Contact (DS)

Hey guys and girls Yuuki had returned and today I bring you Contact. Also known as Atlus touched it so its most likely gold.

Gameplay: Alright Contact uses very simple controls. You can either move and touch things with your D-pad or click on them with you stylus and watch Terry go. The game also has some cute little add-ons like cooking. Each being unique and giving the game a great feel. 5/5

Story: You play well you, and using your DS you communicate with this neat little doctor guy and help him get the power cells for his ship back by directing and assisting the young boy Terry. The story and plot can be alittle lacking at times...and the doctor doesn't give the best instructions luckly the game is simple enough you can discover it for yourself. 4/5

Graphics: The game seems to use two different annimations. The one for the doctor and his ship. Another for almost everything else. The doctor and his ship are vibrant and cartoony and everything else feels flush and painted. The art style is very intriguing and enjoyable for both. 4/5

Audio: The game has cute music but that's really it. It's good and cute but seriously theres no depth to it and its easily ignored. 2/5

Replay: The game isn't long nor is it exactly short. It seems to have just enough in it to satisfy you and then dosn't really hold the appeal to keep playing again. I'd vote giving it to a friend to let them enjoy the experience. 3/5

Overall: Ok I am a bit of an Atlus fan but they have made mistakes before. Though this is not one of them. The game has few flaws other than in can be vague in its instructions of what to do next and it seems to only be appealing to a certain audience. Though I highly recommend this game. 4/5

Touch Detective (DS)

Reviewed by Kit

So since I'm out of town tomorrow, I'm going to post this today, and since I'm in a rush to go out of town now :D I'm going to make this short and sweet.

Story: You are the daughter of a famous private investigator. He died some years ago, and now it is up to you to earn the money in the family. You then hire yourself out to solve mysteries for the people in your town. The story isn't great, but it is all that's needed to move the gameplay along. 4/5

Audio: The music is cute, it sutis the game. It's nothing outstanding. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are nicely done. They are a very unique style of being very dark looking while at the same time being very cute. 4/5

Gameplay: This is a stylus heavy game, but unlike some, it utilizes the stylus well. You move around with it, interact with objects, and touch things. The main character likes to touch things for a homework assignment she has, so randomly start rubbing objects to find out what they feel like. Unlike some games, the areas you have to interact with to move along do not have a different coloring than the background, so you don't get to use that as a hint. you solve mysteries by talking to people and investigating your surroundings. Often the mysteries must be done in steps. Step one meet this person, step two, use this item to do something, step three, find these items to have your butler make you a new tool, step four, talk to this other person. Usually you have a good idea what you must do, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure out. The bottom screen is where all your interaction takes place and the top screen has a picture of the main character, and while she's in conversations, her true thoughts will appear there. They are often very humorous. The dialogue is very entertaining, it's funny and amusing, and the butler especially is hilarious with his incredibly dry wit. 4/5

Replay: Once you beat the game, there's no reason to play it again. 2/5

Overall: Overall, this is a great game. I'd highly recommend it for a younger audience, maybe 10 or so. Older people might enjoy this as well. If you like problem solving then this is a good one. 4/5

Children of Mana (DS)

Reviewed by Kit

So here we go, a nice little DS game that I'm sure some of you were curious about. Children of Mana, the latest in a classic series. Let's see how it turns out.

Story: You're a nice kid who lives in the world's most peaceful village with other kids and some elementals. One day the earth shakes and something goes wrong with the nearby Mana Tree. You go there to dicover time has distorted. Shortly after making your way to the top, a sword falls, and with it you are able to slay a beast. Discovering more of these monsters escaping throughout the world, you go to slay them all. 3/5

