Title: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Price: $39.99
System(s): 3DS (Also on Wii)
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Publisher (Developer): Sega (Sega)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for Cartoon Violence
Pros: There are 57 events and 20 characters grouped into Heroes, Tricksters, Wild Ones, Girls and Challengers categories. The story mode works well. There’s local single cart and multicart multiplayer. You can collect badges and titles to put next to your name by competing. There are online leaderboards.You can look at medals you’ve earned. You can change the AI difficulty level. Can make and trade event medleys with friends.
Cons: No “Dream Events.” Some of the included events are rather silly, like grabbing a bottle of water at the right time. Motion controls are pretty terrible. No online multiplayer. Have to manually upload all online leaderboard scores one at a time.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 87/100, B+, * * * 1/2 out of 5

Sega went to the trouble to make not only Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, but also Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Surely you knew Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was coming. The series has been an unexpected success.

Though, maybe that success isn’t all that surprising. True, the mascots alone and International Olympic Committee support help, but perhaps the real reason for the success is that the Mario & Sonic at the Olumpic Games series keeps getting better and better. While Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games isn’t perfect, it’s the best entry in the series I’ve played so far.

This London fog is a lot meaner than it used to be.

The London 2012 Olympics are coming up and Mario, Sonic and all their friends have been invited to compete. Take note of the word “friends” there. Not everyone was invited. While the various heroes and occasional antiheroes of the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog world are all getting together to show their athletic prowess, Dr. Eggman and Bowser aren’t on the guest list.

Bowser and Dr. Eggman are not pleased.

To get even, they have decided to ruin the London 2012 Olympics for everyone. Machines generating incredibly thick, colored fog have been placed at major locations throughout London. That would be bad enough, since low visibility would mean no events, but this fog also generates dopplegangers of the main characters who are challenging legitimate participants to events to keep them away from the fog machines.

So, to save the Olympics, Mario, Sonic and all their associates must join forces and compete against dopplegangers and famous villains from the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Tons of events, but pray you get assigned one without motion controls.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games has a remarkable event list. There are 57 different mini-game events to compete in, scattered across 11 different categories. If you hover over one in the single or multiplayer modes, you can see a “game level” difficulty ranking as well as a brief description, medals earned so far and the player’s personal best record for that event. It also tells you which group of four characters you’ll have to choose from – Heroes, Challengers, Girls, Tricksters or Wild Ones. Most importantly, all of these events are immediately unlocked. You don’t have to complete the Story Mode to unlock them. You can instantly start playing a single Highlight event or go through custom Event Medleys.

Each event begins in the same manner. Players get a quick description of what needs to be done to win the event. Some events, like 100m Backstroke, 20km Race Walk or Floor Gymnastics, require players to tap or draw on the touch screen. Others, like 3000m Steeplechase, 25m Rapid Fire Pistol or Judo, require certain buttons to be pushed. Then, there are the events with motion controls. These are hit or miss and usually succeed or fail miserably based on how much much the event relies on moving the 3DS. BMX, for example, is an event that uses buttons, the circle pad and motion controls to play but still manages to be fun. The same can be said with Show Jumping, which gives players the opportunity to avoid motion controls entirely by pressing A to jump instead. Events that focus on motion controls, like Rowing: Quadruple Sculls, Basketball, Hammer Throw and Long Jump could easily bring on system-throwing frustration. Hey, maybe then I’d finally get the distance I needed in the Hammer Throw!

Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid more distasteful events so long as you stick to the Olympic Single or Multiplayer Modes. It’s only when you head into Story Mode that you’re trapped. To complete each episode in the story and make Dr. Eggman and Bowser’s fog disappear, you have to win Challenges. This means you either have to complete one single, pre-made medley of events or pick and choose from an assortment of events or medleys to move forward. I was stuck on Tricksters Episode 2: Wario’s Scheme for two days because the event list for that challenge included Long Jump, Handball and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, three events I couldn’t seem to master. So while the story is good, it’s easy to occasionally find yourself stumped because you came up against troublesome events. Which means you’ll find yourself back at the main menu, going to the Olympics Mode so you can play whatever you want.

Regretably, there’s no online multiplayer in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Considering how well it’s worked for games like Mario Kart 7 and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, it’s disappointing. However, all the events on their own are pretty short so I suppose I can see Sega’s reasoning for it. Fortunately, it does offer local multiplayer. What makes it even better is that there is actually a 3DS Download Play option where up to four players can compete together using only one cartridge. I didn’t get the opportunity to test out the multi-cart multiplayer, but the single cart multiplayer worked quite well with very little lag.

I also feel I have to call out the online leaderboard. It’s a tedious and practically pointless addition to Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Each of your scores must be uploaded separately. Out of the events, 23 have online leaderboards. It takes between one and two minutes to upload scores to the online ranking and then download the most current scores. That’s if you’re lucky, as quite a few times when I attempted to upload, I found myself getting a connection error. No extra features are unlocked for uploading scores from what I could see, so it’s basically an exercise in futility for pointless bragging rights. Really, no one’s going to care that I had a time of 1:17:43.786 with Tails in the 20km Race Walk event and took sixth place in the Top Ranking as of February 9, 2012 because of it.

A quick look at the London Olympics with Mario, Sonic and friends.

As a mini-game collection, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games gets a lot of things right. It has 57 different events in which to compete and you don’t have to unlock any of them. There are 20 different playable characters. There are multiple multiplayer options. There’s even a Story Mode that’s actually entertaining and challenging. It’s only sin is that of tacked-on motion controls. While some minor or optional motion controls are bearable in a portable game, the events falter when they depend too much on precise movements. As long as you don’t mind skipping over the handful of games that make flail around like you’re avoiding a fleet of bees, you’ll find Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games a pleasant addition to your 3DS game library.

