Results for "ArmorLite Case Nintendo Lite Jack of All Games 778399880694"

The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return: Nintendo Wii

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for young children. The game characters shoot guns and even though you can change the color of the blood to green and choose the level of violence, the subject matter isn't young child friendly.

Overall, I love this game and cannot wait for the next one to come out.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World: Nintendo Wii

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what can you expect? This is a spinoff, not a sequal.

Smoke Colored Nintendo Wii Remote Skin Case

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what can you expect? This is a spinoff, not a sequal.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World: Nintendo Wii

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brings in familiar faces who do more than just present a cameo, and that it also has you revisiting areas, but it also refers to the first game many times down the road. Needless to say, if you haven't played the first Tales of Symphonia, some of the story just might not click right away and you might even find some of it to be a mess. The original game had a lot to swallow and much of it you'll be expected to remember. It also doesn't help that the story isn't all that well paced. It takes a while for it to jump into things. Tales has never been great about jumping into the story, but for some reason it's a bigger problem with Dawn of the New World.

On the other hand, the characters in and of themselves are interesting. You'll learn a lot about them, and familiar faces returning also helps matters along. There are also skits that are optional side conversations that add to the story and characters. It's easy to like the characters, and it's nice that skits are voiced this time around, unlike the original Gamecube title.

Also like many Tales games, get ready for a lot of conversation and exposition. There's some good humor within the game and most of the dialog isn't bad at all. The voice acting is strong, for the most part, but there are some areas where it's laughable.

One of the bigger differences between Dawn of the New World and the original Gamecube title actually comes from the fact that the world map completely restricts exploring. It's now a point and click mechanic. On one hand, considering the amount of running around you'll be doing, it's nice to have that quick and easy access. On the other hand, part of the fun of an RPG is exploring. The new world map system makes the game much more linear than it really has to be.

When you're exploring dungeons, however, the game can be exciting. Mainly because Dawn of the New World doesn't get rid of the battle system the Tales series is known for. Once in battle, Tales plays similar to an action RPG where you can run up to enemies and start clobbering away. You've also got special attacks called Artes you can use provided you have the right amount of TP. There are times when the game can become a button mashing fest, but there are times when some genuine strategy is needed. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World isn't exactly an easy game. When you're not controlling the other characters they are controlled by AI that, for the most part, does a good job. Luckily you can issue commands and customize things if they aren't to your liking.

Dawn of the New World isn't a bad looking game by any means. It ditches the cell shaded look for something a bit more realistic. It doesn't look quite as artsy as the first game did as a result, but it's not terrible by any means. You'll also visit a lot of locations from the very first game that look almost exactly the same. The same could be said of the music. There are a couple returning tracks that are remixed but there's some new stuff as well. Tales of Symphonia didn't exactly have memorable music to begin and Dawn of the New World isn't different in that regard either. It's not bad music, you just won't find yourself remembering any of it.

Unfortunately, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World doesn't exactly have a massive appeal. This is a game meant for those who enjoyed their romp through the Gamecube original. If you've never played the original game, it might be a little harder to get a grasp on everything that's mentioned throughout the plot. It's perfectly accessible to newcomers and they'll probably like it if JRPGs are their thing, but its hard to deny that the game is more appealing if you were a big fan of the first one to begin with.

Wii Music: Nintendo Wii

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where you're first taught "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (not Stevie Ray Vaughn) Wii Music's track list has songs that ease you into the creation of music, which is the main point of a free-form music game, as well as more advanced Classical tracks. They are not for listening to as much as they are templates for your own creations.

As a Free Form music game, Wii Music is strange. While it doesn't allow you total freedom of pitch and tone (which most do), it still allows enough wiggle room to create your own songs. For example, playing only the 8th notes in a given song - such as Jingle Bell Rock - will sound nothing like Christmas. Or you can stick to the established notes and remove entire sections, or play certain parts quietly, or just cut loose with the Wiimote and make noise.

