Mini Game Reviews 14: Monday Stranglehold
LEGO Batman (Xbox 360)
Another LEGO game. Yay… You’d think I’d just give up on this franchise, but I still have fond memories of LEGO Star Wars that won’t leave me alone. LEGO Batman is better than LEGO Indiana Jones, though, mostly because the Batman universe makes for a better game. But, like all the LEGO games, the same problems still abound. Horrible vehicle levels. Annoying boss fights. Moments where you keep slipping off the same ledge over and over. It’s all there. What I liked about previous LEGO games was how you accrued a team of friends you could switch between to solve puzzles. In LEGO Batman, there are only ever two playable characters on screen: Batman and Robin. This means that if you play the game co-op, you’re stuck with who the game assigns you. There is one fun twist, however. Once you beat a chapter as Batman, you can play the level again as the villains. Their skills are a little more enjoyable to experiment with, but… it doesn’t do enough to right everything the game does wrong.
Monday Night Combat (Xbox Live Arcade)
Monday Night Combat is what happens when you mix a third-person shooter with tower defense, and it’s awesome, even if it is light on content. The game places most of its emphasis on Crossfire mode, an online battle between two teams. But it’s not just about killing the other players. You have to escort your AI robot buddies to the enemy base in order to tear down their defenses. While that’s going on, you need to build turrets and upgrade them to protect your own base. It’s a very chaotic and fun experience that, unfortunately, comes with a huge learning curve. Monday Night Combat is complicated, and many of the game’s necessary details don’t even get mentioned in the tutorials. This can make it frustrating at first when you pick a character class that feels underpowered or go up against a class that looks overpowered. There is a balance to it all, and once you find it, the online matches are very satisfying. Just be forewarned: a lot of idiots who don’t know how to play muck up your chances of winning.
Stranglehold (Xbox 360)
I feel like I’m supposed to be impressed that John Woo played a part in the making of this game, but filmmakers aren’t inherently good game designers, and Stranglehold takes itself too seriously for being such a mediocre shooter. Admittedly, things start off on a good note when you’re told to dive across a table and shoot a couple bad guys in slow-motion, and you think, “Hell yeah! This is gonna be fun!” But the diving mechanics only work well within a very limited range. You can’t jump from ledge to ledge, which would have been great, and you’ll frequently come to a full stop when attempting to leap over an object at the wrong angle. The action is relentless, though, as there’s seldom a moment where you’re not shooting people. It’s just that the look sensitivity is quite stiff, and the third-person perspective gets really claustrophobic in later levels overstuffed with furniture and other garbage. Enemies are unfairly good at hitting you from across the level, too, which just makes the whole thing more annoying than exciting.
LittleBigPlanet (Playstation 3)
I’ve never had much interest in the PS3 until a game called LittleBigPlanet came out that combined two of my favorite things: platforming and co-op. This is a very creative and beautiful platformer where levels are as much fun to play as they are to look at, packed with all these little physics-based gears and blocks. I became obsessed with collecting the bonus materials, too, so I could use them to redecorate my character (Sackboy, by the way, has got to be the most adorable mascot ever created). When you scrutinize the gameplay, however, there’s a lot left to be desired. The jump, for instance, is floaty and unreliable, and getting up on a ledge becomes a needless hassle. But the bigger disappointment is how the game takes place on three different 2D planes. You’re supposed to switch between these planes to access different parts of the level, but you often end up switching when you didn’t want to or not switching when you need to. Had the game been strictly 2D, it would have been perfect. Sadly, it’s not.
Mini Game Reviews 13: Mario Mass
Geometry Wars 2 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Once Joy Joy got me liking the twin-stick shooter genre, I had to go back and try Geometry Wars again. I still stand by my statement that the action in this one is difficult to follow at times, especially in any of the multiplayer modes, but the addictiveness of the high scores list really sells the game. It’s not enough to try and beat your personal scores. The scores of all your Xbox Live friends are listed in plain sight and taunt you every time you boot the game up. I know leaderboards are common in Xbox games, but Geometry Wars places a lot of emphasis on them and turns the game into an obsession. There are also several different modes to be the best at, and each one tweaks the twin-stick formula just enough to keep them interesting. My favorites are the ones that restrict when you can shoot, because it ups the level of strategy significantly. Your ship has no upgradeable or alternative weapons, though, so the default pea shooter starts to wear thin.
Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360)
I may not take to MMORPGs like most people, but I make up for it by getting hooked on turn-based strategy games. Starting Civilization Revolution was a big mistake. While it’s not as deep as its PC counterparts, it streamlines the management system and makes the game much more approachable. It’s like Advance Wars in that sense, though the game isn’t just about building an army and taking over other cities. There are more ways to win a match, whether it’s reaching a certain amount of gold or researching all the technologies available. It can be annoying when you’ve invested hours into a match that you end up losing, but being a strategy game, you start thinking about where you went wrong and how to fix it, and before you know it, you’re playing again. I don’t really like the controls and how every unit/city expects a command on every turn, but the presentation is fun, and the achievements are obtainable enough to make you want to keep playing as different nations. I know I can’t stop.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
I reached a point early on in the first Mario Galaxy when the novelty of playing in space wore off, and I didn’t care to go any further. Mario Galaxy 2, unfortunately, is the exact same game and does nothing new to bring me back. Look, I know that when the original is good, the sequel doesn’t need to be something completely different. The truth, however, is that Mario Galaxy 1 was too difficult to play for all the wrong reasons. When jumping around a miniature planet turned stale, the camera became a very big problem. It’s sad how Nintendo once had 3D camera controls down pat in Wind Waker, but because of the way the Wii controller is designed, that same finesse is completely absent from a game that needs a good camera. Mario Galaxy is so frustrating, because the camera is always zoomed too far out and is usually slanted at an awkward angle. All those moments where you find yourself running upside down look fun but are a platforming nightmare. For Mario, that’s a sad day.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
It’s hard for me to sit down and play Mass Effect, because it takes a long time to do anything in this game. One arc takes at least two hours to finish and requires so much running around and talking to people. The amount of dialogue (and the amount of dialogue you’ll never hear) in the game is impressive, but I usually end up trying to find the quickest way out of a conversation, because I didn’t play a video game to watch people talk. Unfortunately, outside of the story, Mass Effect doesn’t have a lot going for it. The vehicle sections make me cry, and the gun play is clunky and nowhere near as fun as better duck-and-cover games like Gears of War or Army of Two. Maybe I’m not embracing what makes a good Bioware game. True, the characters in Mass Effect are entertaining, and I like seeing how my decisions affect the rest of the game. I just don’t like spending hours hunting down people to talk to just so I can shoot space aliens for a few minutes in between.
Mini Game Reviews 12: From the Assassin
Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360)
Assassin’s Creed represents everything I hate about modern game design. It is cinematic to an annoying length, feeling less like a game and more like an occasionally interactive movie. Maybe that’s what Ubisoft was going for, but it takes me out of the experience rather than putting me in it. The cutscenes are dry and dull and way too numerous. The character’s movement aims to be so realistic and dramatic, you often find yourself seriously restricted. The controls don’t even make sense half the time, and every combat sequence took all my strength not to snap the controller in half. What the previews and back of the box don’t tell you, too, is that the events taking place are actually memories being regenerated in a lab. So the historical segments are wrought with intentional “glitches,” and the gameplay is frequently broken up by boring lab dialogue. The game tries desperately for you to take it seriously, but when it throws these elements into the mix, I find it hard to suspend my disbelief and enjoy anything about it.
radiangames Crossfire (Xbox Live Indie Games)
I love the shoot ‘em up genre, but I was never a big fan of the Space Invaders style of shooters where the ship is restricted to x-axis movement. Leave it to radiangames, though, to change my mind again. Sure, you still control a ship that only moves back and forth and shoots enemies that also only move back and forth, but Crossfire has two “gimmicks” that really boost the experience above any ordinary Space Invaders clone. First, you can teleport between the top and bottom of the screen to change up how you attack enemies. Second, once enemies are destroyed, they drop little pink orbs to fill up a special weapon that does more damage. Combined, these elements create a very fun and satisfying shooter that supports insane co-op play. The price tag feels a bit steep at $3, though, considering Joy Joy had roughly the same amount of content for $1. But if you’re going to be picky about the money, then just buy both games and tell yourself it was a package deal for $4. These are some of the best games on the indie channel, and you really ought to give them a chance.
