Links crossbow training

Link's Crossbow Training is another of Nintendo's unique titles that mixes gameplay with some learning. While not as compelling as, say, the Brain Age or Big Brain Academy titles, Link's Crossbow Training still offers useful instruction for the day you happen to be stuck in Hyrule with a crossbow. The game is set to be packed in with the Wii Zapper accessory for the system. We had the chance to spend some time with a few levels of a work-in-progress version of the game and zapper, and we're pleased with how it's shaping up.

The demo (and, we expect, the game itself) doesn't spend much time on story. You'll play as Link and go around shooting stuff, plain and simple. However, if visions of some of the less-than-exciting Super Scope games come rushing back to veteran players, take heart--Link's Crossbow Training seems pretty fun. The three stages we tried broke down into three basic types of shooting gameplay that worked well with the zapper. The first is your standard old-school rail shooting that takes you on a set route through an area and requires you to nail targets. The familiar game type is livened up by a combo system and branching paths. The points you earn from shooting a target vary according to how close to the bull's eye you hit it. In addition, you'll gain a multiplier that bumps up the points you earn as long as you don't miss a shot. Finally, if you're quick, you can fire on extra items for points and, in the case of scarecrows, open up alternate paths.

The second style of gameplay has you shooting around Link in 360 degrees as various enemies advance toward him. Link stands his ground and just rotates his area of fire according to an onscreen radar showing you where he needs to be facing. Though the odds can seem a bit overwhelming, you can pick up an Uzi-like power-up off of green skeletons, which lets you shoot a quick stream of shots for a limited time. The third style of play is the most active and requires you to move Link through an area and shoot a set amount of enemies before time runs out.

Control in the game is pretty easy to pick up, allowing you to shoot with the trigger and "zoom" your view with the Z button (bet you didn't know Hyrulian crossbows had their own built-in zoom features). For the second style of gameplay you just have to move your sights to one side of the screen, and your view rotates naturally. The last style of play works the Nunchuk's analog stick into the mix and lets you move and strafe with Link as in any third-person shooter. Overall, the version of the game we played handled pretty well, aside from the occasional odd angle not allowing us to move or see where we needed to. We expect quirks like that are fixable via calibration.

The visuals in the game are comparable to Twilight Princess and share the same pluses and minuses. However, the game's graphics are really just there to frame the solid shooting action, so they get the job done with some style.

The audio recycles a bunch of familiar effects from Twilight Princess to establish its atmosphere. You'll hear the usual array of cries and attacks from Link and his foes. Much like the visuals, the game's sounds and music are there just to keep the shooting action framed and don't get much more ambitious than that.

Based on what we played, Link's Crossbow Training looks set to be a solid companion to the Wii Zapper. The game has a decent amount of variety and keeps the action brief, engaging, and challenging. Link's Crossbow Training will ship this fall for the Wii, packed in with the Wii Zapper peripheral.

Bens top cars

Big brain academy

Although Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training has the spotlight on DS, it was Big Brain Academy that first convinced me Nintendo were onto a good thing. Apart from looking more attractive and with a warmer sense of humour, Big Brain Academy on DS requires nothing more than prodding the screen – much easier than scribbling numbers or overcoming regional accents while speaking into the mic. The playschool presentation style also makes fun the main focus, family and friends volunteer to take part rather than being bribed.

Precisely the same ‘this looks fun, what is it?’ appeal of Big Brain Academy works equally well on Wii via the TV. The Wii remote is brandished casually as a pointer, only the large ‘A’ button is required to make decisions. You can begin practice immediately with any of the 15 challenges divided among five categories. Because the general idea is of a mental gym, the resident host Dr Lobe lets you take tests as often as you like (as opposed to Dr Kawashima who restricts performance challenges to daily measures). Of course you can use your Mii characters as students, and if you’re online your student record can be shared with friends, your best results can be challenged by each other and regularly updated. Forget high scores, this is ‘exams for grams’ and only the biggest brains get bragging rights.

Don’t get us wrong, we love Dr Kawashima for all his geek humour, making us more intelligent… and placing us one step removed from Nicole Kidman. The Doc can be delightful, but not always fun. Dr Lobe, on the other hand, says ‘no pain, brain’ is for flunkies – fun is where it’s at. And it’s true: popping balloons in mathematical order, guiding a toy train to its destination by placing track, memorising sounds in reverse, and watching where the birdie goes as cages are re-arranged sideshow style are all worth a giggle. They're genuinely entertaining as competitive games played side-by-side on the same TV, and heart-warming to see kids helping each other solve problems in co-operative game modes. Okay, they'll argue about it too but hey.

Maybe Dr Kawashima is smarter than Dr Lobe, encouraging his daily routine versus a playful workout whenever you feel like it. In this respect Big Brain Academy will be best enjoyed within the family as quality time in good measure but runs the risk of being a flash in the pan. However the online Mii-student feature is a spark of real genius, surely everyone will train religiously for the biggest brains in town.

PDC world championship darts 2008

Phil "the power" Taylor is the most successful player that darts has ever known, and in smoke-free pubs around the country, amateurs love to step up to the oche to try to emulate his deadly accuracy. We got our hands on a preview build of the Wii version of the game to get a feeling for whether it's going to hit the bull's-eye.

