Posts Tagged ‘Wii’

My Baby First Steps is a follow up from the popular My Baby Boy and My Baby Girl Nintendo DS games. What’s this game about?  In so many words, you’ll be able to learn the do’s and don’t in the world of virtual parenting!

Fun Game Features

My Baby First Steps is available for the Nintendo DS and the Wii.

Personal Thoughts by Justin Lowmaster…

NERF N-Strike Elite is a rails light-gun shooter by EA Games. It is an decent alternative to the more violent and bloody rail shooters such as Dead Space: Extraction or any of the House of the Dead games. While it isn’t a game I enjoyed a lot, it will do well for certain audiences.

Key Game Features

* The NERF: N-Strike Elite Game – Enjoy a classic rail shooter packed with arcade style shooter action where your path through the game is laid out in advance so you can concentrate on having fun.
* NERF Switch Shot EX-3 Blaster Included – Bundled with the game is the NERF Switch Shot EX-3 Blaster, which is compatible with other games utilizing the Wii Remote, and as a standalone NERF gun with a three NERF projectiles capacity.
* Decoder Lens Attachment – Your blaster includes a detachable decoder lens through which special codes and enemy weaknesses can be seen in-game.
* Multiplayer Support – NERF: N-Strike Elite features 2-player off-line. multiplayer co-op functionality for twice the fun.
* Multiple Available Characters – NERF: N-Strike Elite features access to four different characters, each with their own arsenal of NERF blasters
* Weapons Selection – Weapons available in NERF: N-Strike Elite include 16 different NERF blasters, both real and fictional, each with their own specific strengths and weaknesses.

This games enemies are robots who shoot NERF darts and the weapons the players use are also foam NERF projectiles. I have not played the first game in the series, but I believe that in that game the players are in a training course. In the second game, the robots have gone awry and are in ‘real’ danger.

I myself enjoy games like House of the Dead, so when I started the NERF game, I wondered how it would compare. While I hoped for a similar game that was just geared for a younger audience. I was, sadly, a little disappointed. While at its core, it is like any rails shooter. The camera moves around and you fire at whatever enemies pop up. My biggest complaint is the fact that enemies take many hits so sometimes you just stand there holding the trigger, waiting for a robot to explode, then going to the next one. I’d call it slow-paced. There aren’t enemies popping up all over forcing my to quickly blast them. Some robots show up, I hold down the trigger, and wait. Even on the harder difficulty, the only difference is that you take more damage and the rockets you blast from the sky move faster.

Another issue is that there is very little ‘feel’ to the game. The robots will move somewhat when hit, but there is little to no feedback to know you are hitting one. Obviously they are getting hit with foam darts, not shotgun shells, but still, some reaction would be nice. There isn’t much in the way of impending danger. Your shield is the only ‘health’ meter you have, and when it drop to zero, you simply are asked if you want to return to the previous checkpoint or to the menu. Also, to reload you have to shake the remote. This is awkward and I kept wondering if I’d shake something loose, but I didn’t. Shooting off-screen to reload, like most games like this, would have worked just fine. It auto-reloads when you run out of bullets though.

In game you can shoot canisters that you spend to upgrade your weapons. This makes them stronger, hold more ammo, bigger scopes, the normal things in this type of game. I did not find any bonus modes or options, but they could be there.

The game is short, beatable easily in just a few hours. That’s not too uncommon for any of the rails shooters I’ve played. There are three difficulty modes, but playing on Hard didn’t make it much more a challenge as nothing changed that I noticed besides the amount of damage I took and the speed of one enemy. Basically I just had to replay more often. The levels appear to be the same for every character, you just have a different set of weapons to choose from.

The game comes with an actual NERF gun that you can remove the firing mechanism from and insert the Wii Remote into to play. Attached to the top is the Red Reveal scope. It’s a red bit of transparent plastic that will sometimes reveal a specific target to hit. I believe you could play the game without it, but it is meant to be played with it. For me it was kind of a gimmick and didn’t make the game better. Didn’t make it worse though.

Final Thoughts…

All in all, Nerf N-Strike Elite falls short for me, but if you’d like a rails shooter that isn’t full of zombies and blood spattering everywhere, it is a viable alternative. I could have been better with faster paced game play. I worry the younger audience it is meant for will also tire of the repetitive times when the same few robots show up and you just stand there waiting for them to explode. It’s not a bad game though, just could have been better.