From the Abyss (DS)
While I do like dungeon crawling RPGs, they walk a fine line between being fun and addictive or being dull and repetitive. From the Abyss falls into the latter camp… but only because it screwed up its multiplayer support. The game is actually pretty decent and has a good variety of weapons, skills, and spells to equip. Its most interesting gameplay element is allowing you to steal health or skills from weakened monsters. This makes every encounter with a new monster exciting, because the skills drastically change how you go about fighting. Entering the abyss again and again, however, to make your way through more mazes and monsters gets a bit old. The two-player co-op mode really helps break up the monotony, but co-op has a huge drawback. You cannot progress through the story. You and your friend can fight side by side and level up, but beating the boss of that dungeon does not open the next one. You have to go back and fight the boss by yourself. It’s a ridiculous restriction that’s bound to put off many gamers.
Lumines Live (Xbox Live Arcade)
When you look at a falling block puzzle game, you automatically think all those years of playing Tetris are going to give you an edge. But this logic doesn’t apply to Lumines, because Lumines is a beast unlike any other block-based puzzler. I’ll go so far as to say this is the hardest puzzle game ever. At a glance, though, it doesn’t look hard at all. For one, the shape of the falling blocks never change. Plus, there are only two colors you’re trying to match together to form squares. But it’s that simplicity that makes the game so challenging. When the colors on the falling blocks are in an L or X-shaped pattern, and the blocks fall at an increasingly faster rate, it tears your brain apart trying to put them together. This is definitely one of those games that requires hours of practice to get good at, but the best puzzle games in the past have been all about the “easy to learn, hard to master” school of thought. Lumines is hard to learn and even harder to master, which makes it hard for me to recommend.
Mini Game Reviews 11: Curious Crashers
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
I think I’m done with the Legend of Zelda series for a while. After playing Spirit Tracks, the formula has grown stale. The plot is predictable. The towns and temples always feel the same. And after all these years, Nintendo still can’t get it through their heads that gamers don’t need everything spelled out for them. Spirit Tracks leaves little to the imagination and is constantly dropping unnecessary hints or showing you things you already know. The handheld Zelda games have taken a serious turn for the worst, too, in that they’ve gone touch-based. Zelda was not meant to be a stylus-controlled game. It mucks up the ease in which you switch between weapons and tones down the excitement of swordplay and even just moving around. I do like the idea of the train system, but, like Phantom Hourglass before, traveling between towns and dungeons is a long, slow, boring process. Come on, Nintendo. Make this franchise relevant again.
Castle Crashers (Xbox Live Arcade)
I played this one quite a while ago and forgot all about it, but on giving it another try, I’m absolutely enamored. What elevates the game from so-so to awesome is bumping up the number of players. This game was meant to be played with 3-4 people, and it’s a blast. What’s not to like about a cooperative, side-scrolling hack n’ slash RPG with a beautiful art style and great sense of humor? Dude… nothing. I know the hack n’ slash genre can get a bit repetitive, even with leveling up and assigning stat points and all that. Castle Crashers alleviates this, however, by having a huge amount of weapons and animal friends to discover as well as a pretty satisfying combat system that feels more like a beat ‘em up than an RPG. The quest is quite long and is very replayable, too, but, seriously, you gotta have at least three people. When I first played the game with just two, the enemies took forever to kill, and some of the bosses were just unfair. That third (or fourth) person really levels the tediousness and makes this a must-have.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
The DS really is well-suited for short, simple puzzle games, and the selection in Professor Layton is definitely diverse and challenging enough to keep one’s interest. But Professor Layton isn’t just a collection of brain teasers. There is an underlying story here told through slow-moving dialogue sequences and scavenger hunts. I like the idea of puzzles being mixed into the adventure, like a family-friendly 7th Guest, but the majority of the puzzles don’t support the story at all. Professor Layton sees a cat and says, “That reminds me of a riddle…” and away we go. What’s the point?! At that rate, I’d rather the game just be a menu of puzzles to choose from. The puzzles include things like finding the shortest path between two locations and figuring out how old someone is based on a few facts. It’s kind of fun, but you get the feeling that everything the game throws at you could be found online for free. I’m pretty sure I received a couple forwarded e-mails that had these very same problems in them.