PDC World Championship Darts 2008 builds on the 2007 version of the game by introducing new players, features, and platforms. The game features 16 licensed professional players (up from 10 last year), all of whom have been fully motion-captured so that they bring their individual styles into the game. A number of amateur players are also featured, primarily competition winners from a number of publications, including GameSpot UK.

The physics engine has also been upgraded to reflect the changes that a dart makes in flight. This is designed to allow 'stacking'--the system that professional players use to line up darts in order to achieve high scores, such as the maximum 180. The darts also have varying barrel weights, so you can choose a set that suits your technique. However, no matter how dodgy your throw, the dart won't bounce off the wire because that was felt to be a step too far toward realism.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/269/938779_20070927_embed003.jpgPosture, throwing style and body-modelling all come together to make the licensed players unmistakable.
You can jump straight in and play as one of the licensed players, or create your own and work your way up the rankings in career mode--you'll start off 64th in the world, so expect to play through a few tournaments before you're challenging Taylor for the number-one spot. In addition to the amateur and pro difficulty settings of the previous game, there is now a "master" mode, in which there is no onscreen guidance bar to help you and the sweet spot for releasing the dart is smaller.

We played through a game in amateur mode, during which the onscreen bar helps the player choose when to release. Using the Wii Remote, you aim at the area of the board that you want to hit, and then click "A" to lock on and draw the remote back. As you do so, your player's arm moves onscreen to roughly replicate your action. When you've gone as far back as you want to, you "throw" the remote forward and release 'A' when you want to release the dart. Movement to the left or right is picked up by the controller and will result in your dart veering off course. A gentle movement may result in your dart landing below where you aimed, whereas a fast action results in a satisfying thud as the dart hits the board.

Using the Wii Remote for the darts action felt logical (although you can choose to use the analogue stick on the Nunchuk controller), and we were soon hitting roughly the area on the board that we aimed at with most throws. Aiming for the double and treble sections using the Wii Remote could be bit hit and miss, but there didn't appear to be a time limit, so you can simply wait until you get the perfect spot before pressing the "A" button. We found that it took a bit of time to get the dart's flight straight, but that is a fairly realistic simulation of our real-life technique problems.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/269/938779_20070927_embed005.jpgAs with real darts, it's not always going to land where you want it to.

There is a practice mode for those seeking to emulate the pros by actually preparing for a game. The board is designed as a training board, so the trebles and doubles are thinner, which forces you to improve your aim. You can also work out techniques to counter problems in your throwing style. For example, you can set the target on the board slightly higher than you intend to hit if your darts have been hitting the board lower than you would like.

Mere Mortals has also made improvements to the 14 party games that come as part of the package (each of which can be played by up to four players; eight can take part in the tournaments within the main game, using one Wii Remote if necessary). The party games are now built using the same engine as the other modes, rather than the more limited graphical approach of the previous game in the series, and are set in what appears to be a rather empty bar. Playing party games such as "killer" means that you don't have to spend all your time just playing tournaments, and adds a very social element to the game.
PDC World Championship Darts 2008 will be available for the Wii, PC, and PlayStation 2 in Europe in January 2008.

Indianapolis 500 legends

popularity of the NASCAR series has cast a huge shadow on practically any other form of motorsport here in the US. Still, despite that domination, the Indianapolis 500 is arguably the most important annual motorsport event in the country. The upcoming Indianapolis 500 Legends for Nintendo Wii and DS look to recapture some of the magic by going back in time and revisiting some of the classic races and matchups from Indy 500s of the past. We recently had a chance to try out both versions of the game to see how they're coming along.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/295/reviews/942038_20071023_embed001.jpgGo back in time and experience classic Indy races in Indianapolis 500 Legends for Wii and DS.

Indianapolis 500 Legends seeks to capture Indy 500 races from 1961 and 1971, a decade that saw some big changes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and plenty of classic races. As far as we can tell, you'll only be racing at Indy in this--which we suppose makes sense--but some of the small details in the track seem to be accurate. For example, in the game, the 1961 track features a long line of bricks on the front straight, while the 1962 track is configured so that that long stretch is paved over with asphalt except for the three-foot wide stretch at the start/finish line that we still see today, which is historically accurate. In addition, the car models change from year to year to reflect the continuous car development that occurred during that 10-year stretch of races. Both the Wii and the DS versions feature classic and mission modes, the latter of which will let you tackle the Brickyard course in a race. You can choose between options such as number of laps and so on, then hop onto the speedway and try to fight your way to the front.

Mission mode seems to be the centerpiece of Indy 500 Legends' single-player game experience. Here, each year in the game is broken up into missions that reflect the real circumstances of the Indy 500 from that year. As a result, you'll see real-life Indy racers from that year. For example, in the 1961 missions, you'll be racing as three real-life contenders from that year's race: Eddie Sachs, Jack Brabham, and eventual winner A.J. Foyt. The 1961 event has a handful missions to choose from for each driver. As Foyt, you'll have a battle event in which you need to get ahead of Sachs by lap 171; there's a race event where you need to finish ahead of Sachs for the final three laps of the race; and there is also a pit stop event (more on those in a bit). Another frequent event type is the dodge event, where you're tasked with avoiding on-track contact during an accident while still maintaining your speed along the way. Qualifying events will require you to complete a lap around the track in a certain time. All events will earn you medals as well as collectibles such as photos.

Controls in the Indianapolis 500 Legends are fairly straightforward in both the Wii and DS versions of the game. In the Wii version, you hold the Wii Remote horizontally and steer by twisting it left or right; gas and brakes are controlled with the 2 and 1 buttons, respectively. As with any Wii driving game that uses the Remote in this fashion, the controls take a bit of getting used to, especially in the tight corners with cars on either side. On the DS version, you steer with the directional pad and accelerate and brake with the A and B buttons, respectively.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/295/reviews/942038_20071023_embed002.jpgYou'll only be racing at Indy, so get used to turning left.

Driving quickly is only part of the path to success in Indy 500 Legends; you'll need to be quick during pit stops as well. Here, you'll be responsible for everything from filling up your gas tank to changing your tires with some minigames that make use of the Wii Remote and the DS's touch screen and stylus combination. To fill up the gas, for example, you first have to unscrew the gas cap, then place the hose near the nozzle and try not to splash too much fuel on the outside of your car. Unfortunately, in both the Wii and DS version, the hose moved around so much artificially that we invariably set our car and driver on fire in the process, which then meant we had to bust out the fire extinguishers to calm the flames. The stylus and touch screen seem to work a little better here, as it's more difficult to be accurate with the Wii Remote's motion sensor. Nonetheless, while filling up the gas tank might be tough, changing tires is a bit easier, especially after some practice.

Neither of these games are graphical barn burners--the funky visuals when drafting behind an opponent are quite odd--but the multiple camera angles, including an entirely drivable cockpit perspective in the Wii version, is a nice touch. The very specific nature of Indy 500 Legends might not appeal to everyone, but racing history buffs might get a kick out of the classic video footage that precedes each year's race events. It's definitely a niche game, but one that just might find an audience when it's released in late November.

Super strikes charged

Mario sports games are always crazy, but it could be said that the pudgy plumber's first foray into the world of traditional football in 2005's Super Mario Strikers for the GameCube wasn't quite crazy enough. As goofy a game as it was, the dearth of the true Mario brand of wacky was apparent, and the game suffered for it. Mario Strikers Charged for the Wii is essentially a sequel to that game, and its first and foremost goal seems to be to amp up the crazy factor. Developer Next Level Games has certainly succeeded in this area, though the final product ultimately resembles less the game of soccer and more some kind of psychotic episode of flaming balls, thunderous hits, and flying shells coming from every which way. Sometimes this chaotic gameplay gets a bit messy, and some of the gameplay elements, like tackles and the artificial intelligence in single-player, aren't perfect. Still, if you can get a grip on the action, you'll find Charged to be an addictive multiplayer game, especially if you plan to take it online.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/210/reviews/935184_20070730_embed001.jpgHey LA Galaxy, can David Beckham do this?
Much like the original Strikers, players begin by selecting a team captain from primary Mario characters such as Luigi, Bowser, Peach, Daisy, Wario, and, of course, Mario himself. There are 12 captains in all, each with unique stats in movement, shooting, passing, and defense. Once you've got your captain, you then select three teammates from the lexicon of lesser Mario characters (Shy Guy, Monty Mole, Birdo, and the like). For those who played the original Mario Strikers, you'll note that this is different from the team selection in the last game, where you could only pick one type of teammate. Here, you get to choose three different ones, and they're every bit as varied as the team captains. They even get their own unique megastrike shots, the big power shots that goaltenders tend to have a difficult time with, which you can pull off by holding down the B button.

Of course, they're not quite as powerful as the captains' shots. While someone like, say, Boo can essentially go transparent and try to fly his way past the goaltender, and the Hammer Brothers can toss a gaggle of hammers at the goalie before eventually kicking the ball, these shots are not guaranteed to go in. But the captains' shots are a whole different ballgame. When you hold down the B button long enough with a captain, a golf-swing meter pops up that begins by counting up toward the number six. This actually determines how many balls you're going to fire at the goaltender in rapid succession. The meter then swings backward, and depending on how well you time the button press on that return swing, it'll be more or less difficult to stop the forthcoming shots. Once all meters are set, your captain leaps into the air and starts firing off shots like some kind of Dragon Ball Z castoff.

Against the artificial intelligence, you're practically guaranteed at least one goal out of the proceedings (though you often end up landing more), but when you're playing against another player, or you're forced to stop one of these shots yourself, a little goaltending minigame pops up. You simply point the Wii Remote at the screen, and as balls come flying, you aim the onscreen reticle at each one and press A to try to stop all the shots. It can get pretty hectic, but it's actually a fun and clever way to handle the perspective of the goaltender in these situations.

Of course, that pales in comparison to how hectic the action can get during normal gameplay. Knowing how to do a megastrike shot and actually pulling one out are two entirely different things. If it's not some random opponent running up behind you and shoulder-checking you into the pitch before you can pull out the shot, it's a gigantic red shell or a chain chomp running amok across the field, slamming into you and everything else. Weapon power-ups don't come constantly, thankfully, but many of the different fields have their own pitfalls that lend toward even more chaos, like electric bolts that move up and down the pitch, and huge balls of magma that lay waste to anything in their path. Frankly, the game would be crazy enough if all you could do was check your opponents. All you have to do to knock an opponent silly is quickly wag the remote back and forth while standing near an opponent. It's the only significant bit of motion control in the game, and it works well--perhaps too well. You can usually get shots off against the weaker AI settings, but on higher settings, and against live opponents, prepare to get checked, and checked often.

Even with that prospect in mind, Mario Strikers Charged is a game best played in multiplayer. The single-player modes don't extend beyond a standard versus mode, a challenge mode where you're presented with a series of different scenarios (making a comeback from a three-goal deficit, maintaining a shutout, and so on), and the road to the striker cup, where you choose a team and compete for a variety of different cups in round-robin-style tournaments. The mode selection is solid, but playing against the AI tends to be either too easy, or obnoxiously difficult, as catch-up AI tends to be a big factor on the higher settings.

Not so in multiplayer matches, which is a big part of why the multiplayer is just inherently more fun. Up to four players can play both offline and online. The online play is obviously the big draw here, and we're pleased to say that it's pretty much what makes the game worth owning. Though you still have to go through the silly song and dance of getting game-specific friend codes for all your buddies if you want to play against them specifically, you can play in ranked matches against random opponents and bypass all that nonsense. You can engage in four-player play online, but it's with a limit of two players per console. There are also leaderboards that track daily stats as well as cumulative records. Though lag popped up in spots during our time with the game, practically every match we played with a good latency rating worked seamlessly. It's a shame there's no communication options online, but that issue aside, the online works nicely.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/210/reviews/935184_20070730_embed002.jpgTrying to keep track of all the on-field silliness is a bit flustering.

The one area where Mario Strikers Charged still lacks is presentation. The in-game graphics are certainly a step up from the original, with better-looking character models, far more crazy crap happening onscreen, and a frame rate that stays steady throughout. But smaller details are decidedly lacking. The megastrike shots, while neat-looking, also feel kind of generic, specifically the captains' shots. Each captain has a unique personal flavor, but all the shots just kind of look like cheesy anime fighting-game posing. Interestingly, the new shots for the sidekick players are arguably a lot more interesting and unique than the captains' shots. Cutscenes are sharp looking, but not much goes on in them. You get the same shot of one of the captains skydiving into the arena before every match, and that whole sequence feels kind of silly and out of place to begin with. The menus and the soundtrack are also pretty dull, and while there's a bit of voice acting from the various on-field characters, as well as some amusing chants from the crowd, there's no announcer in this game, so you don't get the big "GOOOOAAAAAAL" exclamation whenever you score.

Presentational quibbles and single-player opposition issues notwithstanding, anyone who enjoyed the last Mario Strikers game will certainly find Strikers Charged to be an improvement, and those who took issue with the previous game will find some of their complaints properly addressed here. That this is the first Wii game to do online play and do it well is a huge bonus. Those looking for a deep and consistently entertaining single-player experience won't necessarily find it here, but anyone out for some good, solid multiplayer fun, either offline or online, would do well to check out Mario Strikers Charged.

Donkey kong jet race

The Gamecube’s bongo ‘em up, Donkey Konga was notable not only for having an excellent pun for a title, but also for being the brainchild of the team who went on to create Super Mario Galaxy. Donkey Kong Jet Race (known as Barrel Blast in the US) night not enjoy such prestigious game designers, but it is also a game designed to use Donkey Konga’s bespoke Bongo peripheral on the GameCube.

A kind of Mario Kart racing game, the game fits characters from the Donkey Kong universe with Bongo style jetpacks (no really) and, presumably, the original idea was to have players performing drum rolls to make their character move along the racetrack. Some awkward stop/starts saw the game abandoned before, in more recent times, getting picked up again for the Wii. Now Bongo functionality has been removed and the control scheme has been reconfigured to use the Wii’s motion sensors. This kind of ruins the whole visual premise of the game but, to be honest, that’s the least of its worries.

Where originally the game would have had you alternating hits between the sides of a bongo drum, now you’ll need to alternately raise and lower the Wiimote and Nunchuck rapidly to get up some speed. Characters are always moving forward but how fast they do so is down to your drumming motions. However, no matter how much of a sweat you work up, your character never really seems to move that fast – not even when controlling the supposed sprinters unlocked later in the game.

But that’s not to say the game is devoid of any sense of speed. As you race around the tracks you’ll need to collect banana tokens which feed into a boost bar. When this is filled you can fire off an explosion of acceleration that will, for a few seconds, propel you through the scenery. The boost only last for a very short amount of time but, if you manage to destroy any barrels while it’s firing it’s prolonged slightly.

This white-knuckle moment provides almost the only thrill in the package though. Most of the time you’ll be wrestling with the controls as you try to avoid obstacles (using a painfully inexact swipe motion) and despairing as yet another opponent sails past. Often the game will mistake a ‘run’ instruction on the controller for a ‘turn’ which is a huge frustration, to say the very least.

That said this is a well-stocked package with quick race, time trial, and grand prix career modes. Up to three friends can join in the experience and, in multiplayer, the game does improve somewhat. But despite the solid framework, the actual racing just isn’t that fun and players wanting a race game with a forearm workout are better served by Mario and Sonic at the Olympics and its ilk.

The sims 2 castaway

It might not have been clear back in 2000 that The Sims would become the best-selling, multiplatform phenomenon it is today. But the series' unusual formula--which let you control the lives of little computer people as they ate, slept, found work, and formed relationships with other little computer people--launched a lengthy series of games on both the PC and consoles. The console versions of the game never quite captured the zany, unpredictable nature of the original PC versions, which had superior artificial intelligence, but The Sims 2: Castaway comes the closest to presenting a fresh and enjoyable new experience.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/221/939632_20070810_embed001.jpgIf you don't mind doing some hunting and gathering, Castaway offers a unique new Sims experience.
To be fair, Castaway has a lot of the same features as The Sims series. You create a custom "sim" character with certain vocational skills and personal needs (such as hunger, fatigue, and social interaction), but this new game takes a creative approach to the use of these features. Rather than build a small group to live the life of a nuclear family in the same house, you create a crew of castaways who end up shipwrecked on a tropical island and must make a new home for themselves a la Swiss Family Robinson. To that end, you'll guide your characters to collect driftwood and other building materials, along with various wild fruits and vegetables to eat (some poisonous, some not). You'll also catch fish with a spear, fashion clothing out of tropical leaves, and build primitive shelters and even rafts to explore the surrounding islands. You'll also fulfill your characters' need for social interaction by either finding the lost members of your crew, or making friends with the local monkeys, who can be bribed with bananas and eventually trained to gather materials or food for you.

Castaway builds on the "mostly open-ended game with some goals" design that previous games in the series followed by also heavily emphasizing collection gameplay. You spend a great deal of time picking up stuff or harvesting supplies (in some cases, to build tools to let you harvest other types of supplies). However, you certainly don't have to pick up everything unless you're an obsessive collector type who has to discover every variety of plant, collect every type of seashell, or catch every species of fish. In many cases, you'll instead be exploring new areas in search of new materials and clues to advance, such as discarded books that contain plans for new items to craft, as well as random messages in bottles that wash up on shore.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/247/939632_20070905_embed003.jpgDespite the loading-time issues, Castaway lets you recruit monkey butlers. That has to count for something.

If you can tolerate the collection gameplay, which occasionally gets a bit repetitive, the game actually offers a surprisingly varied experience reminiscent of games such as Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, or the Seasons expansion pack for The Sims 2 PC. All of those games were relaxing, leisurely experiences for players of all ages, and they let you interact with a colorful, nonthreatening world to accomplish your goals when you cared to. In Castaway, you'll basically always have at least a few different easy tasks on your plate to accomplish, as well as some slightly longer-term goals for which you'll need to collect a few more resources or make a few more discoveries to complete. Your sims do suffer from their physical needs, but they're generally easy to maintain. Likewise, some of the more advanced crafting recipes require your characters to develop higher skill levels in vocational areas such as body strength and mechanical skills, but these skills develop naturally as you continue to explore, harvest, build, and interact, so they're usually not a burden to deal with.

Castaway also offers a fresh new visual look that features slimmer characters with a more-stylized look. They're not necessarily better than the typically more detailed, more colorful characters from previous games, but they're certainly new, and they still move with the kind of expressive animations you'd expect from a Sims game. The game also offers plenty of brand-new sound samples for the nonsensical "simlish" language the characters speak. Better yet, the game features an all-new musical soundtrack that, unlike previous Sims console games, does not heavily recycle music from the PC versions, but instead uses new tropical-themed songs that are suitably lighthearted and cheerful. That's why it's a shame that the PS2 version of the game suffers from load times that randomly become very long, and that occasionally cause the game to hang indefinitely so that you lose all of your progress.

By offering new graphics, new sounds, new music, and a new way to play The Sims, Castaway offers a lively way to enjoy the series and those little gibberish-speaking characters that have made such a name for themselves--as long as you have enough patience to spend a good chunk of time hunting and gathering.

Heatseeker

Heatseeker is an arcade-style flying game from IR Gurus, the same developer behind 2005's Heroes of the Pacific. Unlike Heroes, Heatseeker takes place in modern times and places you in the cockpit of some of today's most well-known fighter jets. It's not a very deep game; it's kind of ugly, and the voice acting is atrocious. But Heatseeker can be fun in small doses--especially if you don't mind taking down wave after wave of enemies, level after level.

The campaign in Heatseeker spans 18 missions that take place in four locations. The first few missions have you protect an island base and teach you the basic controls. From there, things escalate because you'll soon find yourself on the lookout for nuclear weapons and later smack dab in the middle of an international crisis. Before each mission, there's a short briefing that details the mission's scenario and your objectives. The briefings are so poorly done that they're hard to take seriously. Your commander is constantly yelling at you, even though you've done nothing wrong. He's also difficult to take seriously because he sounds quite a bit like Stephen Colbert as Phil from Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law.