This title is rated Everyone 10+ for fantasy violence and can be purchased at various locations as well as Amazon.com .

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of NERF N-Strike Elite for review from Electronics Arts . This review is 100% our opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

EA Sports has released a sequel to their EA Sports Active Personal Trainer called EA Sports Active More Workouts. This game was released on the 17th of November and is available for purchase for just $39.99.  I was given an advanced copy of this game to review thanks to the people over at EA.

I’m sure many people would like to know how EA Sports Active More Workouts compares to EA Sports Active Personal Trainer. We’ll for many reasons that I’ll point out, I feel like a lot of gaps from the first game have been improved upon.

When purchasing EA Sports Active More Workouts, you’ll find that not only do you receive the game itself but also nutritional guide booklet by Bob Greene. You’ll find that this book recommends helpful steps to increasing your activity level and achieving a healthier lifestyle. I personally am a fan of the recipes!

I’d like to point out that for this game you’ll need to  purchase the resistance band and leg strap. The accessory pack retails for $20.00. Also this game uses the Wii Balance board but it’s nice to know that purchasing it is not required.

If you have a profile from EA Sports Active Personal Trainer, you can easily import that into EA Sports Active More Workouts as soon as you load the game up. You can then choose to customize your avatar in the desired attire ( work out outfit, hat, shoes), look ( skin color, hair style and color) body build, as well as enter your weight. My husband whom is also playing along side me, really liked the feature that you can weigh yourself with the wii balance board to get the most accurate weight measurement, a feature that was not available in the previous game.

After setting up your profile you’ll find in your own personal menu a fitness journal in area in which you can input data on your daily eating and exercise habits. I know after I answered the quizzes I was feeling a little guilty about not drinking enough water and eating enough vegetables each day. It was great to be aware of the areas I was lacking in so I could make it my goal to improve on it each day.  I found all the questions in this section were revised from the the previous EA Active game.

You have the option of adding other exercise you may do through out the day in your journal. I usually add when I go walking and when I do extensive housework.  I like that this option is there so I don’t feel like I am sitting around on not doing any sort of exercise all day. Plus it’s great to add so I can work toward to earning the various trophies available as rewards for a job well done!

A new feature that was added is the weekly fitness tracker in which you can view and compare your personal stats. You’ll find on this chart the calories you’ve burned, a chart of your weight, and the number of workouts, total exercise time, and number of miles covered in your EA Sports Active workout. Trust me seeing, how much you’ve done can be really encouraging in keeping you working out and working toward a healthier life style!

There are 35 all new exercises, which means there are now 89 in all! I like that you can create your own personal workouts in so many different ways! If I want to work on just cardio, upper body, lower body, or abdominal, the options for me to put that together are all there! There are all-new cool down/warm up stations as well as warm weather activities like water skii-ing and paddle surfing!

Did I mention there is also a co-op mode? I like that you can work along side a friend or your spouse! There’s nothing like have an accountability partner to work on maintaining life changing goal together!

There is a six week challenge! What the six week challenge consist of is a series of 24 pre-set workouts. I’ve learned that the length of this challenge is ideal for weight loss and that the workouts are designed to focus on different muscle groups intensively throughout the allotted time slot. You can choose an easy, medium, or hard workout. I’m probably going to go with easy since I nearly never exercise and would probably really be hurting if I upped the difficulty too much. Another thing my husband and I love about the six week challenge is that we are now given the ability to choose the days of the week to work out. My husband unfortunately missed the last two days of the 30 day challenge from the first EA Active game and nothing he did counted!

I’m really excited about the new six week challenge in which starts tomorrow on the 20th of November! My husband and I, along with many other people around the web are taking part in this challenge together. I am hoping to give everyone at least a weekly update on how the challenge is going for myself and my husband is also going to write his thoughts on this venture on his own blog!

I think most people will really like EA Sports Active More Workouts as it truly is the perfect personal trainer in a box and great for every member of the family! It saves a trip to gym and you can escape to beautiful island beaches all from the comfort of your living room!  I’m totally ready to feel the burn! How about you?

Disclaimer: I was sent EA Sports Active More Workouts for review from Electronic Arts . This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.