This week on the show we look at a new game for the Xbox 360 recently ported over from the PC from developer Frogwares, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper. We also look at the first three issues of a new comic series written by Kevin Smith and published by Dynamite Entertainment, The Green Hornet.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper (02:28 – 18:58)
The Green Hornet (19:13 – 36:45)
Leave your thoughts in the comments or fire an email over to us.
Tags: Comics, Games, Green Hornet, Kevin Smith, Sherlock Holmes, Xbox 360
Remember the old days? No? Not even a little?
Well, back in the old days, golf games were a bit more simple. There were no analog buttons and no fancy-pants control sticks to move. You would aim, and hit the button to swing. We also rode in covered wagons and churned our own butter, but I digress.
Hearkening back to those button-pushing days is a release on Xbox Live Arcade called Golf: Tee It Up! It is available only on the Games Marketplace and is 800 Microsoft Points (10 dollars). (more…)
Nintendo has released an updated version of Punch-Out for the Wii. If you’ve played any of the previous incarnations of Punch-Out in the arcade or on any of the old school Nintendo consoles, then this will not only be a great bit of nostalgia, but a great update to a classic. And if you haven’t then this makes for a great addition to your Wii Library.
There are three modes to play through including career, exhibition and multi-player. In career mode you play as Little Mac making your way through the various circuits. There are three circuits to make your way through in career mode, Minor, Major and World and each circuit contains 4-5 challenges. It becomes apparent early on that the challenge is not so much about boxing itself but determining the move-set of each opponent. Each character has a unique style and you have to learn to anticipate and react to their attacks. Doc Louis is your coach and trainer who gives you tips on combating your opponent’s attacks. Doc can actually be helpful but he does seem to be a little too anxious to share his chocolate bar with you.
Exhibition mode allows you to go take on the same fighters that you have already beaten although this time there are challenges that accompany each fighter – IE: take your opponent out in one round etc. And if there’s a fighter you’re having difficulty with, you can bring him up in exhibition and practice against him. Now normally I’d say that with only about 13 different opponents, the game would be a bit thin. But then there’s the multi-player.
In multi player, you fight against another version of Little Mac on a split screen. If you collect enough hits on the other, then it switches to single screen and you turn into Giga Mac for a brief period of time. And you’re able to whip the ever loving crap out of your opponent. The multi-player mode is a pile of fun and adds a lot of extra replay value to the game.
You can play with three different controller configurations; just the wii-mote held horizontally, with the wii-mote and nunchuk or using the balance board. The balance board allows you to lean left and right or duck to dodge attacks. It works OK but personally I found it a bit distracting and kind of gimmicky.
The animation and design lend themselves well to the Wii. The game has a great cartoon-ish look and there are plenty of colorful characters including ones from games past along with some new ones. The game is actually pretty humorous too as long as you don’t mind the odd geographical stereotype. And believe me, they pretty much touch on all of them.
This game is a pile of fun and even with a bit of a shallow single player game, the multi-player adds a ton of extra value. Highly recommended.
Tags: Games, Nintendo Wii, Punch Out
I know what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing when I first heard about this game. It’s probably something like “why in the flying flaming flannigan hell would I want to play a game as an air traffic controller”, right?
Well, this game won’t be for everyone, but Air Traffic Chaos on the Nintendo DS is a great little title that blends micro-management with mid-air collisions. The result is a fun and sometimes frantic look into the job of an air traffic controller.
In the game, the top screen gives an overview of the airport while the touch screen displays arrivals and departures. Touching on any of the flights allows you to issue different commands to that plane; these will vary depending on what the pilot wants to accomplish. As the controller, you dictate when and where all of the planes move. There can be up to four arrivals and four departures all at the same time, so it can get to be a bit hectic.
For each plane, there is a bar which indicates the stress level of the pilot, as well as one which shows your overall stress level. The longer that you keep the planes waiting, the higher the stress levels get. If you can’t keep everyone happy, you’ll lose your job. Happily, you’re playing as Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, so if you mess up you can just play that day over again. This comes in quite handy when you mistakenly order an arriving plane to go to a gate which is already occupied…causing a collision.
That’s one big issue I had with this game; once you issue a command, you can’t stop it from happening. There is no option to correct it, or give a new order to counter it. This means that you really have to be careful and think about every order you give. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can get frustrating.
The touch screen interface is perfect for this type of game. It captures the feel of playing similar games on a PC, though with less depth than those full size counterparts. The game uses a bright colour palette, which helps to offset how tiny some of the sprites are. Overall, the graphics are quite functional, and any complaints about them really come down to the size of the DS screens. The music, on the other hand, is crap. Music on a handheld system does not have to be poor (as proven by any portable Castlevania game), so I don’t know what happened there. Most likely,you’ll likely wind up turning the sound off; it makes crashing the planes much more enjoyable!
In addition to a tutorial, there are multiple levels of difficulty for each of the airports. These should help beginners learn the ropes and offer challenges to more advanced players.
If you like management or tycoon-style games, then Air Traffic Chaos is definitely one that any DS owner should check out.
