Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands - BusyGamer Score 2

First Glance:
The next installment of Ubisoft’s popular action adventure puzzle franchise.

Short Story:
You, playing as the Prince, come to visit your brother, Malik, who is a ruler of a kingdom. But when you arrive, you see that he is in the middle of a war. You now go around the kingdom trying to locate your brother while, on the way, defeating enemies at the same time. You meet up with Malik in King Solomon’s tomb where Malik decides to release Kings Solomon’s Army in order to end this war. Then something goes wrong, the “army” that’s released is an ancient evil that draws its power from the sands lead by an evil demon called Ratash. After the seal that held the army captive is broken, the Prince and Malik each took a half of the seal and were once again separated. The two brothers found that whenever they kill an enemy, they gain power from them. Malik likes this power but Prince can see that one can be overcome by it. Then comes the fight with Ratash. After you wear the demon down, Malik comes out of nowhere and delivers a killing blow, or so you think. As Malik’s half of the seal absorbs the power of Ratash, you notice he is now overcome by the demon’s power and becomes Ratash. You now have to locate your brother and save him from this terrible fate and save the world as you know it.

The Score:
I was absolutely disappointed in this game. I am giving this game a 2.

Body of Review:
Usually, I like to have a good and bad section to my reviews but I’m just gonna go ahead and combine them into one. I had some major problems with this game. In the past, the Prince of Persia series has been known as an action adventure puzzle game but the problem with this installment is that there was no action or adventure. The majority of the gameplay was me running up a wall, swinging from poles, or avoiding traps around the area. And then when I did actually fight some enemies, there were usually about a hundred or so that I had to fight. The waves of enemies were ridiculous. The gameplay itself was not what it used to be in a Prince of Persia game. Remember back in the Sands of Time trilogy, especially in Warrior Within where you could string together combos to really do some damage? Yeah, those days are long gone. Now you can only hit enemies with so called “quick attacks”, which take at least a 2 second wind up on the Prince’s part, and a charge attack. No more combos, no more Mature rating either, which is what I loved about Warrior Within.

Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands

The powers you obtain over the course of the game are okay but not great. They include Fire Trail, Ice Blast, Stone Armor and a Wind Gust. I found myself using the Fire Trail more than any other power because it did the most when I was surrounded by enemies.

You also use the power of the sands in this game. With the power of the sands you can control time, which you can use to prevent some deaths and help figure out the puzzles in the game. You can also slow down time which will slow down water falls and water spouts enough to where you can climb, walk, swing, and shimmy on water. This was a pretty cool feature for the first two sections I had to use it in, then it just became annoying by how much I HAD to use it.

The last power you obtain is the power of the wind. You can be in mid jump and then use this power to dart yourself to an enemy at the opposite end of a once unreachable gap.

I would have to say the only decent thing about this game is perhaps the cinematics. They were done quite well but when you have good cinematics with a disappointing game, it doesn’t help any.

Final Thoughts:
After playing this game, it really made me sad that this is where the Prince of Persia franchise has gone. When I saw that they were going back towards the Sands of Time I was excited because I was a big fan of that trilogy but I was severely disappointed. I hope that if there’s a next installment, they will go back to the days of Mature ratings and violent combos and gameplay.

Until next time, happy gaming everyone!

M-Dawg

Dante's Inferno tells us to "Go to Hell" and we still give it a BG 4.

First Glance:
A game adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s first part of “The Divine Comedy” about a soldier’s quest through the Nine Circles of Hell.

Short Story:
You play as Dante, a soldier of the Crusades who returns home to find both his father and his love, Beatrice, murdered. While he mourns at Beatrice’s body, a dark presence appears and takes her soul down to Hell. Dante, now “hell” bent on revenge, follows her soul down to Hell determined to save her soul and send her to Heaven. Along the way, you learn why she is taken to Hell and more about Dante himself and his family.
The Score:
I’m giving Dante’s Inferno a 4. Not only is this game fun and exciting but it can also be a quick play if you are able to get a good amount of game play in. I also give this game a 4 because it’s an easy achievement game. A plus if you like achievements as much as I do.

Body of Review:
Good:
Dante’s Inferno is a very solid game. One of my favorite things about the game would be the cinematics. The in game cutscenes, the cinematic cutscenes, and the flashback cartoons are amazing and add a lot of depth to the game itself. As you travel deeper into Hell, you will have a flashback cutscene which is started by a close up of the cross that Dante has stitched into his body. In these flashbacks, you find out what kind of person Dante is and how Beatrice’s soul is snatched down to Hell by the Devil himself.