Worms 2: Armageddon (Xbox Live Arcade)
I’ve waited a long time for a good console version of the Worms series. This second XBLA release is still shy of perfection (no level editor?!), but it does enough right for me to finally be happy. For the uninitiated, Worms is a 2D, turn-based strategy game where players move little worms around, calculate shots, and let loose all kinds of crazy weapons. Worms 2: Armageddon doesn’t hold back on the artillery, and a lot of the fun weapons that have gone missing in other iterations of the series are back. Granted, some of them do unfair amounts of damage, but you can customize the settings and save each tweak as a different game type. My personal favorite is to disallow worms from moving, which forces players to think creatively in how they dispose of each other. That said, Worms is a great multiplayer game that plays well locally and online. The single-player campaign is pretty short, though, so don’t buy the game if you don’t plan on playing with others.
American Restaurant Chains in China
Pizza Hut
Yuck, yuck, yuck. Pizza Hut gives Chinese people the wrong impression about pizza. It’s gross, overpriced, and the menu is misleading. That delicious bacon pizza you saw? Well, it doesn’t exist, but here’s a disgusting alternative! Their pizzas have strange toppings (you can’t even get a plain pepperoni), and they go super sparingly on the tomato sauce.
Papa John’s
Now this is pizza done right. I’ve said it time and time again that Papa John’s is the best pizza in China. While the prices are comparably expensive to Pizza Hut, the pizza is at least good and tastes every bit like pizza back in the US. Regular pepperoni pizza is a lifesaver! A half-and-half pizza with that and their garden pizza is mmmm mmmmmmmm.
McDonald’s
Maybe it’s all in my head, but the hamburgers in China taste… different. Still, McDonald’s is usually the restaurant foreigners fall back on when they need some familiarity. The fries are identical, they serve Coke, and the chicken sandwiches are actually better in China. I like their breakfast menu, too, but they shut down breakfast way too early.
KFC
KFC is the cream of the crop in China. This place is so popular and is always busy. That’s what happens when you have the best chicken sandwiches in the world. It’s not as easy to order in KFC as it is in McDonald’s, however, since, by default, a meal comes with orange juice and a cup of corn instead of soda and fries. Oh, and their coffee sucks, too.
Burger King
I eat at Burger King almost every time I go to Shanghai, because good hamburgers are hard to come by in China. Burger King has good burgers. They don’t tamper with the flavor in the move from the US to China. As far as I can tell, the burgers are the same. Their fries, on the other hand, don’t taste any better than what’s available at KFC.
Subway
Another commodity that’s rare in China is a decent turkey sandwich. That’s where Subway comes in. The menu and ingredients are pretty much the same, but the portions… oh, how the portions need help. They are always so stingy with the toppings, carefully placing only two or three pieces of every vegetable on your sandwich.
Mini Game Reviews 10: Special Indie Edition
In my last review roundup, I slipped in Protect me Knight, because I’d just discovered the independent games in the Xbox marketplace. Normal games will pick up again next time, but I wanted to get these out of the way first.
radiangames Joy Joy (Xbox Indie Games)
I don’t particularly like twin-stick shooters, and I never cared for the granddaddy of the genre, Geometry Wars, because the action in that game was so hard to follow. Joy Joy, on the other hand, changes my mind. It has a great, unique visual style that’s still easy to read, and the action is fun without being overbearing. There’s also a diverse set of weapons to choose from, though it’s easy to pick a favorite and stick with it for the rest of the game. This is a short game, too. I like how there is actually a finite end to work towards instead of this being another “go until you can’t go no more” test of will, but… that end comes way too soon. While the enemies do get repetitive (and being able to collect all the weapons and upgrades in the first half of the game doesn’t help), the boss battles continue to be new and challenging. Two-player support is nice, as well, and so are the different difficulty levels and special challenges that, once beaten, unlock modifiers to change how the game is played.
Halfbrick Echoes (Xbox Indie Games)
This is a somewhat frustrating game, but not because it’s difficult or poorly designed. It’s just really short on content. You can’t expect a lot from a $1 game, anyway, but they could have easily added more levels and bumped up the price tag. Echoes is a top-down action/puzzle game where you collect crystals in confined areas. The catch is that, whenever you get another crystal, a shadow of your former self appears and follows your last path back and forth. Touching your shadow causes you to lose a life, and when you’ve get 10-12 shadows parading around, it gets a little tricky. This forces you to think ahead to avoid creating a shadow that will later block off a part of the level, but the action moves so quick that you’ll hardly think of Echoes as a puzzle game. The echo gameplay works so well that it’s a shame the game features so few levels. The two-player battle mode certainly helps extend the game’s life, but only a portion of the single-player levels are available in multiplayer. I just want so much more from this game!