The good news is you don't need much of a story for what you're going to do in Heatseeker, which is blow stuff up. Your choice in planes is limited at first, but you'll eventually get to fly a number of real planes including: F/A-18 Hornet, F-15, F-16, MIG-31, SR-71 Blackbird, F-22 Raptor, and many more. Each plane has unique ratings for speed, agility, and defense, as well as air-to-air and air-to-ground ability. However, it's difficult to detect differences from plane to plane unless the ratings are vastly different. There are two different control styles to choose from. "Arcade" controls are simple and ensure your plane always rights itself, while "professional" controls are slightly more complex and give you more control over the jet. No matter which setting you choose, the controls are easy to learn, and other than it being difficult to target specific objects, the planes are a breeze to control. Your heads-up display is well designed, and as long as the game's obnoxious captions aren't obscuring a large, important part of your screen as they're prone to do, it's easy to find any information you need at a moment's notice.

You'll use the Wii remote and the Nunchuk to control your plane in the Wii version of the game. The analog stick on the Nunchuk controls your speed. You'll point the remote toward the screen and move it up, down, left or right to control your plane's direction. If you use the "professional" controls, you can twist the Wii Remote clockwise and counterclockwise to roll your plane. The controls work surprisingly well, and as long as you're up high, it only takes a few minutes before you're able to pilot your plane with ease. When you get down near the ground, the controls are just touchy enough to cause problems.

As mentioned earlier, you'll spend nearly all of your time in Heatseeker blowing things up. You'll use your unlimited ammo to shoot down hundreds of enemy planes, drop bombs on unsuspecting jeeps, unleash torpedoes on ships, as well as take out antiaircraft guns, tanks, a fortress, and more. You'll also be charged with protecting planes and ships, but to do so, you just blow up more bad guys. Once in a while, you'll need to scan vessels to find out if they're up to no good, and if they are—you guessed it—you blow them up. The biggest problem with Heatseeker is that its gameplay is repetitive. It's also not particularly original either. The game's not terribly difficult on the default setting, and there are plenty of checkpoints, so except for when enemy planes repeatedly avoid your missiles by releasing flares, you'll rarely find yourself too frustrated. There's no multiplayer to speak of, so once you've beaten the single-player campaign, you're done—unless you want to go back to unlock some more planes.

Other than some nice-looking clouds and a solid frame rate, there isn't much to look at in Heatseeker. The levels are large, but they're mostly empty, and what is there is ugly. Buildings are little more than blocks, while the ground is an ugly, poorly textured mess. The planes look OK, but other than your craft, you won't get much of a chance to look at them. Explosions aren't bad, but the "impact cam" that shows them off via a quick movie-style replay after a hit gets annoying quickly. Both the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions have a widescreen setting, but the Wii looks slightly better thanks to some antialiasing and cleaner textures.

Heatseeker sounds about as good as it looks. The voice acting is amateurish at best and horribly obnoxious at worst. Even if the voice actors were good, it wouldn't have made it any more fun to get yelled at by your commanding officer and wingmen all the time. The cheesy guitar rock that plays in the background during each mission would have been perfect…if this were 1985.

With no multiplayer, dated graphics, grating sound, and some unoriginal gameplay, Heatseeker has a lot of things going against it. But in spite of all these issues, shooting wave after wave of generic enemies can be fun in short spurts. If you're looking for some mindless fun, the game might be worth the $30 price tag on the PS2, but it's in no way worth the $50 Codemasters is asking for on the Wii.

Battalion wars 2

Battalion Wars 2 is a British made spin-off to Nintendo’s monstrously-popular handheld strategy series, Advance Wars. But, despite sharing DNA, it’s an altogether different type of game. Rather than moving military units – foot soldiers, tanks and aircraft – around a turn-based strategy grid, Battalion Wars puts you straight into the battlefield, directly controlling a single unit while ordering the rest of your battalion around by pointing and clicking at targets.

It’s a unique and curious mash-up of gaming styles. You use the Nunchuck analogue stick to move your character around while looking is handled with the Wiimote. The Z-button locks onto any nearby target and pulling the Wiimote trigger fires off a volley of bullets. In this sense it’s like a standard third person action game, but this foundation is then overlaid with some neat strategy ideas.

Click the A button at a target and the rest of your battalion start firing at it. By using the D-pad to select unit types and the A button to direct their movements it’s possible to act as strategic commander while simultaneously partaking in the carnage yourself. Developer Kuju Entertainment has really nailed the control system as, while it sounds complex and fiddly when written down, in play it’s intuitive and smooth.

These gameplay mechanics are then slotted into a billowing story of political intrigue and warring countries as six fictional factions try to take control of the global stage. Each faction is clearly based on a real world country (the Solar Empire as the Japanese, the Anglo Isles as the British) and in this way the game offers some cheeky and knowing commentary on real world powers and events. Over the game’s six campaigns you play in conflicts as various different nations. On the battlefield your commander issues you with objectives (take down the bombers, defend the air strip, raise the flag etc) and as your squad hustles and bustles across the environments there’s a real sense of camaraderie and team spirit.