Audio: The music is nice, but it's nothing special. There's really not much to say about it. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics a very well done. As with many of the Mana games, there is a fine painted art look to them. Characters also have personalized portraits for when they speak which are very lovely. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is simple. You'll use either A or X to attack, hold down B to cast magic, and hit Y to use whatever item is highlighted. Different weapons have different abilities, and you'll gain more as you progress. You also have armor which you wear, and you must be certain levels before you can wear the stronger weapons or armor. You can choose any of the elementals to be your magic partner in battle. After you've defeated a dungeon, you can take missions that allow you to go back through and do other goals. Usually these give mediocre rewards, but they're great ways to level up some more. At the beginning of the game, you're offered the option of which character you wish to use. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Some are magic heavy (i.e. the girl) and some are more weapon friendly. There is a multiplayer mode, where if you get friends with DSes and the game together you can all play the dungeons. 3/5

Replay: There's no reason to replay. Maybe you want to try the game with a different character, but it's completely unnecessary. 2/5

Overall: Overall, this is basically a dungeon crawler. You start in a town, restock on items, and go to a dungeon, clear it out, rinse and repeat. It might be something fun to do with friends, but other than that I'd pass. 3/5

Dead or Alive: Extreme 2 (360)

Reviewed by Kit

Sorry for the delay, I got home from work yesterday and was completely exhausted, so I decided to well, delay this review. I'm sure you all quite understand.

Story: Zach has gathered all the girls from Dead or Alive, telling them different lies to get them on the island and watch them play volleyball. That's it. 2/5

Audio: The girls have obnoxious voices, but luckily you can change them to Japanese, which are slightly less annoying. The background music is in the game, but if you have songs saved onto your xbox you can play those instead. So for background music, it's all you. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are very beautiful. One complaint might be the the breasts, yes a lot of the game is designed to ogle the hot girls, or if you're a girl, to play dress up with moving barbies, but the breasts move on separate engines, which mean they move in ways I've never seen breasts move before. It's absolutely terrifying. Other than that, everything is very pretty. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is very simple. In volleyball you have to worry about two buttons, the red and green, these will determine if you pass or hit over the net, spike or softly roll the ball over. It's not difficult, but it will take a few rounds to master these. New to the game are various other mini games such as jet skiing, flag racing, water sliding, and butt bumping. While you can jet ski at any point, you need to buy tickets to do the others. You earn money from these games which you can use to buy new bathingsuits, better jet skis, accessories, or presents for the other girls. Building up friendships is key because if your partner doesn't like you, she won't try nearly as much to help you with the volleyball, that is, if she hates you, she's much more likely to let the ball drop beside her than moving a foot to hit it. Simple, but not boring. 4/5

Replay: You can replay to be the different girls, who all have different strengths, or you can keep playing to unlock more bathing suits and better jetskis. It's a game designed for lots of replay. 4/5

Overall: Overall, this will be a game you either want or you don't. Most objections come from the fact that the game focuses on insanely voluptuous women with skimpy clothing. There's more to it than that, but I don't expect to change anyone's minds. If you liked the first, pick it up, if you didn't, then don't. 3/5

Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC)

Reviewed by Kit

Today boys and girls we'll be reviewing a PC game! I know, shocking isn't it? Well, let's begin.

Story: You are a young person (you get to pick your race, job, appeareance, and gender) who is enjoying festival day with friends. Then as you sleep your village is under attack. After surviving the hoards of monsters, your father sends you to retreive a shard which he believes brought the monsters to your town. Not wanting to do anything himself, he sends you to the city of Neverwinter to learn about this shard, and lure away the monsters from your village. he's a really loving father, let me tell you. On your way you'll meet many interesting people who will join your party. The plot can be long at times, and if you're waiting for a specific moment (for me it was getting my own castle to run) then it can take a long time getting there. Some of the missions are horribly boring, but all in all it's a good story. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't the most impressive, but they look decent. Everything is detailed though it can be a bit off at times. Good, but not great. 4/5

Audio: Characters have voices and talk during important scenes as well as when they're fighting, you'll be able to choose your heroes voice from a wide selection. The music is nice, but not terribly noticeable. 4/5