Another good thing about the game is the arsenal of weapons you have. First and foremost, Death’s Scythe. That’s right, Death’s Scythe. You acquire this weapon early in the game. After the games tutorial, you go to a cutscene where Dante is stabbed in the back by an enemy. While Dante tries to recover from the blow, Death rises from the underworld to collect Dante’s soul. Dante refuses and you go into what I consider your first boss fight. This boss fight made me hear something I thought I never would…Death begging for his life while Dante kills him with his own scythe and then takes it for himself. My mind was blown just by this first fight. The scythe is great for the classic hack and slash of demons and damned souls but sometimes there will be enemies that are too far away for the scythe to reach. For these enemies, you have a cross given to you by Beatrice before Dante went off to the Crusades. The cross is used as a ranged weapon.

The big head may be angry that we're wasting his dental floss...

Now along with these two weapons, you also have four different types of magic spells that you acquire through out the game. The gameplay is quite good in this game. It has a combination of hack and slash and also a button command system for certain enemies and boss fights. My favorite aspect of the fighting system is the option to punish or absolve certain enemies. To get this option, you can either grab some of the weaker enemies or wear down some of the stronger enemies. When you wear down an enemy enough, a right trigger icon will appear over their head, when this happens, press right trigger to grab the enemy with the scythe then you will have an option. You can either punish or absolve your enemy. If you choose to absolve them, Dante will use the cross to send the demon’s soul to Heaven. If you choose to punish them, Dante will show no mercy with Death’s Scythe. Choosing to either punish or absolve an enemy will raise either you Holy, or Unholy level, and also collect souls which you can use to buy different moves or upgrade your weapons as your levels go up.

I really enjoyed the button command system that was included with the fighting system. When you take on enemies, you will be given certain button commands to choose to punish, absolve, or even board a creature that you can control.

One of my favorite things would be the boss fights. You will take on a number powerful foes in this game, including Death, King Minos (who judges damned souls and sends them to a certain circle of Hell depending on their sins), Marc Antony and Cleopatra,  Cerberus, Alighieri (Dante’s father), Frencesco (Dante’s friend and Beatrice’s brother) and Lucifer Himself. Favorite boss fight: King Minos. The way you finish the fight is brutal!

All these things about this game are great, but the absolute best thing about this game has to be the overall look of the game. The environments are mind blowing. My favorite stage in the game is Gluttony. Since gluttony is associated with the digestive system, the entire circle of Gluttony looks like you are walking around the inside of a stomach and intestines of a person. As you walk around, the walls move and you hear the sounds of a stomach. It’s absolutely disgusting to look at and hear but it’s done so well you can’t help but appreciate it.

Like I said earlier, this is an achievement game. There is no achievement in the game that require you to play through the game on a certain difficulty, so you can 100% this game on the easiest level of gameplay, which is a big plus for me, because I don’t like games to be too difficult. I got all but 5 achievements just playing through the game once.

"Butt kicking for goodness!"

Bad:
Ok, I know I had a lot of good things to say about Dante’ Inferno. In fact, I think the goods things I wrote about it may actually be longer than my first review. Anyway, there were a couple of things I thought could have been better about the game. First of all, there was the lack of a free roaming camera. I felt a free roaming camera could have been helpful and could have prevented a number of deaths that I suffered while playing the game. I also would have wanted to have a targeting system. There were times that I wanted to focus on one enemy to raise either my Holy or Unholy level and then Dante would start attacking another enemy in mid combo, which got a little annoying. The last thing I didn’t like was how Cerberus was portrayed in the game. Now when you think Cerberus, you think a giant three-headed dog. But, in the game, Cerberus guards the entrance into Gluttony, so to go along with the look of the stage, the people at Visceral Games decided to make Cerberus into a three headed worm monster. I didn’t like it at all.

Final Thoughts:
Dante’s Inferno is an incredible game. The combination of the story, game design, and controls is what makes this such a great game. And the ending left it open for more games. Perhaps it will continue to follow in the stories of “The Divine Comedy.”  It was one of my favorite games I’ve played recently.

Until next time, happy gaming everyone!

M-Dawg

Bayonetta: BusyGamer Score 3 of 5

First Glance:
Sexy character, sexy action and gameplay, A varied world full of pretty environments and visually well-designed enemies. Hails of bullets mixed with fighting game-style hand to hand combat, mixed with God of War or Prince of Persia-style adventure, delivered by a colder-than-James Bond English witch.

The Short Story:
Let’s address it straight off- yes, Bayonetta has a sexy female lead character. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s also not enough to carry a bad game. The good news: Bayonetta isn’t a bad game. The gameplay focuses on action and the execution of over-the-top combat moves to propel you on a tour of an eye candy heavy world populated with antagonistic angels that are both grotesque and stereotypically heavenly at the same time. The game is all about the battles, and the battles happen nearly constantly. But there are also scattered puzzles to solve, items to collect, secrets to find, and lore to unveil. It’s fun, it’s pretty, it’s full of action.