Still though, you are limited in what you can do, as Wii Music doesn't allow total musical freedom. The tradeoff in losing that freedom is that it lets non-musicians create music with relative ease. I want to emphasize "relative", because making music is still difficult; it takes thought, planning and some basic knowledge of music theory. Wii Music wisely teaches players the basics of music theory over many lessons, though some painfully last 30+ minutes, and I wish they'd use real music terminology rather than dumbed-down terms.

The last song I made took two hours to get to the point where I was happy with it. Those two hours were spent experimenting with different instruments, rhythms, and melodies - all of which were enjoyable. It was also spent dealing with occasionally inaccurate controls, frustrations with certain notes I couldn't change, and some bad sounding midi instruments - all of which were not enjoyable.

Collaboration is fun, so long as you're both in the same mood (creative or silly). I've jammed with friends sitting on the couch at the same time, as well as people online where we take turns adding pieces to the composition.

Wii Music has the ability to save and share your creations, something I wish other free-form games would focus on, but the sharing features still come up short to youtube, which has become the premiere place for users to show off completed works.

Wii Music is also full of mini-games, including ones that focus on volume, theory, memory and yes - rhythm. You can compare the little bell game to Guitar Hero all you want :) However, these are mostly distractions compared to the real meat - the free form "jam" mode.

Wii Music, even for a free-form music game, is strange, brilliant and sometimes frustrating. It's sad that its been shoved into the middle of the silly "hardcore vs casual" game war, released at the same time as popular rhythm games (increasing the amount of useless comparisons) and is often judged by reviewers with an established belief of what a music game can and can't be. In the end it's one of Nintendo's most ambitious and insane games ever made, and if you have some untapped creativity lying around, it's worth a buy.

Pok?mon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Nintendo DS

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where you're first taught "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (not Stevie Ray Vaughn) Wii Music's track list has songs that ease you into the creation of music, which is the main point of a free-form music game, as well as more advanced Classical tracks. They are not for listening to as much as they are templates for your own creations.



As a Free Form music game, Wii Music is strange. While it doesn't allow you total freedom of pitch and tone (which most do), it still allows enough wiggle room to create your own songs. For example, playing only the 8th notes in a given song - such as Jingle Bell Rock - will sound nothing like Christmas. Or you can stick to the established notes and remove entire sections, or play certain parts quietly, or just cut loose with the Wiimote and make noise.



Still though, you are limited in what you can do, as Wii Music doesn't allow total musical freedom. The tradeoff in losing that freedom is that it lets non-musicians create music with relative ease. I want to emphasize "relative", because making music is still difficult; it takes thought, planning and some basic knowledge of music theory. Wii Music wisely teaches players the basics of music theory over many lessons, though some painfully last 30+ minutes, and I wish they'd use real music terminology rather than dumbed-down terms.



The last song I made took two hours to get to the point where I was happy with it. Those two hours were spent experimenting with different instruments, rhythms, and melodies - all of which were enjoyable. It was also spent dealing with occasionally inaccurate controls, frustrations with certain notes I couldn't change, and some bad sounding midi instruments - all of which were not enjoyable.



Collaboration is fun, so long as you're both in the same mood (creative or silly). I've jammed with friends sitting on the couch at the same time, as well as people online where we take turns adding pieces to the composition.



Wii Music has the ability to save and share your creations, something I wish other free-form games would focus on, but the sharing features still come up short to youtube, which has become the premiere place for users to show off completed works.



Wii Music is also full of mini-games, including ones that focus on volume, theory, memory and yes - rhythm. You can compare the little bell game to Guitar Hero all you want :) However, these are mostly distractions compared to the real meat - the free form "jam" mode.