Battle units have the various strengths and weaknesses compared to other unit types, as is typical for the Advance Wars series. Tanks destroy buildings and infantry, but are vulnerable to rockets and helicopters. Helicopters are strong against tanks, infantry, and buildings, but are weak against anti-air units and fighter jets. Unfortunately, these relationships aren’t quite as finely tuned as they are in the sister series and, as a result, some missions can be a lot harder than others.

However, with a superb single player campaign and well-featured online play (either cooperatively or against friends and strangers) the game is a resounding success that diversifies the Wii’s game library wonderfully. While it might not offer the some cerebral challenge as Advance Wars, this hands-on foray into cutesy battlefields is compelling and enjoyable throughout.
4 out of 5

Fifa soccer 2005

FIFA Soccer 2005 Updated Hands-On

Earlier today at Electronic Arts' annual summertime press event, we managed to get hands-on time with the latest playable PS2 and Xbox builds of FIFA Soccer 2005. GameCube and PC versions weren't available, but they should end up offering similar features. Currently being developed by the same team responsible for FIFA Soccer 2004 (which the recent UEFA Euro 2004 was not), the game has come an awfully long way since we played it at E3.

After finishing FIFA Soccer 2004 and then comparing it to real soccer, the development team felt that the biggest flaw in the game was that players took too long to control the ball when it came to them. The problem was that the movement of the ball was determining where the player went, rather than vice versa. To address this concern, the team has devised a "First Touch Control" system that basically allows you to move the ball in any direction you like the instant it arrives at your player's feet.

First touch control is achieved by tapping the right analog stick in the direction you wish to move the ball as it arrives. We had a chance to try out the new technique and found it to be both effective and intuitive. Not only do the new first touch animations look great but also they certainly go a long way toward ensuring that FIFA Soccer 2005 is the most realistic game in the series to date. Largely as a result of the first touch control, the entire match really seemed to move at a quicker pace. When we were relegated to the bench and had to watch other people playing, it has to be said that the experience wasn't unlike watching a regular match on TV.

After the on-the-field improvements, the career mode in FIFA Soccer 2005 looks to be the feature that's getting the most attention as far as improvements are concerned. This year's game will retain the "Football Fusion" functionality introduced last year, which allowed players to play with and manage the same team in both FIFA Soccer 2004 and Total Club Manager 2004, but it will also boast a quite in-depth career option in which you'll be responsible for hiring and maintaining your team's managerial and coaching staff as well as the squad itself. We weren't able to get into the career mode at today's event, unfortunately, but we look forward to bringing you more information on the game in the not-too-distant future.

2006 fifa world cup

Unlockable - Unlockable Options.

Perfect Difficulty Mode
Pay 20,000 points in the Fifa store to unlock the games hardest difficulty.

Fifa soccer 2003

Master Cheat List
Open your soccer.ini file in your Fifa Soccer 2003 directory. Add the following lines and change the 0 to 1 to activate the desired cheat.

CHEAT_UNLOCKED_TEAMS=0
UNLOCK_TOURNAMENT=0
AGGRESSIVE_TACKLE_CHEAT=0
CHEAT_EQUAL_TEAM_STATS=0
CHEAT_RANDOM_TEAMS=0
DEMO_MODE=0
ONE_ON_ONE=0 PRACTICE_MODE=0
AUTO_TACKLING=0
WINDOWED=0
ABSOLUTELY_PERFECT_GOALIES=0

Unlock Stadia
Seoul Stadium: Beat the International Cup to unlock.Stade de France stadium: Beat the Club Championship to unlock.

fifa 2002

Unlock Gold Cup
To unlock the Gold Cup tournament, qualify for the World Cup in the CONCACAF region.

Unlock Cards
To unlock Cards, win the corresponding challenge.

Myung Bo Hong: AFC World Cup qualification
Francesco Totti: UEFA World Cup qualification
Roberto Carlos: CONMEBOL World Cup qualification
Ruud Van Nistelrooy: CONCACAF World Cup qualification
Nuno Gomez: EFAIker Casillas: European Championship Cup
Thierry Henry: European Championship
Henrik Larsson: Copa America
Thomasz Rodzinski: Gold Cup
Steve Marlet: FIFA Confederations

Zelda

Easter Egg - Control a Cucco!
Unlike other Zelda games (where you got attacked if you hit the Cuccos), in Twilight Princess if you hit a Cucco about 8 times, you'll be able to control it for a short period of time.


Unlockable - Sinker Lure
To obtain the Sinker Lure you must first catch a Hylain Pike, Hyrule Bass, and a Ordon Catfish in the fishing hole area with the lure rod. After you have caught one of each you go to the south east corner of the water closest to the house and take out your Fishing Rod(bobber) with the coral earring hook. After that you will catch the Sinker Lure. Make sure Hena doesn't see you use it or she will take it away.


Unlockable - Bottle: Fishing Hole
Go to the fishing hole, and find the sign that says: No Littering! You can get a bottle if you fish on the left side of the bridge that is near that sign. Its darker water than normal.


Unlockable - Frog Fishing Lure
To unlock the Frog Fishing Lure for the Fishing Hole, you must beat all eight levels of Roal Goal, a game found in the owner's establishment. To play it, simply look at it in first person using the C button.
The game requires 5 rupees a play and you win 10 rupees for each round, and the frog lure for the eighth. (If you run short before you manage to get the lure, mowing the tall grass just outside (still in the fishing hole area) offers around 60 rupees.)
Lure description: The must-have lure for bass.


