Please consult your local game advisor before ingesting this game.
Time to cure those that are ill in Atlus’ new “TraumaCenter: Under The Knife 2.”
Welcome back the original duo of Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson as you return to the DS to deal with the diseases of the world.
For the new players that just put on their scrubs for the first time, the TraumaCenter series is a game of conducting surgery and fending off out of this world viri. You’ll suture wounds, keep patients’ health from failing, fix broken bones, cut moving viri and aiming your laser to eradicate them before they multiply or replicate or end up cutting your patient up even more showing their superiority for being a smaller celled organism that can simply wipeout any multi-celled human being, bandage up patients, you know – stuff that any normal doctor and nurse do.
Now for the seasoned residents picking up their scalpel again, you know what’s coming. Some normal procedures and then a few procedures filled with mind-boggling viri that cause havoc. As you progress through the game, you’ll come up against more challenging operations one after the other and truly put your hand-eye coordination to the test. It’s not for everyone, but for us masochistic succeeders, it sure is fun/frustrating to do.
So what is there to deal with this time? GUILT was obliterated in past installments. Well, like any other diseases, lingering effects may happen. Derek has to deal with PGS, Post GUILT Syndrome. PGS brings about patients from the past who have their wounded heals wounding them. This also brings characters from the past to help deal with the newly developed strands of PGS. PGS will act like normal GUILT, but with a few new alterations to each one.
What does this mean for you? More of the same thing you’ve done before and tons of text screens to read through. While the fun of surgery and diseases may excite you, the drama of TraumaCenter is heavily carried through the dialogue that’s in between the surgeries. Now, you can skip all of this and just get to the fun scalpel action, but then you will be missing a huge chunk of TraumaCenter. The storyline is better refined to reflect a few realistic issues that may come to any doctor (having to transfer, not being as good as you used to be, doubting your abilities). Dr. Stiles not only deals with his patients’ problems, but many of his own that the medical field has brought him.
The gameplay is the same. You’ll have your tools on the sides of the touch screen. Select what is needed and apply. Some tools (as well as operations) have been brought over from the Wii versions and have been changed to suit the DS. Much hasn’t changed here, although the response of using the tools has improved and that helps in dealing with major surgery.
The world of TraumaCenter hasn’t changed much. It’s everything that it used to be and probably always will be. That doesn’t mean that this patient will flatline as it does not stutter in any aspect about it. While it keeps everything that was great about the series, it doesn't add anything to it. That doesn't hurt it too much since the gameplay and storyline are top of the line and what keep a game series like this going.
Dr. Stiles, successful surgery with a successful rating.
Nintendo now has a new goal, to keep you in shape. With the stereotype of gamers being fat and lazy slobs, Nintendo hopes to shatter that and burn off the calories with their latest craze, Wii Fit.
Perhaps you’ve seen it on the news, seen advertisements all around the world, seen the commercial, heard your friends talk about it, or just walked into your game store. Wii Fit has gotten a lot of buzz from all types of media. Now is this buzz just hyping up the game or for the fitness results it has been said to generate? Yes and yes.
Wii Fit comes to you courtesy of the Wii and Nintendo. So it is a game. If you’re familiar with Nintendo’s line of brain training games for the DS then you’ll be in a similar world. Wii Fit doesn’t train your brain, it trains your body. Wii Fit comes complete with the Balance Board. The board itself could provide a workout with the weight it has. The Balance Board is what is used to measure your weight and check your balance. Now the board itself may have people baffled. Here’s a little video that explains the mechanics of the Balance Board.
Now that you know how it works, let’s talk about how you make it work.
Wii Fit has a set of Yoga exercises, Strength Training exercises, Aerobics, and Balance Games to help shape your body. Yoga has you bending and stretching your body and tests how flexible you are. Some may favor these exercises since they seem the least strenuous (if your body is in good shape to begin with). Others may dislike these exercises as you can check your balance as you do the exercises. Seeing yourself off balance will play on your mind and might cause you to panic resulting in an even worse center of balance.
Strength Training provides a few exercises to help build and tone your muscles. You want bigger biceps, they’ve got you covered. You want tighter abs or any abs at all, they’ve got you covered. Doing these exercises will guarantee you break a sweat.
Aerobics will cover you with fun activities to get your body moving. Hula-hooping will move your hips, Step training will have you moving to the beat, and Jogging will keep your legs pumping. All of these are designed to burn off the calories.
Balance games will have you testing out your skills with the Balance Board. All the exercises have taught you how to get used to the board. Can you really manipulate the board after all the training you’ve done? Try these games to find out.
The more of theses activities you do, the more coins you receive to unlock more exercises and longer reps or time limits for certain ones.