Wii Music, even for a free-form music game, is strange, brilliant and sometimes frustrating. It's sad that its been shoved into the middle of the silly "hardcore vs casual" game war, released at the same time as popular rhythm games (increasing the amount of useless comparisons) and is often judged by reviewers with an established belief of what a music game can and can't be. In the end it's one of Nintendo's most ambitious and insane games ever made, and if you have some untapped creativity lying around, it's worth a buy.

Nintendo DS Lite - Coral Pink

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where you're first taught "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (not Stevie Ray Vaughn) Wii Music's track list has songs that ease you into the creation of music, which is the main point of a free-form music game, as well as more advanced Classical tracks. They are not for listening to as much as they are templates for your own creations.





As a Free Form music game, Wii Music is strange. While it doesn't allow you total freedom of pitch and tone (which most do), it still allows enough wiggle room to create your own songs. For example, playing only the 8th notes in a given song - such as Jingle Bell Rock - will sound nothing like Christmas. Or you can stick to the established notes and remove entire sections, or play certain parts quietly, or just cut loose with the Wiimote and make noise.





Still though, you are limited in what you can do, as Wii Music doesn't allow total musical freedom. The tradeoff in losing that freedom is that it lets non-musicians create music with relative ease. I want to emphasize "relative", because making music is still difficult; it takes thought, planning and some basic knowledge of music theory. Wii Music wisely teaches players the basics of music theory over many lessons, though some painfully last 30+ minutes, and I wish they'd use real music terminology rather than dumbed-down terms.





The last song I made took two hours to get to the point where I was happy with it. Those two hours were spent experimenting with different instruments, rhythms, and melodies - all of which were enjoyable. It was also spent dealing with occasionally inaccurate controls, frustrations with certain notes I couldn't change, and some bad sounding midi instruments - all of which were not enjoyable.





Collaboration is fun, so long as you're both in the same mood (creative or silly). I've jammed with friends sitting on the couch at the same time, as well as people online where we take turns adding pieces to the composition.





Wii Music has the ability to save and share your creations, something I wish other free-form games would focus on, but the sharing features still come up short to youtube, which has become the premiere place for users to show off completed works.





Wii Music is also full of mini-games, including ones that focus on volume, theory, memory and yes - rhythm. You can compare the little bell game to Guitar Hero all you want :) However, these are mostly distractions compared to the real meat - the free form "jam" mode.





Wii Music, even for a free-form music game, is strange, brilliant and sometimes frustrating. It's sad that its been shoved into the middle of the silly "hardcore vs casual" game war, released at the same time as popular rhythm games (increasing the amount of useless comparisons) and is often judged by reviewers with an established belief of what a music game can and can't be. In the end it's one of Nintendo's most ambitious and insane games ever made, and if you have some untapped creativity lying around, it's worth a buy.

80811 Korg DS-10 Synthesizer - Nintendo DS

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where you're first taught "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (not Stevie Ray Vaughn) Wii Music's track list has songs that ease you into the creation of music, which is the main point of a free-form music game, as well as more advanced Classical tracks. They are not for listening to as much as they are templates for your own creations.







As a Free Form music game, Wii Music is strange. While it doesn't allow you total freedom of pitch and tone (which most do), it still allows enough wiggle room to create your own songs. For example, playing only the 8th notes in a given song - such as Jingle Bell Rock - will sound nothing like Christmas. Or you can stick to the established notes and remove entire sections, or play certain parts quietly, or just cut loose with the Wiimote and make noise.







Still though, you are limited in what you can do, as Wii Music doesn't allow total musical freedom. The tradeoff in losing that freedom is that it lets non-musicians create music with relative ease. I want to emphasize "relative", because making music is still difficult; it takes thought, planning and some basic knowledge of music theory. Wii Music wisely teaches players the basics of music theory over many lessons, though some painfully last 30+ minutes, and I wish they'd use real music terminology rather than dumbed-down terms.