Powa Volley Classic (Xbox Indie Games)
Another $1 goodie is Powa Volley Classic, not to be mistaken for Powa Valley, which is the full version that retails for $5. After playing the demo of the latter, though, Classic is clearly the way to go. It may only feature one character and two volleyball courts, but the simplicity of this lighter version actually helps the experience. This is 2D volleyball at its most basic. You jump to hit the ball with your head… and that’s it. No other controls to take into consideration. No special moves to memorize. Jump and hit. Jump and hit. Obviously, this is a formula that’s going to wear very thin if you tackle the game solo. What makes Powa Volley so much fun is its 2-on-2 multiplayer support. While your teammate more often than not gets in the way, it’s hilarious to have him/her present. There’s another volleyball-like game called They Came From the Ground that’s a little more interesting, but the fact that Powa Volley lets four people play together inches it to the top.
Loot, Steal & Destroy (Xbox Indie Games)
This is the most expensive game in the roundup ($3… ooh!) and comes with the biggest caveat. It’s multiplayer-only. Even then, the game really only comes to life when you have three or four people playing. The reason you need that many player is because Loot, Steal & Destroy is all about sabotaging each other. Everybody is in a race to collect the most gold before time runs out. While you can do this the gentleman way and only take gold from the main stash, it’s easier (and more fun) to steal from your opponents’ bases or try to sink their ships when they are about to deliver their cargo. The controls aren’t the best, however, since the ships move a little awkwardly, and the game forces you to alternate pushing the trigger buttons to pick up gold. Ultimately, it feels like something you could find on the Interent for free, anyway, but having it on the Xbox facilitates playing with four people. If you’ve got three friends (or younger siblings) who like to pick on each other, they’ll probably like this one.
Mini Game Reviews 9: Heavy Feeding
Feeding Frenzy 2 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Sometimes, you need to play something simple when all other games do nothing but piss you off. If you’ve reached that point, Feeding Frenzy is your game. It’s easy-going and is suited more for kids than adults, though it does make for a great bridge if you’re low on games your kids can play with you. Players start out as a small fish and have to eat other small fish while avoiding the meaner fish until their fish grow big enough to be able to devour everything. It’s a fun idea that can be surprisingly challenging at times, and the four-player co-op support is great, as always. Unfortunately, there wasn’t exactly a lot the developers could do with the “small fish, big fish” idea, and levels get redundant quickly. There are no differences between the types of fish you play, either, and the game stops introducing new hazards when you’ve reached 40% in the story mode. Younger gamers probably won’t care about these shortcomings. The rest of you will tire of them well before the end.
Soul Calibur IV (Xbox 360)
Soul Calibur II was my favorite fighter back then, and (thankfully?) not much has changed in the formula for IV. While the characters continue to get more and more ridiculous (and the inclusion of Star Wars characters is just… blah), the combat is as strong as ever. I raved about Tekken in my last roundup, but I actually think Soul Calibur is better. The weapons, whether they’re swords or daggers or really big sticks, make fights a little more entertaining, and all the characters have a great variety of moves that are easy to pick up without feeling like you have to spend hours learning how one fighter works. The character creation mode is fun to see in action, too. Granted, your new character’s fighting style has to be based off an existing one, but this way you can at least replace the gaudy outfits of the original cast (and create a woman who fights in a bikini). Even if you never touch the creator, though, there are still plenty of default fighters who kick enough ass already.
Protect Me Knight (Xbox Live Indie Games)
This may be a difficult game to find. Not only is it hidden within the depths of the indie market, it goes by its Japanese name, まもって騎士. There isn’t a better homage to NES games than this, though. 8-bit graphics. Terrible Engrish translations. There’s even an opening cutscene of someone blowing on the cartridge to get it to boot. The game itself, however, feels like something completely new. Deceptively, it looks like an action RPG at first, but the real gameplay is more like a tower defense hack n’ slash. Up to four players can join in to protect a helpless princess from waves of monsters. Players can build barricades to block monsters and upgrade these barricades to stone towers or usable catapults. Between rounds, leftover points are then assigned to skills. It’s frustrating that the game is short and doesn’t feature more enemy types, but the gameplay works so well and is such a fun co-op experience. I see myself returning to this again and again much like I always return to Final Fight for a quick, fun hour of gaming.
