. It remains almost entirely about shooting people - there's merely lots of driving round in a jeep in between. 3/5.

Fable 2 (15) - Xbox 360 - Fable was, to my mind, the most over-rated game on the original Xbox. Billed as an expansive RPG packed with moral choices, it turned out to be a hugely confined mess where changing outfit could turn you from very good to fairly evil. The story was clichéd, the load times were enormous, the combat was unbalanced and almost everything was broken. Having chickenpox at the time I played it may have coloured my feelings but it's hard to argue that it wasn't hugely flawed.

Thankfully, the sequel does a great job of fixing things. Combat and exploration have been greatly improved, allowing some leeway to ignore the stuff which is still lacking, like the gimmicky communication system, the tavern games and some of the side quests. If you like role-playing games, there's plenty to enjoy. 4/5.

LittleBIG Planet (7+) - PS3 - I really can't see what the fuss is about this one. It's a very short 2D platformer that's frequently frustrating. Sure it looks good and there are lots of user-made levels but who cares how many levels you can download when the basic game isn't that interesting? 2/5.

Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction (7+) - PS3 - R&C 2 on PS2 was the best in the series. It was a great blend of platforming, shooting and racing. Unfortunately, that made it too similar to Jak 2 which came out at roughly the same time. Over the course of various sequels, Sony has made the Jak and Daxter games all about the racing while Ratchet & Clank has concentrated on shooting robots and aliens with increasingly more-outlandish weaponry.

R&C:FTOD feels like an HD remake of the last couple of PS2 games with added space pirates. Or maybe there were space pirates in the previous games. I can't remember. They've all blended together. It's still fun but I miss the variety of the earlier games. 4/5.

Right, now I'm off to hide in a bunker for a few months. I expect to emerge just after Christmas to find the world buried under copies of Wii Sports Resort, Modern Warfare 2 and a thousand DS pet simulators...

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  Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)

Rated: 3+.

Story: You're an up-and-coming tennis player attempting to win the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Gameplay: Create your own player (complete with daft haircut and designer gear) then go play tennis by swinging the wiimote. Timing dictates which direction the ball goes. A combination of button presses and angle of swing determines the type of shot played. Using the d-pad sends you towards the net or baseline. The Wii moves you automatically towards the ball unless you attach the nunchuk to do it yourself.

The Wii MotionPlus unit can be used to give more accurate control.

Save System: Regular auto-save. (Not that you're likely to achieve anything much worth saving.)

Comments: The main feature of Grand Slam Tennis is that it's the first game to utilise the new Wii MotionPlus accessory. This clips into the nunchuk port of the wiimote and allows the Wii to reproduce proper 1:1 movement. A normal wiimote detects how fast it's being moved and in which direction but Wii MotionPlus introduces position detection. With WMP, the Wii can tell where the controller is, not just what you're doing with it. This should make the hand movements of your character on screen follow your own perfectly. Thus, in a tennis game, shot selection merely becomes a question of holding the wiimote in the correct position.

Except I don't actually have a WMP unit, which makes this review somewhat tricky. Then again, if you're thinking of renting the game, you probably don't have one either. Also, even if you do buy the game with a bundled Wii MotionPlus, you're unlikely to have extra units for multiplayer. It's still worth knowing how the game plays without WMP.

The short answer is that it's really hard.

Frustratingly, punishingly, exasperatingly hard.

Even on the 'easy' difficulty setting.

In my first hour of playing, I won two games. (That's games, note, not matches.) On easy. Nonetheless, this left me sweating and with a worrying pain in my elbow. I gave up trying to play the game in any fashion approximating real tennis. I sat down, rested my arm on a pillow and flicked the wiimote with my wrist. This didn't make much difference to my success rate but I felt it reduced the likelihood I'd need surgery afterwards.

There's more depth to the tennis than in Wii Sports but the difficulty is off-putting. It's easy to hit the ball but computer opponents return any kind of standard shot without fail and so rallies go on forever unless you take big risks. This normally ends in ignominious defeat rather than success.