The last song I made took two hours to get to the point where I was happy with it. Those two hours were spent experimenting with different instruments, rhythms, and melodies - all of which were enjoyable. It was also spent dealing with occasionally inaccurate controls, frustrations with certain notes I couldn't change, and some bad sounding midi instruments - all of which were not enjoyable.







Collaboration is fun, so long as you're both in the same mood (creative or silly). I've jammed with friends sitting on the couch at the same time, as well as people online where we take turns adding pieces to the composition.







Wii Music has the ability to save and share your creations, something I wish other free-form games would focus on, but the sharing features still come up short to youtube, which has become the premiere place for users to show off completed works.







Wii Music is also full of mini-games, including ones that focus on volume, theory, memory and yes - rhythm. You can compare the little bell game to Guitar Hero all you want :) However, these are mostly distractions compared to the real meat - the free form "jam" mode.







Wii Music, even for a free-form music game, is strange, brilliant and sometimes frustrating. It's sad that its been shoved into the middle of the silly "hardcore vs casual" game war, released at the same time as popular rhythm games (increasing the amount of useless comparisons) and is often judged by reviewers with an established belief of what a music game can and can't be. In the end it's one of Nintendo's most ambitious and insane games ever made, and if you have some untapped creativity lying around, it's worth a buy.

Igor: Nintendo Wii

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where you're first taught "Chopsticks" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (not Stevie Ray Vaughn) Wii Music's track list has songs that ease you into the creation of music, which is the main point of a free-form music game, as well as more advanced Classical tracks. They are not for listening to as much as they are templates for your own creations.









As a Free Form music game, Wii Music is strange. While it doesn't allow you total freedom of pitch and tone (which most do), it still allows enough wiggle room to create your own songs. For example, playing only the 8th notes in a given song - such as Jingle Bell Rock - will sound nothing like Christmas. Or you can stick to the established notes and remove entire sections, or play certain parts quietly, or just cut loose with the Wiimote and make noise.









Still though, you are limited in what you can do, as Wii Music doesn't allow total musical freedom. The tradeoff in losing that freedom is that it lets non-musicians create music with relative ease. I want to emphasize "relative", because making music is still difficult; it takes thought, planning and some basic knowledge of music theory. Wii Music wisely teaches players the basics of music theory over many lessons, though some painfully last 30+ minutes, and I wish they'd use real music terminology rather than dumbed-down terms.









The last song I made took two hours to get to the point where I was happy with it. Those two hours were spent experimenting with different instruments, rhythms, and melodies - all of which were enjoyable. It was also spent dealing with occasionally inaccurate controls, frustrations with certain notes I couldn't change, and some bad sounding midi instruments - all of which were not enjoyable.









Collaboration is fun, so long as you're both in the same mood (creative or silly). I've jammed with friends sitting on the couch at the same time, as well as people online where we take turns adding pieces to the composition.









Wii Music has the ability to save and share your creations, something I wish other free-form games would focus on, but the sharing features still come up short to youtube, which has become the premiere place for users to show off completed works.









Wii Music is also full of mini-games, including ones that focus on volume, theory, memory and yes - rhythm. You can compare the little bell game to Guitar Hero all you want :) However, these are mostly distractions compared to the real meat - the free form "jam" mode.









Wii Music, even for a free-form music game, is strange, brilliant and sometimes frustrating. It's sad that its been shoved into the middle of the silly "hardcore vs casual" game war, released at the same time as popular rhythm games (increasing the amount of useless comparisons) and is often judged by reviewers with an established belief of what a music game can and can't be. In the end it's one of Nintendo's most ambitious and insane games ever made, and if you have some untapped creativity lying around, it's worth a buy.

James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace: Nintendo Wii

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No, the graphics weren't that great by today's standards, but you could interact with the terrain. Shots left bullet holes, and sounded different based on what you were shooting at. You could blow up things like tables and windows and computers by shooting at them. You get none of this realism in Quantum of Solace, bullets don't leave a mark, and none of the terrain is destroyable, and I believe they really missed the mark here.