So does all of this exercising pay off? Well, it can. Taking the Balance Test will show if you have improved in the balance department. Knowing your center of balance will make you think twice about how you approach things in your every day life such as sitting and lifting. If your balance is off to the one side more, then you obviously favor that side.
You will also measure your BMI (Body Mass Index). With that set, you can set a 2-week or longer goal term to reach a certain BMI and weight. It may hurt to know what you really weigh, but use that as a motivation to improve your body.
All of this will calculate your Wii Fit age much like how the Brain Age games calculated your brain’s age. The closer you are to your real age, the better.
Take all that information in. Now is this buzz just hyping up the game or for the fitness results it has been said to generate? As a game, it’s similar to the brain training games. If you’re the type to play a game till you beat it, then you will do that easily and quickly. And just like the brain training games, it’s also up to you to continue your daily training. Wii Fit doesn’t set a training program for you, so you need to get yourself up and do what you think is right for your body. As a fitness program, if you consistently use this, you can change see the results happen. 30-60 minutes a day will make a difference for anyone. Not only will Wii Fit improve your body, but you’ll be part of an exclusive group that can buy future games created with Balance Board integration.
When the terrorists attack, call on the Ghost Squad for help. Ghost Squad first stole your quarters back in 2004. Now they ask for 120 quarters (plus tax) to help you defend your Wii from those nasty terrorists.
Not much to really say for a light gun game. You point, you shoot, and things on the screen blow up and/or die. That’s exactly what you’ll get from Ghost Squad. See a terrorist, shot them. They’ll shoot back at you whether you kill them or not. See a hostage…try NOT to shoot them. They’re good and don’t do anything to you other than get in the way sometimes and that’s usually what leads to their death. It’s entirely your fault that they get shot, not the terrorists.
One different thing that Ghost Squad does offer are multiple paths. Sure, there are only 3 real levels in the game, but the number of paths you can take in each one add a lot of replayability. Do you want to offer your team back up or be the one to go in and raid? Use your night vision or use your thermal vision? Is the president in the left, center, or right cottage? They’re not all there from the start. You have to play more, go through a few different paths, and beat levels to cause them to get harder.
Another thing Ghost Squad does differently is the action commands you do. They’re nothing complicated. When prompted, you’ll be told to use your fists to avoid close-up enemy attacks or do other jobs such as defusing bombs.
More reason to play are for unlockables. As you play arcade mode, you gain experience points to level up your squad leader. The higher your level is, the more you unlock. All there is are new guns to play with and different outfits to look…good in.
Want more fun? The Wii offers. Ghost Squad offers Party mode to play with 4 squad members together. Do everything you can in the Arcade mode. Fight the same terrorists, save the same hostages, make more decisions, and save the day. Then there are the extra modes to unlock to make things…interesting…
So Ghost Squad doesn’t do anything great, but it doesn’t do anything bad. It’s a great light gun game to add to your Wii collection. Using the Wii Zapper or a different gun peripheral (Wii Wheel Gun, yes) is a definite plus and feels really natural. It’s fun shooting simulated terrorists alone or with your friends. Grab your guns and shoot till you can’t shoot anymore…or till you beat the game in about an hour. But after that grab your guns and shoot till you can’t shoot anymore a few more times.
Mario has finally driven himself and the rest of his party onto the hand-waving game system. In Mario Kart Wii, you’ll once again take the wheel (literally) and torture your friends through 32 courses of fun.
Everything that was in the previous Mario Karts are here. You have your familiar items of bananas and shells. Your favorite characters that Mario keeps hanging around are here. And the format of going through 4 courses with 3 laps each is still used. Don’t forget about the always colorfulness of Rainbow Road. It wouldn’t be Mario Kart without a road of color to drive on…and fall off of.
Along with the old comes the new. New courses. While Rainbow Road will always be its name, this one is new and full of star bits. New items. Some of the items from the DS Mario racer have transferred over. Hope you like Blooper inking your tv screen. New…retro courses. Relive your past in this…new game. New racers. More babies have been added. Even a few other new and older characters in the Nintendo universe have joined the race. New karts…AND BIKES. They handle differently then a kart…duh. But if you haven’t figured out the awesome equation of babies on bikes yet, then…figure out the equation.
Also new with the game comes the Wii Wheel. Now instead of driving with your thumb, you can emulate real driving and have (maybe) a little embarrassment with the Wii Wheel. While the veteran kart drivers may prefer the nunchuk-Wiimote and or the Gamecube controller ways to drive, the wheel may serve well for the rookie kart gamers. It doesn’t NOT work, but it doesn’t serve to being an advantage. It just adds the realism of driving to your game. You actually could drive and eat a banana and throw it at some one behind you just like you’ve always wanted to.