The Score:
Bayonetta’s gameplay is divided into chapters, which are divided into verses. The game will autosave at the completion of each verse, so even if you can’t finish the chapter, you can come back to it with a minimal amount of replay. However, your enjoyment of the game, as well as your performance, will suffer if you don’t have the time to complete a chapter continuously most of the time. A player with average skills should be able to complete a chapter in under two hours generally, but for optimal enjoyment, you will want to have time to play in longer stretches at least sometimes. You can also put Bayonetta down for a day or two without completely forgetting where you are and what you’re doing, and if you do, the fact that you can practice your combo moves on the loading screens should help you pick it back up. Because of this, I am giving Bayonetta a Busy Gamer 3. Players will enjoy the game most if they have the time to play about four three-hour sessions a week.

Reviewer Rika Stead by Jim Brown

Body of Review:
Bayonetta is one of the most pleasant gaming experiences I have had in a while, just for the simple reason that there isn’t much in the game that gets in the way of your enjoyment. It’s easy on the eyes, both Bayonetta and her world were designed with attention to detail. But the game also doesn’t err on the side of pursuing the philosophy of “sex sells.. so we don’t need anything else.??? While much has been made of Bayonetta’s sex appeal, she’s not just a cartoon sex doll. Yeah, she’s sexy, but she also has a uniqueness to her that makes her more of a real character, less of a vehicle to bring tits into the game. (BTW, in case you can’t use Google image search yourself, there are no flotation-device-like boobs on Bayonetta, and no perceivable boob bounce animations.) Bayonetta’s character is endearing in a way. Some of the lines they gave her are a bit cheesy, as are some of the moves, but they are delivered in a way that makes you feel like Bayonetta is quite aware of the cheese factor and is dropping her lines with just a hint of irony.

And the combat doesn’t suck either. Bayonetta executes over the top combo moves, and can learn special techniques, such as turning into a panther for bursts of speed or dodging while in the air as the game progresses. The combos are made up of martial arts-style moves accompanied by the constant hail of bullets from all four of Bayonetta’s guns. The most important concept in Bayonetta combat is the dodge. Not only is it necessary to avoid damage, but dodging at the absolute last second also triggers “Witch Time???- AKA time stops for everything around you, enabling you to pummel your enemies without risk of reciprocation or to make your way across obstacles that you otherwise cannot.

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Mass Effect 2, like its predecessor, scores a Busy Gamer 1

First Glance:
Bioware’s sequel to one of my favorite games ever. ‘Nuff said.

The Short Story:
Bioware has, in my opinion, a hit and miss history with sequels. I was not fond of the sequel to Baldur’s Gate but I was completely taken with the “addons” for Neverwinter Nights. So it was with some trepidation, and no small amount of excitement, that I dove into Mass Effect 2. There’s another huge game to be told here with some of the best voices in the industry, graphics that far outshine its predecessor, and a substantial universe to explore… again.

The Score:
If you read my review of Mass Effect, you know I loved the game. The only problem was that it was not Busy Gamer friendly in the least. A single playthrough could be accomplished in roughly ten hours but you were robbing yourself of one of the best game experiences you could have. The same holds true for the sequel. With the changes to the exploration portion of the game, you could easily invest several hours a day to gathering resources and finishing side missions without ever touching on the main story. As such, I’m forced to give Mass Effect 2 our lowest rating, a 1.

Body of review:
To say that I was addicted to Mass Effect would be an understatement. I had five complete playthroughs and a ton of different classed Shepherds to my credit when I finally took the disc out of my 360. I invested over a hundred hours and it was the only game to date for which I actually wanted all of the achievements. I’m telling you this because my expectations for Mass Effect 2 were the highest I’ve ever had for a sequel. Some aspects of the game failed to meet my expectations, others exceeded them. I’m going to start with the bits that disappointed me…

First, there was an overhaul to the weapons system. While the first game’s method of having to skill up in each weapon individually could be frustrating at times, I became used to it and actually enjoyed the process as I proceeded. The bonuses for excelling in a weapon felt earned and I had to learn to compensate for my characters low skill in a particular weapon which I felt to take additional skill. Anyone low skilled in a sniper rifle will tell you it took timing and patience to take down a target when you first got started. However, the ability to use any weapon in the game that your class is able to use is somewhat refreshing.

A skilled assassin and a tattooed biotic psycho as teammates... Behind me. I am a brave man.

Then there is the lack of “loot” in the game. Constantly on the lookout for better armor and weapons in the first game was something of a habit before too long into the story. My OCD lead me to try and get the same “skinned” armor for each member of my squad and I was constantly shuffling items to avoid having to convert items to Omni-gel. The ability to purchase new pieces for Shepherd and customizing the look of the armor is a nice touch but I miss decking out my team members in matching armor to look more like a squad.