Here's the big reason: Multi-player variety. In Goldeneye, you had so many different choices for multi-player. You could have heavy weapons in the Temple, or pistols in the facility. When you added cheats into the mix, you just got even more variety. Perfect Dark was even better. You could pick each individual weapon in each game, which made the variety almost infinite. You could also change your health level, which was great to level the field, as a newbie could play a veteran and not be crushed and frustrated. In Perfect Dark they even added Simulants, computer opponents that added even more variety to the scenarios you could create. And one more thing, you actually ran around and found the different weapons, which made it fun because you could strategically place certain weapons in certain places. Again, you get none of this in Quantum of Solace. You pick your person, you get one pistol and one rifle, nothing extra to pick up, and no choice as to your health level. And there are only two choices of games to choose from, versus the many different choices in both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.

I still have my Nintendo 64, just because it's so much fun to play Goldeneye and Perfect Dark when I have friends over. I was hoping this game would be it's modern replacement, and sadly, it's not.

Click YES if you agree with this review!

80811 Korg DS-10 Synthesizer - Nintendo DS

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effects section. The drum sounds each get their own FX though.

A complete song is made of up to 100 strung together instances of 16 different "patterns". Each pattern encompasses up to 16 beats/notes plus the programming for each synth and all its sequencer data. So each pattern can sound and act completely different.

All the programming and composing is pretty much done at the pattern level.

Just about any knob or setting can be twiddled in real-time during playback, and you can interact with it through a two-octave on-screen keyboard or an X/Y "KAOSS" pad in addition to editing events directly in the sequencer view. You can also play the 16 patterns back manually so there quite a few performance opportunities.

The manual is of course very limited and someone could write a book about programming and making music on this thing. It strikes me as a product where the developers had way more fun than their bosses thought they should have. There are lots of well thought out details and some things that the manual can't even begin to discuss in enough depth.

It's not really a "game" of course so much as it's like buying a 1995 vintage synthesizer workstation that came with documentation in Japanese. You need to be inclined towards this sort of thing in order to have fun with it, but it has much more depth than many pocket sized synthesizers and sound modules of the past.

Anyhow, if you have any interest in classic synthesizer hardware or music software, you'll probably love this. Probably not a good gift though for a child who isn't already motivated in that direction. One of the better "adult level" titles for the DS though.

Nintendo DS Lite - Coral Pink

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effects section. The drum sounds each get their own FX though.



A complete song is made of up to 100 strung together instances of 16 different "patterns". Each pattern encompasses up to 16 beats/notes plus the programming for each synth and all its sequencer data. So each pattern can sound and act completely different.



All the programming and composing is pretty much done at the pattern level.



Just about any knob or setting can be twiddled in real-time during playback, and you can interact with it through a two-octave on-screen keyboard or an X/Y "KAOSS" pad in addition to editing events directly in the sequencer view. You can also play the 16 patterns back manually so there quite a few performance opportunities.



The manual is of course very limited and someone could write a book about programming and making music on this thing. It strikes me as a product where the developers had way more fun than their bosses thought they should have. There are lots of well thought out details and some things that the manual can't even begin to discuss in enough depth.



It's not really a "game" of course so much as it's like buying a 1995 vintage synthesizer workstation that came with documentation in Japanese. You need to be inclined towards this sort of thing in order to have fun with it, but it has much more depth than many pocket sized synthesizers and sound modules of the past.



Anyhow, if you have any interest in classic synthesizer hardware or music software, you'll probably love this. Probably not a good gift though for a child who isn't already motivated in that direction. One of the better "adult level" titles for the DS though.

Disney Fairies: TinkerBell: Nintendo DS

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effects section. The drum sounds each get their own FX though.





A complete song is made of up to 100 strung together instances of 16 different "patterns". Each pattern encompasses up to 16 beats/notes plus the programming for each synth and all its sequencer data. So each pattern can sound and act completely different.





All the programming and composing is pretty much done at the pattern level.





Just about any knob or setting can be twiddled in real-time during playback, and you can interact with it through a two-octave on-screen keyboard or an X/Y "KAOSS" pad in addition to editing events directly in the sequencer view. You can also play the 16 patterns back manually so there quite a few performance opportunities.





The manual is of course very limited and someone could write a book about programming and making music on this thing. It strikes me as a product where the developers had way more fun than their bosses thought they should have. There are lots of well thought out details and some things that the manual can't even begin to discuss in enough depth.





It's not really a "game" of course so much as it's like buying a 1995 vintage synthesizer workstation that came with documentation in Japanese. You need to be inclined towards this sort of thing in order to have fun with it, but it has much more depth than many pocket sized synthesizers and sound modules of the past.





Anyhow, if you have any interest in classic synthesizer hardware or music software, you'll probably love this. Probably not a good gift though for a child who isn't already motivated in that direction. One of the better "adult level" titles for the DS though.

All Star Cheer Squad: Nintendo Wii

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effects section. The drum sounds each get their own FX though.







A complete song is made of up to 100 strung together instances of 16 different "patterns". Each pattern encompasses up to 16 beats/notes plus the programming for each synth and all its sequencer data. So each pattern can sound and act completely different.







All the programming and composing is pretty much done at the pattern level.







Just about any knob or setting can be twiddled in real-time during playback, and you can interact with it through a two-octave on-screen keyboard or an X/Y "KAOSS" pad in addition to editing events directly in the sequencer view. You can also play the 16 patterns back manually so there quite a few performance opportunities.







The manual is of course very limited and someone could write a book about programming and making music on this thing. It strikes me as a product where the developers had way more fun than their bosses thought they should have. There are lots of well thought out details and some things that the manual can't even begin to discuss in enough depth.







It's not really a "game" of course so much as it's like buying a 1995 vintage synthesizer workstation that came with documentation in Japanese. You need to be inclined towards this sort of thing in order to have fun with it, but it has much more depth than many pocket sized synthesizers and sound modules of the past.







Anyhow, if you have any interest in classic synthesizer hardware or music software, you'll probably love this. Probably not a good gift though for a child who isn't already motivated in that direction. One of the better "adult level" titles for the DS though.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows: Nintendo Wii

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will find that Spider-Man has quite a few cool things he can do with the enviornment with the right timing and button, many based on his comic book signature moves. Jump towards a wall, push against it and let go, you will kick off the wall jumping into the air again. Jump at a wall and hit the jump button again on impact, and you will stick to the wall in a classic pose until you release the button. Major comic fans will ove these little things.
There is basically a button for punching, jumping,interacting and using webs followed by waggle control for lock ons, costume switching, web chain attacks, web zips, and just normal web-swinging.
Pros-the combat system is amazing, as it allows you to chain hundreds of attacks together through the air to the ground to the walls.Web swinging is simple and fun again, and does'nt use the horrible nunchuk like SM3.
Cons-You flick the nunchuk left or right to change costumes, and down to lock on to enemies.You should be used to nunchuk waggle controls sucking, and if you arent, well this sucks.You will lock on when trying to change costumes or vice versa in some very bad times.

The storyline is pretty basic, and is really just a way to give you more missions which are pretty much kill everything in sight or save someone.Throw in some cool boss fights, and thats the game.Yes, you will fight a lot.Besides collecting tokens to improve speed and strength, you will most often fight.Did I get it in your head yet? FIGHT.It will bore some people.You can skip most of the side missions if you want so that you fight LESS, but you get the idea.If anything once in a while they could have added a cool button sequence rescue like what was in ultimate spidermans storyline sometimes,so lets hope for some improvememnt here in the future.The list of other characters that you meet or mention is a great bonus for marvel readers though.You even get quizzed on spidey knowledge at one point.Nice.

There are a few glitches in the game that i have to mention.Number one is the buzzing freeze, no explanation needed.I didnt get this untill later on in the game, but it sucks.Other epople online have reported things that vanish, missions that dont show up or parts of missions that dont show up, which allow you to never move on unless you reload the game-I have not seen any of this, but I thought I might as well mention it.

Oddball details will occur-Venom is mentioned as Eddie, even though he looks based on the new scorpion venom design.Things like this make it hard to place exactly when this occurs(though its not canon by any account). But overall, I have had fun with this game and plan on replaying it to get the different ending.It could be better, but is in my opinion the best spider-man game we have to date.

Carnival Games: Mini Golf: Nintendo Wii

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LOL.

SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom: Nintendo Wii

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me if they can skip it. In addition, you don't get to choose which two characters participate in the level; those are predetermined. It would have been nice to be able to choose the characters you want in order to try out different weapons on different levels. As you advance, you have major battles with one character at the end of the level. You must defeat him/her to advance. The boys love "beating" this character. I like the teamwork required in this game to advance. Neither of the boys mind being the villan! So far, the boys haven't beaten all the levels, but they do like to go back into the ones they've won and get a better score. This game is worth the money. There's tons of play to be had, and we aren't even close to being done! Enjoy! FYI: This is much better than "Attack of the Toybots."

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: Nintendo DS

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rescue the residents of a small village for about half of the maps. This is different and generally works well. Instead of equipping weapons, this iteration of the game utilizes a "magic-only" concept and your character equips glyphs... which mostly act exactly like weapons in previous games. A large number of the enemies have received graphical facelifts, which is nice and I've seen a large number of creatures that are completely new to the game.

WHAT'S DEVILISHLY GOOD ABOUT ECCLESIA?
+++ The graphics and art-style are excellent.
+++ Stepping outside of the castle is good, but there are issues.
+++ Monster redesigns are excellent and the new animations feel fresh.
+++ The music is very good
+++ Gameplay mechanics have changed. The new glyph system takes some adjustment, but it is different from previous iterations of the game and works well.
+++ Villagers give you optional mini-missions, which is a nice bonus that extends the play. I wish there were more of these.
+++ The last half of the game is very excellent, so good that the first half is worthwhile.

WHAT SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF THIS GAME?
--- The first half of the game is no where near as good as the last half.
--- The learning curve on this game is completely out of whack and unbalanced in the first half of the game.
--- While the music is good, most other Castlevanias have done better. As a fan of the series, I was let down by my high expectations of superior tunes.
--- Inventory feels more limited than previous games and provides fewer options.


Dare I say it, this Castlevania possibly possesses the best 2D art (mixed with some 3D effects) the series has seen. Graphically, I think Symphony of the Night was finally surpassed, but only because the art looks crisper and sharper. The downside is that some of these gorgeous backgrounds are little over-used so some areas give the player too much of a sense of deja vu. More variety from screen to screen would have been nice. The storyline is presented stiffly and painfully, full of cliches common to video games. There is some very limited voice acting, and it is at its best, mediocre; at its worst, embarrassingly bad. But no one plays Castlevania for the story. We know the story... Dracula is bad and he must be stopped. We play the game to explore and experience awesome classic 2D gameplay.

My biggest complaint probably won't bother hardcore fans of the Castlevania series, but I think the unbalanced difficulty level in the first half of the game could turn a lot of semi-casual players off from this game. It almost feels like some really tough monsters were randomly tossed into early parts of the game without recognizing that the character would only have a handful of levels and a lot of weak weapons and spells. To top it off, a few boss fights feel downright cheap and unfair in the first half of the game. I think the first 30% of the game is more immensely more difficult than the later sections, and in some cases just switching the play order of the different zones would fix most of these issues. My girlfriend loved the first two DS Castlevania games. She's just a casual gamer and focuses on if a game is fun. The first two DS Castlevanias had a smoother learning curve and eased new players into the franchise, but I know this game will frustrate her and it isn't likely she will try to complete this version.