And another new feature to the Mario Kart franchise is online play. Nintendo’s Friend Code system is in effect. So make some friends and compete online. Nintendo is heavily promoting online tournaments to help traffic (ha) more people to their online world.
Battle modes have taken on a team theme. 8 or more players (computer fills out the rest after your 4 or less human friends) split in teams of 2 and battle to score the most points on the other team. Losing all your balloons will cause your team to lose one point and for your teammates to yell at you.
One feature lost, that may not please a few gamers (especially gamer couples), is the feature to play with 2 karters in Grand Prix mode. Only dating back to the original Super Mario Kart did they ever have 1-player GP available. Now you won’t be able to team up/cheat with your partner in trying to become the best racer and unlock everything.
So there you have it. A little of the old and a bit of new mixed together. Nintendo can really go with the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But they did add “put some sprinkles on top” to make people like it just a little more. While nothing drastic has happened to the gameplay other than the simple stunt system and the game still serves to keep every race as tight as possible (going from 1st to 11th and back up to 1st within 2-3 laps), it still serves a great fun time with friends. So it’s not broke, go play it.
The brawl to end all brawls is out for the Nintendo Wii. One of the many great franchises that Nintendo has created is back and it’s bigger and better than it may have ever been. Get ready to fight because Mario and the rest of the crew are about to put on some good matches in this event.
For the veteran Smash players, everything is here. For the rookie Smash players, there’s a lot here. Let’s start with the roster. Your roster begins with 21 consisting of main eventers and new comers. That roster will bloom to 30+ as you unlock past favorites and superstars from a different organization.
Pick your fighter and have at it against up to 3 more and let the melee ensue. The game may have been slowed down from their last event on the Gamecube, but that doesn’t mean the craziness has been brought down. With the fighting engine still intact and the items still bountiful, there has been more added to make sure things remain frantic. New assist trophies are here. Pick up the trophy and get a random assist from Nintendo’s past (Lil Mac, Nintendogs, Excitbikes, etc). Assists act similar to a Pokeball, but with more pleasing/frustrating results. And if that wasn’t enough for your fights, there is now the “Money In The Bank,” The Smash Ball. Once that glowing orb comes flying in, players flock to it. Hit it enough times and catch it to pull off, what is almost always, a guaranteed knock out.
For those that think most fighting games are only fun with more than one person, well, you’re wrong. Shut up. Brawl has plenty for you to do alone. Classic Mode has you going through a few fights to end up fighting Master and or Crazy Hand. Event Mode has you trying out different scenarios to see if you can win under certain rules and regulations. Then there are Homerun Contests, Break The Targets, Multi-Man Brawl, and a few more unlockable game modes to test your Brawl skills.
New to your solo romp is the Subspace Emissary.
------------------------- em·is·sar·y /ˈɛməˌsɛri/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[em-uh-ser-ee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, plural -sar·ies, adjective –noun 1. a representative sent on a mission or errand: emissaries to negotiate a peace. 2. an agent sent on a mission of a secret nature, as a spy. 3. Anatomy. sending or coming out, as certain veins that pass through the skull and connect the venous sinuses inside with the veins outside. 4. pertaining to an emissary. –adjective 5. Archaic. sent forth, as on a mission. (credits - Dictionary.com) -------------------------
This mode is similar to the Adventure Mode from Melee with a lot of changes. First off, there’s a story. Second, you don’t stay as one character. As the story progresses, you play as almost EVERY character in the game. You even get to choose at certain points. Not only do you play as them, but if you haven’t had them added to your roster, they will be after using them. It’s a great way to have a little experience with everyone in the game keeping you versatile. Not only is the Subspace Emissary long (10+ hours), but it’s a beautiful show of cinematic scenes. A story without dialogue never worked so well. It may not be as gorgeous, but some might call it “Super Smash Bros: Advent Children.”
The adventure, Event Mode, and some of the stadium activities can all be done with a friend by your side. One extra player always adds to the flavor of brawl broth. Now you don’t have to be having fun or being frustrated by yourself. You can share the happy evilness.
Can’t get enough of playing solo? Can’t get enough of playing with friends? Well, go online. You can play with far away friends. You can play with farther away friends. You can even play far away strangers and get mad at them for beating you in a different time zone.
Super Fan Service Brawl has everything you could’ve wanted in this anticipated sequel. Chaos with your friends, the unlockable little items you can earn (stickers, trophies, etc.), the time you will spend in the custom stage builder, the on-line capabilities, the Subspace Emissary…you have invested your $50 well.