Site [Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games]

Title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Price: $59.99
System(s): *PS3, Xbox 360, Windows
Release Date: February 7, 2012
Publisher (Developer): EA (38 Studios and Big Huge Games)
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Suggestive Themes
Pros: Lots of assorted quests and tasks, as well as multiple factions to join. Four races to choose from. Can pick and choose which finesse, might and sorcery skills you want to learn. Can pay fateweavers to reset all skill and ability points. Can create equipment, potions and gems. Has a unique look and good voice acting. Can fast travel to visited locations. You have to actually think while fighting and not button-mash. Multiple difficulty levels. Loading screens only come up when entering/leavingbuildings/dungeons. You can eventually own houses. Minor crafting items don’t count towards backpack inventory.
Cons: There are quite a few fetch quests, some of which have middle steps that can be skipped if you inadvertently grab items early. It doesn’t seem like some non-persuasion dialogue choices have too much impact on the story. It did freeze on me three times while playing, though it hasn’t happened since the patch released on Saturday. No physical instruction book. Four times the game glitched where it wouldn’t allow me to examine items with the X button after random attacks, even though no hostile enemies were around. (I had to save and reload to fix the issue.) Backpack items are had to find.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 88/100, B+, * * * 1/2 out of 5

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has an impressive pedigree. Ken Rolston designed it, R.A. Salvatore helped write it, Todd McFarlane designed characters for it and Grant Kirkhope handled its soundtrack. Still, it wasn’t until I played the demo, to unlock Mass Effect 3 extras of course, that I actually thought it’d be something I’d want to play. Fortunately a review copy showed up a short while after and I was able to experience the Faelands firsthand. Getting all of those big names on board made a difference, as 38 Studios and Big Huge Games’ endeavor is smooth, beautiful and a joy to play.

Revived with unlimited potential

The player’s hero or heroine in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning starts off dead, but gets better.

That’s because this particular avatar was a test subject in a research experiment. Some gnomes were working on a Fomorous Hugues’ Well of Souls, in the hopes of creating soldiers equipped to fight the immortal Tuatha Deohn. Only one person was actually able to return to the living before the Tuatha were sent to destroy the well and its creators. Fortunately, this hero woke up “special.”

As Fateweaver named Agarth explains shortly after the well is destroyed, the sole survivor is something new. While all other people in the world are bound by the tapestry (fate), the hero isn’t. Instead, the hero can rewrite fate and alter the course of destiny. Players then get to set off on both big and little adventures around the Faelands on the way to a grand confrontation with the Tuatha and their leader, Gadflow. Granted, the player’s character’s actions don’t always have a huge effect on the Faelands, but still. The avatar is making a difference just by existing.

Players have ultimate control over their gameplay experience and their character’s abilities.

Let me start off by saying that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning could make for a fantastic beginner action-RPG as well as being something that will keep advanced players busy and happy for months. It isn’t that the game is extraordinarily easy, though there is a Casual difficult level, but that it does a good job of introducing a lot of complicated concepts and ideas in a way that’s easy for any player to understand. The tutorial is non-invasive, but does come up to familiarize players with all new concepts when they appear. The skill and destiny leveling advancement is clearly laid out and people can reassign points if they wish and the various crafting methods are all quite intuitive. Probably the most noticeable point is that it provides an open world experience while also making it easy for people to see where they could go next and allowing fast travel, so people don’t get flustered or feel overwhelmed by all of the possible tasks to complete and locations to visit. Plus, the familiar feel would help players grow accustomed to the pace and design of other western RPGs, since it feels so similar to other beloved games.

Of course, this means that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning can also come across as quite a borrower. Not that it’s a bad thing. In this case, it’s more like it’s reminiscent of other games rather than stealing ideas, since in most cases it’s improving on the games to which its similar. The atmosphere and ambiance may remind you of Folklore, the battling of Fable or a faster-pace game like Devil May Cry, the skill leveling is vaguely similar to Dragon Age 2 and the open world experience is akin to that found in The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. In each case except the last, however, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is just better. The world is more detailed than Folklore‘s, combat’s usually smoother than Fable‘s and the skill leveling offers more choice than Dragon Age 2. While it tries to be as open as Bethesda RPGs, it falls a bit short as the your character can’t jump and really explore every inch of the Faelands. That, and the decisions made in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning don’t seem to carry as much weight as ones in Bethesda or even BioWare RPGs. Villages you’ve “wronged” will forgive you after a few hours and most choices you make during quests are little to no consequence on your character’s future from what I’ve seen.

Here’s how a basic quest line will go in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The player’s hero or heroine will find someone with an exclamation point over his or her head in either the field or a town. Players talk to the person and get a quest. Usually it’ll involve fighting something or getting something/some. You go to the location marked on the map, fight the monsters that spawn or maybe talk a bit with some people there, then return to the person who provided the quest. Sometimes, you’ll be able to use a little persuasion to keep an item found or earn an extra reward, but for the most part you’ll report back and get a reward. It’s your typical, RPG staple quest. Fortunately, you can do more than one at once without switching your primary quest. Objectives for your main quest appear on the map marked by yellow circles, while objectives for other available quests have white circle markers. So you can stop by hotspots for other quests while you’re in the area. It’s also important to note that not all quests are fetch quests or minor errands. Some require talking to people to determine what should or did happen, require theft or assassination or even lead to a boss fight.

The fighting is also quite thoughtful and delightful. Battles feel more like something from a beat’em up than an action RPG, with the square button assigned to a primary weapon, the triangle to a secondary weapon, X to a rolling dash and R1 to a shield. Both primary and secondary weapons can initiate combos if you keep button mashing or unleash charged attacks if you hold down their respective buttons. You can also map useable items to a sub-menu you can bring up by pressing the R2 button and four skills can be mapped to an abilities menu brought up by holding down L1. Since all enemies have strengths and weaknesses and stronger ones have an assortment of attacks available, it means you’ll have to switch up tactics and actually put together a custom battle style if you want to survive. Not only that, but you earn fate points for attacking with different methods. Press L1 and R1 when the gauge is full to slow down time and deal extra damage to all enemies. Finish one off while still in this mode and you can button mash your way to extra experience.

I came to relish that experience boost, as it always brought me one step closer to changing my character’s destiny. The customization options are limitless. After leveling up one skill point and three ability points are awarded. The skill point could be put towards talents like persuasion, lockpicking, sagecraft or blacksmithing, making your character more formidable and capable of completing certain actions. The ability points determine the hero’s combat abilities and are broken down into might (warrior), finesse (rogue) or sorcery (mage). Investing skill points influence how proficient a hero is with weapons, what passive abilities can be tapped into and what special attacks can be unleashed. Invest enough points into each category and you can unlock a new Destiny, which is essentially a class. Destinies can be swapped at any time, provided you’ve already unlocked it, and provide bonuses to attack or skills, boost regeneration abilities, increase skill damage or other lovely things that make your character stronger. If you get tired of your current control scheme, just find a Fateweaver and pay to reset and get all those spent skill and ability points back.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is much better than you’d think it’d be.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning as much as I did. I figured it was just another generic, open-world, action RPG and I’d be sending off another character to do good works and save the world. After playing for over 30 hours, I realize it is much more than that. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a hauntingly beautiful game with fantastic battles and tons of content. There’s so much to do here in the Faelands that you won’t even miss out if you buy the game used and don’t get the “online pass” quests.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is also a good test for people. If you’ve always been curious about open-world RPGs like Fable or The Elder Scrolls, this is a good starting point. It’s well organized, easy to play, allows you to experiment with different playstyles and also has an extraordinary level of content. However, it’s made more accessible with a more streamlined and easier to understand blacksmithing and alchemy system, not to mention the ability to make your character a blank slate whenever you visit your local Fateweaver.