All in all, I recommend this game to all Castlevania fans. To newcomers, I recommend playing through at least one of the other DS Castlevanias first (I recommend Portrait of Ruin personally). Once you've got your Castlevania chops up, dive into this one.

Madden NFL 09 All-Play: Nintendo Wii

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rescue the residents of a small village for about half of the maps. This is different and generally works well. Instead of equipping weapons, this iteration of the game utilizes a "magic-only" concept and your character equips glyphs... which mostly act exactly like weapons in previous games. A large number of the enemies have received graphical facelifts, which is nice and I've seen a large number of creatures that are completely new to the game.



WHAT'S DEVILISHLY GOOD ABOUT ECCLESIA?

+++ The graphics and art-style are excellent.

+++ Stepping outside of the castle is good, but there are issues.

+++ Monster redesigns are excellent and the new animations feel fresh.

+++ The music is very good

+++ Gameplay mechanics have changed. The new glyph system takes some adjustment, but it is different from previous iterations of the game and works well.

+++ Villagers give you optional mini-missions, which is a nice bonus that extends the play. I wish there were more of these.

+++ The last half of the game is very excellent, so good that the first half is worthwhile.



WHAT SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF THIS GAME?

--- The first half of the game is no where near as good as the last half.

--- The learning curve on this game is completely out of whack and unbalanced in the first half of the game.

--- While the music is good, most other Castlevanias have done better. As a fan of the series, I was let down by my high expectations of superior tunes.

--- Inventory feels more limited than previous games and provides fewer options.





Dare I say it, this Castlevania possibly possesses the best 2D art (mixed with some 3D effects) the series has seen. Graphically, I think Symphony of the Night was finally surpassed, but only because the art looks crisper and sharper. The downside is that some of these gorgeous backgrounds are little over-used so some areas give the player too much of a sense of deja vu. More variety from screen to screen would have been nice. The storyline is presented stiffly and painfully, full of cliches common to video games. There is some very limited voice acting, and it is at its best, mediocre; at its worst, embarrassingly bad. But no one plays Castlevania for the story. We know the story... Dracula is bad and he must be stopped. We play the game to explore and experience awesome classic 2D gameplay.



My biggest complaint probably won't bother hardcore fans of the Castlevania series, but I think the unbalanced difficulty level in the first half of the game could turn a lot of semi-casual players off from this game. It almost feels like some really tough monsters were randomly tossed into early parts of the game without recognizing that the character would only have a handful of levels and a lot of weak weapons and spells. To top it off, a few boss fights feel downright cheap and unfair in the first half of the game. I think the first 30% of the game is more immensely more difficult than the later sections, and in some cases just switching the play order of the different zones would fix most of these issues. My girlfriend loved the first two DS Castlevania games. She's just a casual gamer and focuses on if a game is fun. The first two DS Castlevanias had a smoother learning curve and eased new players into the franchise, but I know this game will frustrate her and it isn't likely she will try to complete this version.



All in all, I recommend this game to all Castlevania fans. To newcomers, I recommend playing through at least one of the other DS Castlevanias first (I recommend Portrait of Ruin personally). Once you've got your Castlevania chops up, dive into this one.

Zenses: Ocean: Nintendo DS

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Twirl has you match shells to a rotating pattern in the center. Wave Breaker is a little bit like Concentration - that might be the most relaxing one, I get so hypnotized watching waves wash over seashells that I kind of forget to pay attention.

My hands-down favorite is Shell Twirl, I literally could barely put it down long enough to write this review! Zen Stones and Pearl Diver are a close second/third; very tough to put down. All the games have varying levels of difficulty so nothing is "too easy" or boring. And, all these games are different from the games on Zenses: Rainforest so if you like this sort of thing, it's definitely worth it to get both!