Unlockable - Unlock Special-Edition Rollgoal
If you visit the Fishing Hole in Upper Zora's River, there's a mini game Hena will let you play for 5 Rupees called Rollgoal. If you make it past 1-8, you'll be rewarded with the Frog Lure. However, if you keep going and beat the entire thing, up to and including 8-8, you'll be able to play the special-edition version of Rollgoal. You can choose any level, the cost is free, the time limit is raised to 4:00:00, and you cannot win any Rupees. Also, as an added bonus, once you beat 8-8, Hena will fill your wallet completely!


Unlockable - Wallet Upgrades
Big Wallet
Give Agatha 1 Golden Bug
Giant Wallet
Give Agatha all 24 Golden Bugs

Unlockable - Quiver Upgrades
Big Quiver (60 Arrows)
Beat "STAR" game lvl. 1. (Clawshot Required)
Giant Quiver (100 Arrows)
Beat "STAR" game lvl. 2 .(Double Clawshot Required)

Unlockable - Bomb Bag Upgrades
Bomb Bag 1
Purchace from Barnes Bomb Shop in Kakariko after 2nd temple.
Bomb Bag 2
Free the goron from the giant lava rock located underwater in zoras domain.
Bomb Bag 3
Destroy the rock barriers for the River Canoe mini-game owner.
Bomb Bag Capacity Upgrade (Double)
Score 25 points or more on the River Canoe Mini-Game.

Unlockable - Poe Rewards
Bottle W/ Fairy Tears
Bring back 20 Poe Souls to Jovani.
200 Rupees (talk to him again for another 200)
Bring back 60 Poe Souls to Jovani.

Unlockable - Malo Mart-Castle Branch and Magic Armor
After donating 1000 rupees and completing the hot springwater sidequest, donate 2000 more rupees to Malo Mart. A new Malo Mart will open in Castle Town and magic armor will be available for purchase there. The amount owed can be reduced (see Secrets section below).


Unlockable - Fairies
Fairies in the Ordon Spring
Complete 10 rooms in the Cave of Ordeals
Fairies in the Faron Spring
Complete 20 rooms in the Cave of Ordeals
Fairies in the Eldin Spring
Complete 30 rooms in the Cave of Ordeals
Fairies in the Lanayru Spring
Complete 40 rooms in the Cave of Ordeals
Great Fairies in all springs
Complete 50 rooms in the Cave of Ordeals

Glitch - Magnetic Ceiling Glitch
This can be done wherever there is a magnetic ceiling, such as the first one encountered in Death Mountain Mines.
First equip the boots to the D-pad but don't put them on. Go under the magnetic field and equip the boots. In mid flight up to the ceiling press the - button and put an item where the iron boots were on the D-pad, and make sure the Iron boots are not anywhere on the D-Pad. Unpause the game and finish flying onto the ceiling. You should be on the ceiling with the Iron boots off and you will stay there and be able to walk faster.
To get down walk off the magnetic part of the ceiling or equip and unepuip the Iron Boots.


Glitch - Infinite Bomb Glitch
First, as a wolf, play PLumm's minigame with the fruit and crash. Then, turn back into a human and turn to the water behind you. While swimming in it, equip the hookshot, and while it is held out, strafe tothe side and through the wall. If it works, you'll be swimming through the wall. Keep swimming until you flall and die. Now, as you wake up, Plumm will come back and ask to to play again. Say yes. Then crash at the beginning again. You should wake back up in the beyond-the-wall area from before, but you can stand. Turn into a wolf and jump into the waterfall. Then, you'll wake up in front of Iza's assistant. Say yes, and you'll go to her cabin. The boat will take off without you, and you'll be a wolf. So now, warp anywhere you want, and you'll have infinite bombs. Note: This ends when you turn off the game, sadly


Secret - Donation Reduction
Donate 1000 rupees to Goron inside the Malo Mart in Kakariko Village (you must progress past the third dungeon beforehand). Talk to the old Goron outside the shop and complete the quest he offers. Once completed, the second donation amount will be reduced from 2000 to 200 rupees.


Secret - Easily discover Heart Pieces
To easily find the locations of all Heart Pieces, go to Fanadi's Palace in Hyrule Castle Town and pay her 10 Rupees for a Love fortune. You will then see an area in the game that will contain a Heart Piece around it, obtainable in some fashion. You can keep paying her to show you other locations, but she will sometimes repeat the same location a few times over.


Secret - Worms for fishing
If you go into the fishing hole behind the sign at the very entrance there will 3 little mounds of dirt.
Turn into the wolf and dig these up, earth worms will appear, scoop them up in an empty bottle and use them as bait for your fishing hook to make fishing extra easy!


Secret - Daytime whenever
You need to be able to get to the City in the Sky. At whenever time you go there, when you come back, it will always be daytime.


Secret - Distract the final boss's final form with the fishing pole
The true final boss of this game can be distraced by the fishing rod. Just cast it out while Z-Targeting him and his head will turn to look at the lure. Quickly put away the fishing pole and get in a few quick attacks