Site [Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]

Title: Super Mario 3D Land
Price: $39.99
System(s): 3DS
Release Date: November 13, 2011
Publisher (Developer): Nintendo (Nintendo EAD)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for Mild Cartoon Violence
Pros: Eight different worlds, plus eight secret worlds. You can eventually play as Luigi. There are mushroom, fire flower, Tanooki suit, boomerang, propeller boxes and statue Tanooki suits. If you die five times in a level, you get an Invincibility Leaf to make it easier. If you die 10 times in a level, you get a P-Wing to bypass the level. Levels get progressively harder. 3D effects look great and actually make the game easier to play.
Cons: Quite short, compared to other Mario games. Have to find lots of coins to unlock certain levels and Secret World levels.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, * * * * 1/2 out of 5

When the 3DS first launched, there wasn’t a clear system seller game among the debut titles. Sure, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition and Nintendogs + Cats were nice, but they didn’t have universal drawing power. It wasn’t until 2011 was ending that the major 3DS players showed up and Super Mario 3D Land was among them.

While many may have worried that Super Mario 3D Land was a quick release, capitalizing on the Super Mario name and popularity, the game thankfully proved it was quite the opposite. Super Mario 3D Land is clearly a labor of love and the kind of game people should buy a 3DS to play.

Princess Peach is gone and the Tanooki Tree is bare!

I’m sure you’ve heard of Princess Peach. Blond, pink dress, is supposed to rule the Mushroom Kingdom but she gets kidnapped a lot so I’m sure Toad councelors do most of the work. Speaking of which, get your gear together because it happened again.

Bowser caused a storm to hit the Mushroom Kingdom, blowing all of the leaves off of the Tail Tree. The Tail Tree is the source of all of the Super Leaves. Peach goes out to investigate the now barren tree the next morning and I don’t think I have to tell you what happens next. Mario and three Toads discover she’s gone sometime during the day and then head out after her to rescue her.

Super Mario 3D Land is the ensuing tale of Mario’s rescue attempt as he goes through eight worlds trying to find Bowser and save Princess Peach. And then go through an additional eight worlds to save Luigi and Princess Peach again.

This is how 3D is supposed to be done!

I want to start off by saying that Super Mario 3D Land is one of those games that has to be played with the 3D effect turned on. There’s no debate. It looks better, is more comfortable and just makes the whole game much easier to play. That said, it’s the first 3DS game where I find I actually am bothering with the 3D effect. Nintendo did a fantastic job of making the world vibrant and alive, without going overboard. When 3D is used, it’s a subtle way to provide a challenge in reaching Star Medals or to assist in determining depth of an area so you can time a precise jump. It’s just wonderful and I can only hope other developers will look to this as an example of how 3DS platformers should be done.

Super Mario 3D Land also succeeds because it draws on some of the best, past Super Mario games for inspiration. There are elements from Super Mario 3, Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Brothers in play and they all mesh together wonderfully. The level design is perfect, with hidden areas liberally spread throughout worlds and each one having perfectly placed midway markers. There are switches, moving platforms, an assortment of various enemies, ghost houses, underwater levels, underground levels, plenty of spike traps and quite a few daring jumps. Trust me when I say you’ll need to rely on muscle memory for quite a few levels, especially the airship, castle and Special World areas.

The only thing people may pick up on while playing is that some levels don’t feel very long. While some levels may seem short, I’d argue that they’re actually the perfect length. This is a portable game, after all. Some areas that do require more exploration do have clocks that can be grabbed to extend the time limit. I also think that some of the shorter levels are actually longer than you’d realize, just the way they’re organized and laid out allows people to find quicker routes if they’d like.

Actually, length can come up quite often when playing Super Mario 3D Land. An initial runthrough of Super Mario 3D Land can be quite brief, depending on the player’s skill level. I beat the first eight worlds in about four and a half hours and I was taking my time for the first half of the game, trying to find as many Star Medals as possible. Don’t let that bother you. After the first eight main worlds are completed, an additional eight special worlds are unlocked. They’re significantly harder, especially since the boss levels for each world require Star Medals to unlock and the Invincibility Leaves and P-Wings no longer spawn after losing five or ten lives.

Ah, those Star Medals. You’ll start to hate them after a while. As I mentioned, the Special Worlds final levels each require them and you’ll eventually have to go back to older normal and special levels to acquire missed medals if you want to keep playing. While it does provide replay value and an incentive to revisit old worlds, it reaches a point where you want to just have access to all the Special World levels without having to jump through hoops for them. My adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom ended when I realized I needed 200 Star Medals to unlock Special World 6′s airship level and I only had 187. After scrambling to earn Star Medals since the Special World 4 airship, I just couldn’t do it anymore and gave up.

Still, don’t let my lack of patience deter you. To date, I’ve spent 10 hours and one minute playing Super Mario 3D Land, which more than makes up for the $40 I paid for it. It’s a good game, it just happens to get taxing after a while and then you need to take a break to recover.

A great ride… while it lasts.

It may a bit early to say this, but I genuinely believe Super Mario 3D Land is going to be one of those landmark 3DS games. Years from now, when people are talking about the system, they will single out Super Mario 3D Land as a game that anyone, of any age, can enjoy. It’s simply one of the best 3DS games out there and I think it will retain that position of honor in the years to come.

Site [Super Mario 3D Land]

Title:Doctor Who the Complete Sixth Series
Price: $79.98
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Format: DVD
Company: BBC Worldwide
Pros: 6 discs, includes every episode from season 6, includes the 2010 Christmas special “A Christmas Carol,” includes Doctor Who Confidential episodes, sketches, brief prequel segments and there are some extra scenes..
Cons: There aren’t as many one-off episodes, there aren’t as many twists as there were in earlier seasons and the overall story arc is always showing up in practically every episode.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, * * * * 1/2 out of 5

Doctor Who has always been considered an iconic cult classic, but it’s been gradually edging its way into the mainstream ever since the new series was revived in 2005. The popularity really started rising when David Tennant was announced as the 10th incarnation of the Doctor and now Matt Smith and his 11th incarnation is starting to become a common name among science fiction fans worldwide.

