Mini Game Reviews 3: Pinball Trauma
Trauma Center: New Blood (Wii)
If there’s any franchise that just couldn’t be done properly outside the Wii, this is it. Performing surgery with the Wii remote is a perfect fit and can be a rewarding yet nerve-racking experience. Especially if you’ve got shaky hands. I’m always accidentally dropping a piece of glass back into the patient. Ouch! New Blood isn’t much different from Second Opinion, though, which means the same piles of boring dialogue precede every operation. I can understand that they want us to care for the characters, but the way the story is told (through still pictures) is painful. Like the first game, things start to veer into ridiculous science-fiction. The best parts of the game are the real-life operations involving tumors and blood clots, not fighting alien-like pathogens with a laser. But a great addition to the series is the new co-op mode where two doctors can tackle the same patient. It’s pretty fun, because one of you can focus on stabilizing the patient’s vitals while the other… fights stupid aliens with a laser.
Dream Pinball 3D (DS)
Remember when I said good pinball was hard to find? That rings particularly true for the DS, because there is no ultimate pinball game on the platform. Dream Pinball comes close for being a straight-up pinball simulator with none of the gimmicks a la Metroid Pinball or Flipper Critters. The developers made one fatal mistake, however. They screwed up the camera. All seven of the camera options follow the ball too closely, making it hard to gauge when it’s going to fall to the bottom. This also prevents you from being able to read the little signs that say “hit this for the jackpot.” Activating multiball complicates things even more, because the camera can’t decide which one to follow and just does a little jig at the bottom. The ball physics aren’t always accurate, either, but at least the tables are well-made and have multiple flippers to control. If you absolutely must have pinball on your DS, Dream Pinball is the best you’re going to find, but it’s far from perfect.
Tomena Sanner (WiiWare)
If you like your wackiness Japanese style, then you’ll probably love Tomena Sanner. Your character is in a hurry to get to a dance party and must overcome all sorts of crazy obstacles in his way, from dinosaurs to giant robots to men in drag. The game is played with only one button, though, so it’s not quite a platformer like it sounds. Your character runs automatically, and each obstacle he meets has a range in which you can interact with it. Push the button too soon or too late, and you’ll get a “miss” and lose time. But whether you miss or score a good or great, something hilarious is bound to happen. Tomena Sanner is more about making you laugh than it is about being a game, though the online leaderboards show there is definitely room to improve. Plus, there’s local split-screen support, which, like the rest of the game, is fun in short bursts. At the very least, Tomena Sanner is one of the few WiiWare games that’s only 500 points. If you have leftover points and nothing to spend them on, here you go.
Assault Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
The Xbox Live Arcade has no shortage of twin stick shooters, a gameplay mechanic I’m not exactly a fan of. But Assault Heroes feels like such an homage to classic NES shooters, including co-op support, that all is forgiven. I like how, even though you start in a vehicle, you aren’t confined to it. Many times, you’ll have to go on foot to pick up hard-to-reach power-ups or traverse underground bunkers. Or your car may blow up, leaving you mostly helpless until it reappears. This is a great way to handle “dying,” because it gives you a second chance to survive. You even rack up extra points for any enemies you kill while outside your vehicle. Assault Heroes isn’t terribly difficult, though. On the medium difficulty, I only had to restart in two or three places. Regardless, the action ramps up at a nice pace and throws a lot of big robotic bosses your way. The campaign is relatively short, but the action is pretty easy to come back to and play multiple times. You could do a lot worse for $5.
Loading ...
Comment: