Expensive Few Months

Autumn is that time of year where game developers want to release the decent games in preparation for Christmas. October and November are historically big months for game releases and this year is no different. You need very deep pockets to buy them all or you can use a rental service like Gamesfrenzy to rent the ones you are not sure about and buy the big ones you definitely want.

Below is a list of the games I am looking forward to in the next couple of months. Please note, release dates may change and they are UK dates. As you can see that is a minimum of 8 games over 2 months. How are we supposed to afford them all?

15th October – Medal of Honor

22nd October – Fallout: New Vegas

29th October – Fable III, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

9th November – Call of Duty: Black Ops

12th November – F.E.A.R 3

19th November – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

26th November – Epic Mickey

Toy Story 3 The Video Game

Platforming games are few and far between lately and those which have been released are generally sub-par games which are rushed and as buggy to hell. Toy Story 3 is a pleasant departure from the run of the mill collect-a-thons and actually has a decent level design and some replayability. It is a rather short game though and can be finished within 3 hours. Do not be scared by the 3 hour mark because alongside the story mode you have the Toy Box where you can spend many more hours.

Toy Box is a whole town which you can build up and do mini fetch quests for different town residents. Quests are very short but there are plenty of them to keep you occupied. I have spent 3-4 hours in Toy Box mode so far and I doubt I am near completion. It is a fun game with plenty to keep you occupied and is available on all formats.

This is not a review, just a passing comment

GOOD/10

A Gaggle of Platformers

First up is Mini Ninjas. Mini Ninjas is aimed at young children to promote exploration in a large world. The world is not that big and the game is very linear but it does promote exploration by way of collectable items. You can collect many new magical powers throughout the game and of course you have your ninja skills. You can also choose up to 8 playable characters all with their own unique skills. To also promote a friendly way of fighting without nastiness for the younger audience, whenever you kill an enemy they do not die but turn into an animal. You can also turn into any animal yourself to use their skills.

Mini Ninjas is a fun game and has some replayability when you want to go back and repeat a level to find the items you missed. Lots to collect and great fun. GOOD/10

“UP” is a new game from Disney Pixar which follows in the adventures of Russell and Carl – an elderly gentleman and a young boy – from the upcoming film UP due soon. Russell and Carl are tied by a very long piece of ribbon to a floating house. You have to navigate through the levels and you can choose to play either of them at any time. They follow each other so you can easily switch between them to do different tasks. Some tasks require a certain character to play so you can switch when necessary. It all seems an okay platforming game at first but you soon realise that the game is very broken and not very well programmed. Voice acting can be out of sync with what is happening and also voices get repeated a lot. The other problem is that when the computer controls your other character it is doing a terrible job and may miss jumps and die. The game is very slow, cumbersome and and glitchy. I do not recommend anybody buy this game full price. Accept it gracefully as a gift or wait until it is in the bargain bin. TERRIBLE/10

Ice Age 3 is another movie which has been transformed into a game. Ice Age 3 was actually released a few months ago but I have only just got around to playing it. This game is incredibly fun and is the best of the 3 in this issue. In fact it is the best platformer released this year. You play as various characters from the film in various locations from the snow of the Ice Age to the jungles riddled with dinosaurs. The game starts off feeling a little bit generic but soon it blows open and the levels become insanely fun. To go with a fun game, the script is also quite funny. There are fruits to collect to spend in the Ice Age store on upgrades and you can collect weapons as you go, including a rocket launcher made of a giant bamboo cane!

Ice Age 3 has everything you can want from a platformer including typical platforming styles taken from the likes of Crash Bandicoot. The only downside is that it is quite short and I completed it in around the 5 hour mark. So it is a short game but well worth playing. It is probably not worth the full high street asking price at the moment, but try and get it second hand or wait until the price drops, it is definitely not one to be missed. GREAT/10

Wii Fit to Get Fit?

I stood on the scales today and shrieked with horror at how much I weighed. It does not help living above a sweet shop I tell you!

So I decided enough was enough otherwise I am just digging myself into an early grave. I must lose weight and of course alongside a low fat diet it has to be done with getting regular exercise. I find exercise utterly boring and need some kind of exercise to actually enjoy. So I went and bought myself a Wii Fit balance board. I reckon I must have lost 2lb in weight just by carrying the thing home.

So this is day one of my new “Weightwatchers Diet and Wii Fit Regime”. That was 10 hours ago, but I still have not taken it out of the box.

It is on my list of to-do’s for the morning. But I am determined to do this and I desperately need to lose weight so that is what I am going to do. I will be reporting updates maybe once or twice a week to let you know how it is all going.

My goal – To lose 4 stone.

Screenshot Sunday

Yes I know, it is not Sunday, but I thought I would announce a little side project I am doing for Sprites & Bites which will be starting this coming Sunday. Every Sunday I will be posting a new post based on an up and coming game.

To improve reader content for the blog I would like everyone to create a screenshot for the announced game to be included in the Sunday post. Entries must be drawn by yourselves in whatever medium you choose and must reflect the game of the week. You can use Artpad, or Paint or whatever program you want to use. If using Artpad, please take a screenshot of your final work and send it over. You do not need to be good at art to send a submission. It will not necessarily be the best screenshot that gets placed into the post, it will be the one or two shots which reflect the game in question well.

The game announcement will be held midweek on a Tuesday, the closing time for entries for that week will be 12pm Midday on Sunday. For an example screenshot please see the post here

All entries which do not make it into the original post will enter the users gallery for everyone to admire, hate or even laugh at.

So get your artistic computer pens at the ready, the first game to be featured in the Screenshot Sunday will be “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”.

Please send all entries to beck AT spritesandbites.net and put “screenshot sunday” in the title.

Tiger Woods 09

The next iteration of the Tiger Woods series is nearly upon us. Tiger Woods 09 incorporates a new training mode involving Tiger Wood’s real life coach Hank Haney.

There will of course be the annual tweak of the controls, adding extra control methods for new players and die hard fans alike. With new modes and new courses added to the mix, will the new 09 beat the impressive 08 version?

There will be a downloadable demo of the new game available on Playstationnetwork and Xbox Live on 14th August so stay tuned.

Check out this amazing screenshot below

sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…