Doctor Who the Complete Sixth Series is the second season where the 11th Doctor is the star and continues a storyline that was hinted at in the fifth season while also finally revealing information about a mysterious character, Dr. River Song, who has been occasionally appearing in the series since season four. While it isn’t a good season for new viewers to jump in, returning fans will be pleased with the closure season six provides and the special features the complete sixth series includes.

“Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked.”

The sixth season of Doctor Who begins rather unexpectedly. Former companions Amy (Karen Gillan), Rory (Arthur Darvill) and River Song (Alex Kingston) all receive an invitation from the Doctor to meet up at Lake Silencio in Utah. Everyone shows up, they have a picnic and it seems like it’s just a happy reunion before heading off on a trip to 1969. The Doctor mentions he’s 1103 at that moment during some friendly banter.

Then the Doctor is killed by someone in an astronaut suit that rises up out of a lake. By killed, I mean really killed. The assassin shoots him once, then shoots him while he’s regenerating so he’s absolutely dead.

Another man then shows up, who also received an invitation. He knows the three of them, but they don’t know him. He says they soon will though, even though this is the last time he’ll see them. He hands them a can of gasoline and Amy, Rory and River Song proceed to throw a Viking funeral for the Doctor.

Mentally exhausted by the events, the three proceed to a dinner, where River realizes the invitations were numbered 1-4, and invite 1 is sitting opened on a table in the diner. Suddenly, the Doctor comes out of the restroom, totally unaware of what happened. He’s a younger version of the Doctor, he’s 903 to be exact, and is very much alive.

That one event sents the tone for the entire season. Amy, Rory, River Song and the viewer knows what’s coming, the Doctor doesn’t and it’s all about finding out who wants him dead and why, while also seeing if it’s possible from preventing that event from ever happening.

Not to mention a whole new enemy known as the Silents, representatives of The Silence religious order, appear. You only remember a Silent while you’re looking at them. If you look away, you completely forget about it. However, any post-hypnotic suggestion planted during the encounter will remain in the person’s head.

“A big flashy lighty thing. That’s what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them.”

Doctor Who season six proceeds differently than seasons one through five. Each season has an overall arc and big finale, with hints as to what’s coming scattered throughout preceeding one-off or two part, unrelated episodes. Season six is the first that’s pretty much just builds up to the finale. There are a few one-off episodes, like “The Curse of the Black Spot” and “The Doctor’s Wife,” and the two parter “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People” stands well on its own, but this season was far more obvious when it came down to what the big story and reveals would be in the finale. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but people who preferred the more subtle setups found in the 9th and 10th Doctors’ storylines may be disappointed. Instead, the hints at what was going to happen during this sixth season were planted in the fifth season, with constant reminders left that, “Silence will fall.”

Still, Doctor Who fans will still be quite pleased. Once you get invested, the sixth season is very watchable. Matt Smith and the rest of the cast are comfortable with their characters and do a wonderful job of melding drama and humor. Plus, the production values and casting for each episode are very well done. It’s also wonderful to see Alex Kingston, as River Song, so involved this season. Of course, that’s only natural seeing as how season six revealed her entire backstory. In fact, you could almost consider her to be the focus of the entire season.

The thing is, it probably isn’t a good season for a new viewer to join the bandwagon. The season openers for the first through fifth seasons did a good job of setting up the Doctor and companions so anyone watching could start getting a feel for who these people were and enjoy the initial episode for what it was. This was, in part, due to each season starting off either with a new version of the Doctor or with a new companion. Season six, on the other hand, is more of a direct continuation of season five and people are expected to know who who Amy, Rory and River Song are and what the 11th incarnation of the Doctor is already like. No matter how good the ensuing episodes are, and they are all pretty great, new viewers will be left in a cloud of confusion for at least the first two episodes.

Once you get past that and some minor nitpicking, you’ll find the Doctor Who Complete Sixth Season is well handled. The BBC did a nice job of bundling everything up. Season six was initially released in two separate bundles, each with one half of the season, but hopefully you waited and didn’t buy those. Getting this box set means you also get the “A Christmas Carol” 2010 Christmas special, which was sold separately from the prior season six bundles. This compilation also includes the customary Doctor Who Confidential shorts, as well as episode commentary, “Comic Relief” sketches, episode prequel segments and five scenes from “Night and the Doctor” that didn’t appear when the episode was aired. However, there are also some bonus segments that aren’t exactly necessary included. For example, you also get four “Monster Files” segments talking about some aliens that appeared this season and trailers for the show. Odds are, you won’t watch any of those. For the most part, however, the bonus features are a nice compliment to the 13 main episodes from season six.

“I’m being extremely clever up here and there’s no one to stand around looking impressed!”

The sixth season of Doctor Who may not be the best, but it is undoubtedly essential. The plot revelations that come up here tie up loose ends fans have been wondering about throughout the fourth and fifth seasons. Not to mention it sets up the series for a fresh start with new companions in season seven. Doctor Who The Complete Sixth Series also offers viewers a complete box set that contains every possible piece of media pertaining to the sixth season of the show, from the 2010 Christmas special to a few “prequel” scenes to set up a handful of the episodes. It also contains the last 14 episodes of the Doctor Who Confidential series that showed behind-the-scenes peeks at how episodes were made. If you really enjoy the series, then it’s definitely a solid investment.

Site [Doctor Who]

Title:The Kore Gang: Outvasion from Inner Earth
Price: $19.99
System: Wii
Release Date: November 8, 2011
Publisher (Developers):Atari (Zoink Games, SnapDragon Games)
ESRB Rating: “E 10+”
Pros: Lively gameplay and story, unique levels, decent sense of humor, characters are entertaining, some fun boss battles
Cons: Some cut scenes and game elements could use more polish, a good number of the jokes don’t work, bad spacial relations makes some of the platforming more difficult than it should be, perhaps too much running and around and finding things
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 81/100; B-; *** out of 5 .

Well, here’s a pleasant little surprise. I had no idea what The Kore Gang was when our review unit arrived. I knew nothing about the project which hand been lingering for quite some time. Without boring you with the details, publishing rights to The Kore Gang were originally obtained in 2003. The game finally saw its Wii release in late 2011. That’s almost Duke Nukem-like in its delay, but thankfully this game is so, so much better.

The Kore Gang plays like your typical Saturday afternoon alien invasion movie, only this time the aliens are invading from inner-Earth, not outer space. Having finally learned from the kidnapped Dr. Samuelson “which way is up,” the Kranks are ready to burrow to the Earth’s surface and take over the world. They meet unexpected resistance, however, when our plucky heroine Pixie stumbles across Dr. Samuelson’s Kore Suit, a robotic device that enhances its wearers’ natural abilities. The Kore Suit allows Pixie to communicate with Dr. Samuelson, who guides her, the young tough-guy Madboy and eventually his dog, Rex, on their adventure.

Each character has her/his/its own strengths, and you’ll be switching between them all in order complete the levels. Pixie is a climber and jumper. Madboy is the brawler. Rex is the runner, although you’ll be taking advantage of his numerous canine abilities, as well. Swapping characters is as fast as hitting the C button, so you’ll be doing so frequently, especially during some of the inventive (but relatively easy) boss battles.

You’ll likely be doing more exploring than battling, though. Although there are numerous enemies to fight, they’re isolated, and mainly an inconvenience as you go on a rather large number of fetch quests. Getting from here to there is mainly a matter of finding the right items to unlock something else, but the lively and unique environments (my kids thought the design was very Dr. Seuss-like) keep things interesting. Each level has many of these floating ghost-like creatures called Zeeks to collect, which could bring completists back to already completed areas, or to spend more time there initially.

Some levels bring elements such as gun turrets into play to break up the general flow, but you’ll for the most part be running, jumping and swinging your way through, over and around various obstacles on your way towards saving the Earth.

Thematically, there’s nothing too special about The Kore Gang. And despite the prolonged development time, the game could use a little more polish. Some jokes don’t work in the cut-scenes because the timing is way off in the animation. Certain gameplay elements feel like that, too. And although the world of the Kore Gang is trippy and fun, it feels dated visually. There are also some design problems with the rotating camera (activated with the + control pad) getting stuck on objects, and there are spacial relations problems with some platforms that makes them needlessly difficult to navigate.

But none of these problems are game killers. Quite the opposite, I enjoyed my time playing The Kore Gang. It all comes together into a fun little package that charms the player despite its flaws. In fact, its flaws may even add to the charm. It won’t be one of the bigger games to send the Wii off to its great reward, but if you’re looking for a fun, light game to kill the time between completing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and the arrival of Xenoblade Chronicles, this is the game to get.

Site [The Kore Gang]

Product: Sway Single Beanbag Chair, Sway Couple Beanbag Chair
Company: Sumo
Price: $279 (Sway Couple Microsuede), $299 (Sway Couple – Corduroy)
Pros: Big, comfortable, fits two people, has back support and easy to clean.
Cons: Cover is not removable. A bit pricey for a college dorm but, if you can afford it, you just need to find the space.
Ratings: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.
Overall: A great beanbag chair that will work well in any game room and match nearly any decor.

Forget Sumo’s Sultan beanbag chair. It’s a good enough beanbag chair but, if you are looking for a comfy, over sized, beanbag-filled gaming chair that’s more like a structured “chair” than a sloppy bag, you can pretty much forget most of Sumo’s products save the Sway line.

All of the Sumo chairs have individual comfort profiles but the Sway Couple Beanbag Chair wins over them all for me for one simple reason: Stability.

Big Brown Chair(s)

I’ve now reviewed two Sumo chairs and they are both commonly referred to as the “Big Brown Chairs” by family and friends. It’s in part because of the color but mostly because these chairs are huge. Big, Really Big and Even Bigger should be the size names. They are also very memorable seats in terms of comfort.

The Sway, like all other Sumo chairs, has a bean bag core with a breathable lining that, after you unbox it, quadruples its footprint and takes on a more comfortable, beanbag-like (or maybe burnt marshmallow or giant meatball) appearance.

Each Sumo chair has a microsuede cover and the Sway’s is attached to the rest of the chair.This model does come with a small side pocket (or pouch) that is good for holding a few remotes or even a wide console controller. Notice in the photo below that a standard Wii wheel WiiMote attachment fits in the pocket. As in the entire attachment, with the WiiMote and it fits completely into the pocket (not just half way out as you see in the photo).

There are four available colors and the fit pretty much every decor: Khaki, Funky Brown, Pitch Black and Fiery Red. The microsuede is pretty easy to wash with a wet cloth although you can also get corduroy (I suggest the former). Unfortunately, it does not have the unzip-and-launder convenience of some of the other models being attached (the bottom does unzip to reveal the harder cotton fluff base). i suspect the design prevents the cover from being easily removed.

Shape is the main difference between each of the Sumo beanbag chairs and this is where the Sway Couple chair wins it all for me.

It’s Beany and It’s a Chair

Most beanbag chairs, although they claim to be “chairs,” are ultimately stools. They offer zero back support and aren’t much more structurally designed to do much more than keep in the bans. They are, really, just a big ol’ bag of beans, even if the beans are made of puffy plastic.

Here’s where the Sway Couple surpasses all other beanbag chairs: It is actually a chair. It has a back that allows you to comfortably sit up.

The Sway Couple, is as the “couple” portion of the name suggests, is also built for two adults. And two people do fit on it either close and cozy or with enough room for a polite separation. Granted, it’s not quite couch like, so it’s not a true love seat stand-in but it will suffice in a party pinch. It does sit a bit lower to the ground so you’ll have to bend your knees a bit to plant your feet flat on the floor.

For gamers, this works much better than Sumo’s Gamer beanbag chair thanks to the back support. It helps keeps you comfortably facing forward so you can see the screen while retaining all the plushy comfort of a high-end beanbag chair. The other beanbags chairs have the lack of structure that causes it to more quickly flatten and better resemble a pillow than a chair. (You can easily see this effect at any game expo where Sumo often scatters several for gamers to use in lounges or other waiting areas. You’ll notice they are all usually either lying down, face to the ceiling, or constantly flipping around to find ways to comfortably use their handheld device.)

Get or Gift, You Gotta Have One

By combining size, stability, comfort, attractive colors and washable microsuede covers, the Sway Couple is the creme de la creme of bean bag chairs. It’s the king seat, the majestic throne of what many considered the slouchiest of seats.

If you are looking for the ideal gaming chair for those who like soft seats and an actual back, Sumo’s Sway Couple is the best beanbag chair for the job. It’ll work in room at either end of the snazzy-to-slovenly spectrum.