Gameplay: This is D&D game, which means I only understand half of what's going on. All of your actions succeed or fail based on your skills and the unseen role of the dice. The results of the role appear in your message box. As a mage you'll have a list of spells you can cast in your spell book. You can easily switch between party members by clicking on their portrait and battles can be paused by clickign the space bar, so you might have time to organize your actions. There's oddly not much I can think to say about the gameplay, you run around, click objects, click monsters, cast spells, and talk to people. It's fairly straight forward, so there shouldn't be any trouble picking it up. The decisions you make will affect your alignment as well as affect the relationship with members in your party. One thing, there are still bugs in the game, though Obsidian has released a number of patches to fix them. Most serious things should be fixed by now or in the near future. 4/5

Replay: While the story won't alter if you replay it, how you play can. Next time around I plan on being an elven ranger with an animal companion. Maybe i'll be evil, but knowing me I'll remain obnoxiously good. 3/5

Overall: The game is a good one, and it's worth picking up if you like D&D or if you want a good RPG for your computer. 4/5

The Tom & Jerry Tales (NDS)

It's Yuuki! Okay so today I am bringing you my review of Tom and Jerry Tales for the DS. I'll Start by saying this I love T&J!!

Gameplay: So yeah I love T&J but I also happened to hate a little thing called the stylus. As such the game turned out to be almost completely dependant on it. You take the role of Jerry and run about the house stealing cheese and avoiding getting eaten. As you go it basically feels like Jerry is a train on a track. You'll simply do one of the quick stylus minigames to drop a table on Tom or zip around something. They aren't hard but the get old fast. 3/5

Story: It's Tom and Jerry they simply run around trying to kill each other but not cause they actually have a kind of friendship. Of course Tom pretty much come up on the short end of that stick. 2/5

Audio: Not much to day. I mean the game really wasn't designed to be long term entertainment. So the Audio quickly gets annoying. 2/5


Graphics:This is a nice point as it really feels like your playing as Jerry and acting out your own cartoon. Though at times things all seem a little clunky. 4/5

Replay: There isn't any...yeah there really isn't. 1/5

Overall: So here are my final thoughts on this game. If you like T&J and are good with stylus games get it. YOu could also get this game if you have a little on e of some form you wanna see develop better motor skills by playing the with the DS stylus till he hates andything pencil shaped. 2/5

Xbox 360

Just bought a 360, so if you have any 360 game requests, we are now able to fulfill them.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (All systems)

Reviewed by Kit

Nothing to say for introduction, so let's get right into this.

Story: Super villains have united into a a group known as the Masters of Evil and are led by Dr. Doom. Their goal, to take over the world. Luckily you are a band of super heroes under the direction of Nick Fury. The plot isn't fantastic, but it goes into the worlds of many different comics, and for this type of game it's entirely suitable. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics look nice. They suit their purpose, and there's not much to say about them. 4/5

Audio: Each character has sayings that they'll use when they level or kill an enemy. These are suitable for the character, though some of them become annoying. The music for the levels isn't good or bad, it just is. 3/5

Gameplay: You control four heroes at a time. Three will be on AI while one you directly control. You can switch to any of them using the directional pad. At save points you can also swap out who is in your party, and from the beginning a good selection of Marvel heroes can be used. If you have a party of a known Marvel team, then you will get some sort of bonus as well. As you run around the maps you can destroy a good number of objects, some yield items, some are just fun to destroy. You collect money that you can use to upgrade your skills. As you progress through the game you'll find alternate costumes for your heroes. These costumes have skills attached to them that you can also upgrade. Gameplay is simple and easy to handle. 4/5

Replay: The story remains the same, but replay might be fun if you bring in friends to join with you. 3/5

Overall: The gameplay is good, the characters are fun, and the story, if not great, is suitable for this game. I'd recommend it for people who love comic books, people who like playing games with friends, and people who just haven't gotten enough of Wolverine. 4/5