The only break from the tennis is to play more tennis, either against legendary players or with 'amusing' altered rules. There are no mini-games to practice skills. This is bizarre, since even Wii Sports has some and in many ways they're the best bit. Despite all the licensed players and tournaments, without WMP, Grand Slam Tennis doesn't really offer much more than the game you got bundled with your Wii. It's also more annoying.

Conclusion: Rather than renting this, you'd be as well to dust off Wii Sports, unless you really, really have to play against Andy Murray at Roland Garros instead of your mum's Mii in Nintendoland.

Graphics: The stylised, cartoony graphics are pleasant and do the job well. Creating your own ugly no-hoper with poor fashion sense is always fun.

Length: Until your elbow starts to feel sore.

Rating: 2/5.

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  BOOM BLOX Bash Party (Wii)

Rated: 3+ in terms of content. Children under seven seem to struggle with the controls, though.

Story: There isn't really even an attempt at a story this time round. The levels have circus, space, pirate and hero themes and are populated by wacky animal blocks but nothing ties them together.

Gameplay: BOOM BLOX Bash Party is probably best described as a puzzle game. The majority of levels consist of arrangements of blocks that have to be demolished in a certain way. For instance, it might be a case of removing all the point blocks from a tower without knocking off the penalty blocks or of destroying a castle to make the gem blocks inside hit the ground. The means provided for achieving goals varies from level to level. Balls and bombs can be thrown, chemical blocks explode when combined and a floating hand allows blocks to be grabbed and pulled.

Throwing is done by aiming with the wiimote, locking the cursor by holding a button and then flicking the wiimote to launch. Grabbing is accomplished by locking onto blocks and moving the wiimote as if pulling the block about. Some levels involve light-gun style shooting, others allow blocks to be fired like sling-shots by pulling back on the wiimote.

Save System: Automatic save after every level.

Comments: I just re-read my review of BOOM BLOX from last year. I was sorely tempted to change the title, add in a few phrases containing the words 'more' and/or 'extra', re-post it and then slope off for a cup of tea and a few chocolate digestives.

Of course, that would have been bad and wrong but it's hard to avoid the fact that BOOM BLOX Bash Party is very similar to BOOM BLOX. (I decided just to cut-and-paste a few bits here and there...)

BBBP provides a virtual recreation of the joys of knocking down teetering stacks of bricks by throwing stuff at them. It's great fun lobbing a baseball at just the right angle to knock two chemical blocks into each other so they explode and set off a chain reaction of demolition. The large number of different bricks and objectives keeps the experience fresh throughout, with everything from crazy golf to zero-G levels. Fortunately, the concepts remain simple even when the levels are complex, so anyone can pick up and play. Also, the developers have a much better idea what works this time around, so there are far fewer of the fiddly Jenga inspired 'grab' levels.

The structure of the game has been opened up so that it's usually fairly easy to complete a level well enough to unlock the next one. It's also possible to progress by simply paying Boom Bux collected during the game. This takes away lots of frustration but attempting to get a gold medal on every level still maintains plenty of challenge.

Creating your own levels has been made easier and it's now possible to submit levels for them to be made available to everyone online (not merely people whose friend code you have). This means there are hundreds and hundreds of levels already available to download, play and rate. The process is surprisingly quick and easy - I was trying out something decent within seconds. If anything, BOOM BLOX Bash Party is a better advert for user-generated content on consoles than Little Big Planet, despite all Sony's hype.

The only real issue with BBBP is the cheap, soulless presentation of the single-player game. The animal blocks range from ugly to evil and have less charm than even the most minor character in any of the LEGO games. Quite how this happened with Steven Spielberg involved is a mystery. I can only imagine it's too increase the satisfaction of blowing them up and then dropping a big tower of blocks on their heads... This isn't a problem in the multiplayer, though, and that's where the real longevity lies. My boys have been busy for a while with the co-operative levels and the competitive levels can get extremely vicious. For three or four players, there's very little to beat it.

Conclusion: One of the best puzzle/party games on the Wii returns with more levels and extra features which make it a definite step up from the original.

Graphics: Basic but vibrant. The occasional judder that featured in the first game seems to have been eliminated.

Length: Medium.

Rating: 4/5.

Labels: computer game review, wii

 
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