Product Page [Sumo Sway Couple Beanbag Chair]

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Title: Nano Assault
Price: $19.99
System: 3DS
Release Date: December 1, 2011
Publisher (Developer): Majesco Entertainment (Shin’en)
ESRB Rating: E 10+ (fantasy violence)
Pros: Excellent graphics and use of 3D, varied gameplay and boss battles, easy to pick up and play with intelligent challenge adjustment
Cons: 3D can be hard to keep in focus
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91; A-; **** out of 5

This is the type of game that 3D was meant for. I mean, yes, there have been and will be games that look better on the Nintendo 3DS, and there have been and will be games where the use of 3D is more dramatic. But I have yet to play a 3DS game where the effect was this cool, this stylized, and this fun to show off to friends.

Well, provided your friends aren’t mysophobes. The entire game takes place inside an organism infected by an alien virus. In other words, you’re fighting germs. Creepy, crawly sickly germs. They’re meticulously rendered in dingy greens, pale yellows and pallid grays, with splashes of color to provide your targets, more or less.

Nano Assault throws the 3D at you in three different ways. Most of the game’s 32 levels consist of piloting your Nanite ship across the surface of cells in Twin Shooter (Ground) mode in order to defeat the virus and collect DNA sequences. Once you’ve collected all the DNA, you advance to the next cell. These play kind of like those spherical levels on Super Mario Galaxy. You pilot your ship with the d-pad and shoot in eight directions with the action buttons (hitting two at a time will fire diagonally). The control scheme works, but this is a game that could really use the dual d-pad device of Resident Evil: Revelations when it’s released.

Once you’ve beaten these cells, you move to the 3D Action Shooter (Flying) Cells in which you pilot your ship through tunnels of the Nanostray Virus’ Synapses. Again, you fly with the d-pad (aim the crosshair and the ship will follow) and shoot with the action buttons. Your targets will be plenty, in the form of both virus and the projectiles they fire at you. Walls and obstacles will also get in your way, providing for some intense and difficult combat sequences.

And finally, there are the bosses. These battles lost longer and generally find you confined to one area, although the bosses have multiple forms to combat. If you like these sequences enough, you can play through a boss rush mode to earn additional nano coins to purchase in game content.

That pretty much wraps up the action, but it’s enough. There will be multiple weapons with many power-ups to help you on your way, and an included “Nanopedia” helps you learn the enemy weaknesses. Still, the difficulty of some sections can be overwhelming, but the game recognizes if you’re having trouble and pulls back so it doesn’t get too frustrating. On the flip side, it’ll ramp up the difficulty if you’re breezing through. It’s a decent system that does a good job of keeping you in the game, although it may not be enough to warrant multiple playthroughs.

I mentioned earlier that the graphics and 3D are great, but there is one problem with this that can hamper gameplay; of all the 3DS games I’ve played, Nano Assault seems to have the hardest time staying in focus. If you move your 3DS a little out of the optimal viewing range, the 3D can go bad in any game you play. But with Nano Assault, that happened much more frequently. I was moving the 3DS no more than with any other game, so I’m not sure why it was such a problem here. Lowering the 3D effect helped a bit, but it was still frustrating in parts to die simply because the visuals would go all wonky.

That also hampers the ability to pass it off to friends to show off the 3DS capabilities, which is a shame because the game otherwise looks so great and plays so well. The arcade action is instantly familiar, and the action kicks off right away and holds on through all 32 levels. And it’s even more amazing that you get a game this solid for only $20.00.

The Nintendo 3DS has a lot of epic games coming out within the next couple of months. When you’re looking at something to play in between them—something that asks you only to blow stuff up—Nano Assault is the game you’ll want to go back to time and again.

Photo gallery [Nano Assault 3DS Screens @ Gamertell] Site [Nano Assault]

Title: Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure Starter Kit
Price: $69.99
System(s): 3DS (Also for PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac)
Release Date: October 16, 2011
Publisher (Developer): Activision (Vicarious Visions)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone 10+” for Cartoon Violence
Pros: Characters and environment look good, lots of Skylanders figures to scan in, figures retain the information earned in the game, each level has multiple challenge objectives to complete, playing with certain elementally aligned characters in certain levels or on certain days unlocks bonus, characters level up as you play and the 3D effects are used well.
Cons: The portal needs to be on a flat surface to transmit properly. You can only store two Skylander characters on the cartridge for on the go play. You really need one Skylander figure from each of the eight elements if you want to complete all challenges and unlock daily bonuses. You have to have a portal and at least two figurines to play.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 89/100, B+, * * * 1/2 out of 5

One of the hottest video games this past holiday seasons was a surprising adventure from Activision called Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. It was a reboot of the beloved Spyro series, only with Spyro the dragon for the first time sharing the spotlight with an assortment of other characters. All players would become Portal Masters, collecting real figurines which could then be scanned and used in the game. Scanning the characters on the portal peripheral would save data to them, allowing the figures to “power up” and become more than just a decorative representation of an imaginary character. The idea was to create an adventure that involved Pokemon-style collecting and Diablo-style fighting that would be accessible to players of all ages.

Now, for those just seeing the game starter packs and figures in the store, Skylanders may seem like a cash-in. The thing is, it works. The game is actually quite engaging. This is especially true with the 3DS version, as it is unique when compared to the other Skylanders console and computer games. It’s more of a platformer with mild RPG elements and has an entirely different storyline. It also has various objectives in each level, encouraging players to repeatedly replay different areas with different figures.

Collect the Radiance Crystals

The Darkness spread slowly over the Radiant Isles, bringing with it Hektore. This sinister spirit realized the power that the Radiance Crystals possessed and forced the Mystic Seekers to create a Dark Mirror so he could keep the Radiant Isles and its powers for himself and keep others from even knowing it exists.

However, Hektore’s power wasn’t absolute and two Mystic Seekers managed to elude Hektore. Their names were Fargus and his son, an amateur Seeker named Wendel. They managed to contact the new Portal Master, the player, and Fargus even sacrificed himself so Wendel and the new Portal Master could bring the crystalized Skylanders into the Radiant Isles with the magic portal so the Radiance Portals could be found, Radiant Isles restored, Mystic Seekers freed and Hektore bound.

Racing against Hektore and time for the crystals

When the Portal Master first arrives in the Radiant Isles, most areas are covered in Darkness. Players must use the Skylanders to go through various missions in each area’s levels, earning Radiance Crystals. However, collecting them can be quite dangerous. Aside from enemies that are liberally scattered throughout each level, there’s also Hektore. Once your chosen Skylander has acquired a crystal, he or she must make it to the level’s exit gate before Hektore catches up with him or her. A timer ticks down, though additional clocks can be collected to earn more time, and if you’re too slow, Hektore will eventually start attacking and will eventually catch and completely destroy the Skylander if players waste time.

Skylanders really works well in practice. The portal peripheral is solid, well made and as long as you have it on a relatively flat surface, it’s quite easy to place a figure on it, allow the portal to scan it and have the data wirelessly transmitted to your 3DS. There were a few times when I first began playing where I didn’t have the angle just right to allow the data transfer, but once you’ve used it a few times you know exactly how the portal needs to be placed.

Not to mention the figures and Skylander heroes and heroines are all varying degrees of helpful. Each one has its own abilities and playstyle. Stealth Elf, for example, is a good close quarters fighter even though she’s very delicate. Spyro is a good all-around character. Sonic Boom can work in close quarters, but she’s best for distance fighting since she can send her babies out to fight for her. The figures themselves are well made and it’s possible for a few people to collect and share their collections, so the group can collectively level up the characters to make them stronger champions when they are scanned into their own games. As for people who may be concerned about how well this would work on a portable system, Vicarious Visions has that covered. The 3DS Skylanders game has a Tag-Team system. Players can scan in two figures at a time, and select which one is active on the touch screen. So you can scan in two characters while at home, and then those two will be with you whenever you play the game at other locations.

Vicarious Visions also did a wonderful job with the 3D effects. They’re there, but they’re not overbearing. Also, they sometimes even add to the adventure. As I mentioned in the introduction, the 3DS version of Skylanders is a platformer and some levels encourage exploration before collecting Radiance Crystals, with some secret unlockables or challenges necessitating Skylanders reaching locations off the main path. Many times, precarious jumps or double jumps are required to reach these spots and I found having the 3D effect on made it easier to gauge distances.

The only real downside is that this entry of Skylanders isn’t for completionists. Well, unless said completionists are willing to spend money collecting at least five different figurines in addition to the Magic Dark Spyro, Fire Ignitor and Life Stealth Elf included in the 3DS starter kit. Aside from having a daily bonus, where each day two Element classes will receive extra experience from playing, there are also challenges in each level just for certain Element classes. So if you want to complete every challenge and acquire every Radiance Crystal, you’ll also need to buy Air, Earth, Tech, Undead and Water elemental figures. Of course, you’ll probably end up wanting do that anyway, since it makes revisiting areas more fun. (I’d recommend the Undead Hex as one of your characters, as she’s a good distance attacker and has the ability to briefly hover in mid-air.)

If you’ve got enough cash for the figures and starter kit, Skylanders is worth the investment

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure isn’t cheap. I found my copy at a local Goodwill for $17.99, sans figurines, and I figured I’d pick up two $4.99 figurines so I could actually play the game during Black Friday 2011 sales. (Single figures are normally $7.99 each.) It’s been a little over a month and I have five figures. I have no idea how it happened, but I also know that I’ve found myself unconsciously checking the toy aisles at major stores, hoping to find more. I actually went into a Walmart store checking for its exclusive Drill Sergeant figure and did find the Target exclusive Whirlwind figurine. So expect price to work against you when it comes to the game.

However, if you don’t mind paying extra for each figure or think you’ll be satisfied with the three figures that come packed in with Skylanders starter kit, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with this game. It’s a lot more fun than it appears and while there is a collection element, the focus is more on completing various challenges in different in-game areas while also powering up your characters. It’s well-made and the kind of game that’s easy to put down and come back to a few weeks later, without losing track of your progressed or affection for the adventure.

Site [Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure]

Title: Afterfall: Insanity
Price: $34.90
Systems: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Release date: November 25,  2011
Publisher (Developer): Nicolas Entertainment Group (Intoxicate Studios)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: The atmosphere is built up well, the characters are usually endearing and the story is told in a surprisingly coherent style.
Cons: Poor utilization of the graphics engine, textures are hit-or-miss at rendering, unresponsive keyboard controls, confused design choices and the game is too linear.
Overall Score: One thumb sideways and one down; 64/100, D, * our of five stars.

When you look at post-apocalyptic real-world settings, there are a few ways that a game can be built up.

For example, within the confines of nuclear war creating an irradiated wasteland, we can look at the Fallouts and Metro 2033 (both of which are great games). To a lesser extent with post-apocalyptic settings, you might also look toward Dead Space as some of the story involves humanity spreading  beyond earth due to the over-harvesting of resources. We can also turn to Gears of War, as the franchise deals with an ongoing war-related apocalypse.

However, we’re not talking about these highly polished games. We’re instead talking about Afterfall: Insanity, a game that tries to take so many cues from some of these previously listed games and make something coherent from these vastly different products.

The story is one of the strongest points of this game. However, seeing as how there are very few strong points, that might not be saying very much. We see the world after a nuclear war has devastated the world and a considerable amount of the population is forced into underground vault-like habitats. The story takes place after World War III (sounding more familiar yet). We play as a psychologist who is charged with finding out what is causing the madness that is spreading throughout the inhabitants of the vault. Throughout the game and the character’s own hallucinations, we stumble across some of the many darker secrets of the vaults rather than just the “confinement illness.” Eventually, we’re also charged with the responsibility of seeking out a new safe haven. It’s a promising premise with likable characters.Before we get to the bad…

There are shining points to this game that make it a project with a strong start. The keyword there is “start” because it just doesn’t feel finished. The story, even though it feels derivative of multiple other stories, is good if you have the patience to actually deal with the problems. More on that later.

Part of what makes the story as good as it is is the fact that there are interesting and likable characters. The characters make the world seem to come alive.

There is one other key thing that the developers got right: atmosphere. The lighting effects, fog, smoke and sound effects are excellent. They knew the mood that they were going, ran with it and we get a game that is almost as drenched in dark and moody atmosphere as a Silent Hill or Dead Space. I applaud the creators for that.

Told you the bad was coming…

It’s hard to know where to start when describing where the development went wrong. The problem is that, outside of the previously mentioned good, everything else feels unfinished and half-hearted. One of the most noticeable elements is the textures which sometimes don’t render. Whether or not the textures render, you realize very quickly that we’ve seen better games made with the same (Unreal) engine. There is just so much that could’ve been done in terms of the animations.

There were also too many confused design decisions as it jumped around in its conception between three vastly different genres. The FAQ section of Afterfall‘s website openly admits that the released product was considerably different from what was originally thought of.

We see glimpses of where the designers might have tried a more action oriented shooter genre, probably more akin to Gears of War. This usually comes up in the general gunplay as well as swapping your current weapons for found melee weapons and firearms that are found, though it works better in Gears. This is true mostly because I’ve run into multiple occasions where dropped weapons ended up disappearing, which made things interesting when I realized that I didn’t want what I picked up. Admittedly, this didn’t happen all the time. However, when it did, it was thoroughly irritating.

We also see glimpses of where the straight survival horror ended up coming into play. Some of the gameplay – particularly the exploration and melee combat – ended up feeling a lot like a broken version of Dead Space. In Dead Space, the User Interface is pretty much all onscreen and doesn’t force a distraction from the gameplay experience. Afterfall doesn’t have this. If the hit detection consistently worked and the animations were consistently better, this utilization of a pseudo-Dead Space presentation would’ve also worked. The hit detection only really works about half the time, which is pretty bad for an action game where a considerable amount of your enemies aren’t armored or require shooting/cutting them apart. Even and especially in the case of this look at genre, it’s a half-hearted utilization of the engine in terms of animation and physics that are capable with the Unreal Engine.

Then we also see glimpses at what could’ve been a Fallout-style RPG. Again, this isn’t necessarily bad thing if the aspects were properly implemented. In this case, it seems like Intoxicate chose to try to  do a third person rendition of Fallout 3 made with the Unreal engine. While that could’ve worked, it feels like a lost opportunity in Afterfall.

For one thing, once you realize where the Fallout 3 inspirations are, you expect there to be at least the illusion of openness. Afterfall doesn’t even try to offer the illusion of openness. Sure, you can argue that some of the doors are broken and locks are jammed. That would make sense, if some of the obstacles that occasionally blocked your path weren’t invisible walls in the middle of corridors. OK, this doesn’t always happen and if you are lucky enough to not run into this issue, congratulations. This also wouldn’t be as big of an issue of the controls were responsive. I can only speak on behalf of the keyboard controls as I don’t have a gamepad. Their responsiveness is hit or miss with an emphasis on the latter. Just a suggestion. If you get the game, make sure you have a gamepad. It’ll probably at least fix the responsiveness of the controls.

Nice try

I see what Intoxicate and the Nicholas Entertainment Group were  trying to do and I like what a finished product would’ve been. However, it feels like the game was released unfinished. I hope that they patch and complete Afterfall so that it would live up to its potential and worth the price.

However, at the price point that it is currently at, the game can’t stand on just the three things that feel complete.

As for future products from both Intoxicate and NEG, better luck next time.  And if you do make another game, stick to the original project. That way the completed project will have and keep a consistent style. It will make the gameplay far more intuitive and coherent. It will also make the project better all around.

Site [Afterfall: Insanity]

Title: Abba: You Can Dance
Price: $39.99
System: Wii
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: Ubisoft
ESRB Rating: “E 10+” for mild lyrics and tobacco reference.
Pros: Fun and challenging dances, great song selections and a karaoke mode.
Cons: Microphone not included, no incentives beyond the music and not enough ABBA appearances.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 86/100; B; ***1/2 out of 5 .

There was an unfortunate period in time when people had to pretend they didn’t like ABBA. It was after disco rightfully died and ABBA was unfairly lumped into that category.

That time has thankfully past us by and we can once again acknowledge ABBA as one of the premier pop bands in music history. They’ve remained relevant not through embarrassing reunion tours or showing up on other artists’ albums, but through the strength of their back catalog, which has been put to excellent use in movies (Muriel’s Wedding) and musicals (Mamma Mia), and to horrible use in movies (Mamma Mia).

Now, an impressive portion of their catalog has been compiled into the Wii game ABBA: You Can Dance. Because after all, if you can’t dance to ABBA, you probably shouldn’t be dancing.

ABBA: You Can Dance is from the same developers as the Just Dance series, so the gameplay is instantly familiar. You take a Wii Remote in hand and mirror the dancers onscreen as they gyrate to the music. The most notable difference between the two games is the appearance, as ABBA: YCD forgoes the neon look to allow more features of the dancers show through. They’re still mostly (and weirdly) faceless but you can make the distinct costumes that are pulled from Abba’s history.

Again, as with Just Dance, ABBA: YCD doesn’t really provide much incentive to play, other than to have fun dancing. You can instantly dance to each song in the game (26 in all with none to unlock). There are no costumes to buy or tasks to complete. Instead, you simply dance and try to get the high score.

There is a mini-musical thrown in but Ubisoft didn’t develop this as much as they should have considering ABBA’s legacy (along with Mamma Mia, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson authored the musical Chess, which gave us the ’80s hit “One Night in Bangkok”). Rather than try to tie the songs together into the story, the mini-musical is simply a quick (and rather lame) premise that sets up a string of songs with nothing of note to connect them. It doesn’t hurt the game at all, but it’s completely unnecessary. Better to just select the song you want in regular mode and start dancing.

The dancing itself is actually a bit harder than in Just Dance but more fun. The choreographed numbers are often pulled from ABBA performances, which will please fans. But, when you’ve got two or more people dancing at once, the choreography seems more set for the stage or spotlight than just a nightclub.

In fact, ABBA’s biggest hit, “Dancing Queen,” comes in two versions: Prom Night and Dance Floor. The different takes on the song are fun to try (and observe) and illustrate well the variations people in different venues can bring to a song.

A really fun addition is karaoke mode, in which two people can sing along. In fact, you can play it this way without dancing at all, if you like. Either way, it’s a fun way to involve people who have no interest in prancing around the living room (and believe me, some of these dances really do look “prancy”). Unfortunately, there’s no option to buy ABBA: YCD packaged with a microphone. You’ll just have to buy one separately.

Perhaps the biggest drawback, however, is the relative lack of any ABBA presence. Some songs include background clips of the band performing, and there is a brief history of the group with photos, but original videos and performances could’ve been better integrated with the songs, or at least as options to be viewed separately.

Regardless, ABBA: YCD is easily as good as any of the Just Dance games, provided you’re that into the band. The variety isn’t here, of course, but from my point of view, considering I’m a fan of Abba, that’s a good thing. If you’re not, there was really no need for you to even read this review.

Since you’ve made it this far, though, I’ll assume you’ve dug a bit deeper than “Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance On Me,” you know the lyrics to “Summer Night City” and “People Need Love” and think this could be fun. It is.

Site [Abba: You Can Dance]