Heavy Weapon (Xbox Live Arcade)
Co-op is always a selling feature for me, if you haven’t noticed this by now. Co-op, co-op, co-op! But this is something Heavy Weapon really screws up. If you play the normal campaign with two people, it won’t save your progress. It won’t save your progress! The game is such a mindless tank shooter, though, that playing it alone is about as appealing as having diarrhea on Christmas morning. Your tank slowly moves along a 2D plane and shoots down hordes of enemy ships coming in from above. Enemies fly onto the screen in dull, uniform fashion, while your tank is constantly picking up distracting power-ups. True, it can still be a challenging game, but it soon feels like you’re just nudging the tank back and forth while the homing missiles do the rest of the work. The best part of the game is actually the boss battles, which makes the unlockable boss rush mode pretty fun. There’s also a survival mode that can be played with four people. It’s essentially co-op, but since you’re just trying to survive as long as possible, it’s easy to lose interest.
Mini Game Reviews 8: New Peggle Mario Bros.
N+ (Xbox Live Arcade)
N+ is the perfect example of how to handle a challenging game. As soon as you die, you can restart the level instantly. You don’t have to watch a cutscene. You don’t have to listen to a “Game Over” jingle. You die. You press A. You’re back in. This is a great feature, because N+ can be a brutal platformer. The simplicity of its controls and the straightforward level design, however, make it a lovable, old-school game. I know, the original N is freeware, but the + sign brings so much more to the table. The amount of levels is staggering, and the level editor is incredibly easy to use. But the biggest addition is four-player support. Honestly, N+ is a better four-player platformer than New Super Mario Bros. Wii. There are some truly devilish co-op levels, and all the single player levels can be played with multiple people, too. It’s a lot of fun to work together and brainstorm different strategies, like having one player purposefully die to clear out some mines. Way to be useful!
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
Speaking of… this is a game I have very mixed feelings about. It would have been perfect if the graphics were sprite-based, if the waggle controls were omitted, if the second generic Toad was replaced with any other Nintendo character, if the game was simply called Super Mario Bros. 4… Okay, this list is getting too long. The latest Mario game really is a big disappointment, and its selling feature, the four-player co-op, makes the whole thing surprisingly worse. Your teammates are constantly bumping into you, knocking you off ledges, pushing you into enemies, dragging you off the screen, or stealing all the power-ups (mostly by accident). It’s like Nintendo wanted to tear families apart, because that’s what New Super Mario Bros. Wii will do. Admittedly, when you go at it with only two players, it’s still enjoyable. The levels, when not based on tilting or shaking the controller, are fun, and the difficulty hearkens to the Mario games of old. It’s just… kind of blah for a game released in 2009.
Final Fight: Double Impact (Xbox Live Arcade)
No franchise is more nostalgic to me than Final Fight. I love these games, and every time I play one, I have just as much fun as I did the very first time. Beating the crap out of people as Mayor Haggar is the best way to unwind after a stressful day. This new iteration of Final Fight doesn’t feel like a cheap cash-in, either, since it introduces cleaner visuals, widescreen support, in-game achievements, and sweet online functionality. Random strangers can drop in and out of your game just like you’re in a real arcade. The “double” part of the name comes from the inclusion of a second game, Magic Sword. Magic Sword is a turd. The gameplay is boring and repetitive, and the graphics are nauseating. I would have rather it was only Final Fight for $5 or Final Fight 1 & 2 for the full $10. Considering the far inferior SNES version of Final Fight goes for $8 on the Wii’s Virtual Console, though, this is actually a pretty good deal.
Peggle (Xbox Live Arcade)
So much of Peggle is based on luck of the draw, it’s hard to really pinpoint if I liked it or not. The game throws a bunch of blue and orange pegs on the screen, then asks you to fire marbles at them to knock out the orange pegs in so many turns. Yes, skill is involved in lining up a good shot, but how many of us really know where the ball is going to go once we push A? It’s just a matter of letting go and hoping it gets a few good bounces in. That’s why I find the game somewhat stressful. I get so tensed up whenever the ball gets close to the “extra turn” bucket, because I know it’s out of my hands. There’s a good selection of characters who grant you interesting special powers, though, and the levels arrange the pegs in some creative ways. The absence of a level editor feels a bit cheap, but the two-player mode is fun. Players take turns trying to knock out orange pegs and rack up a higher score,and that hint of randomness serves itself better here than in the adventure mode. It always does.
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