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Darksiders rides in and gets a Busy Gamer 3

First Glance:
It’s a game where the first horseman of the Apocalypse extracts his revenge against those who wronged him.

Short Story:
You are War, the first horseman of the Apocalypse. During a battle between Angels and Demons in the middle of an Earth city, only War himself and not the other three horsemen are summoned to bring in the Apocalypse. While War is doing what he does best, he starts to lose his powers. Not knowing why, he then finds himself powerless battling a giant demon. He is defeated, and finds himself in front of the Charred Council, the ones responsible for creating the seven seals that prevents neither heaven or hell from causing problems for Earth. If all seven seals are broken, then the Four Horsemen will be summoned to destroy everything. Since War was the only horsemen summoned, the Charred Council believe the one known as the Destroyer is the reason for War’s summoning. Now, the Council has given War the opportunity to gain some revenge against the ones who wronged him. You now go on to clear your name and kill countless demons and even some angels on the way.

The Score:
This was a good game. Great graphics and a good story line go along with it. My only problem with this game is the length of it. Because of that, I give this game a solid 3.

Body of the Review:
Good:
I did enjoy playing this game. This game has aspects of at least three different games in it. The game play feels like Devil May Cry, the look is that of God of War, and the items and dungeons remind me of Legend of Zelda. I was really impressed with the music of the game. At a first glance, I half expected to start hearing some death metal, but to my surprise, the game was scored with some very nice orchestral music. Now, the dungeons you go through to take your revenge on a variety of demons remind me of The Legend of Zelda series. There are about 5 or 6 dungeons to go through in this game. One in particular is a water temple which is pretty difficult. Remind you of anything?  Another thing is the variety of weapons you find in the dungeons. One of my favorites is the Abyssal Chain. This weapon is basically the hook shot from the Zelda series, it can be used to reach far off places that you can’t jump to or to defeat certain enemies. Another Zelda aspect is a demon known as The Watcher(voiced by Mark Hamill). He is assigned to you by the Charred Council in order to “keep an eye on you.”  He acts as your “fairy,” and tells you certain things about the area. Probably what I liked the most about this game is the fact that the treasures and weapons you find in these dungeons are necessary to defeating that dungeon’s boss. But that’s just me because I’m a huge Legend of Zelda fan.

We're pretty sure he's not here for a cup of sugar...

Speaking of weapons, your primary weapon is the Chaos Eater, which is basically a pretty big sword. You use this to unleash massive combos and cut in half any demon or angel that stands in your way. The next big weapon you find, the Scythe. You can use this as well, but when an action icon comes up when you wear an enemy down, the death strike will always be given with the Chaos Eater, which is kind of a bummer because I think it would’ve been nice to see some finishing hits with the Scythe, but nobodies perfect. Among those two, you will also obtain a power glove which will allow some ground pounds, a bracelet that you can use to create portals(which is pretty cool), and also, like I said, the hook shot like Abyssal Chain. You also get a horse and a gun in this game. When on your Hell-Steed, your sword strikes give double damage so it has it’s perks. Your gun doesn’t do much damage and when you get it, most of the enemies you shoot at will be able to block the gunfire anyway so I wouldn’t use it much. The more kills you get these weapons, that weapon will level up. You can also buy upgrades, moves and combos for the Chaos Eater and Scythe.

One of the best aspects of this game, is perhaps the voice acting. I felt the voice acting in this game was done well, but when you put someone like Mark Hamill in the mix, you know it’s going to be good.

Who knew War could catch air?

Bad:
My main problem with this game has got to be the length of it. It took about two weeks for me to get this game done. I usually like to complete a game in at least a week, mainly because I rent games when they first come out. Although the story was good, and the end left it open for a possible sequel, I felt it could have been shorter. I felt there was a certain point between the last smaller dungeon, and you going into the final dungeon to take on the Destroyer could have been left out, but that’s just me.

Final Thoughts:
All in all I think it’s a good game. The cut scenes were well done as well as the writing, voice acting and, musical scoring. The game play is great and the story is pretty compelling but long. I would like to play this game again in the future. I think THQ and Vigil Games did a great job putting together a game like this.

Happy gaming everybody!

M-Dawg

Borderlands earns a Busy Gamer 3

First Glance:
Gun down some baddies in a futuristic wasteland, level up, gun down bigger baddies.

The Short Story:
Borderlands doesn’t try to do everything all at once. At its core, it’s an FPS with role-playing elements and it seamlessly combines those elements for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. You take missions and bounties as you wander the Borderlands as one of four classes. Level up as you shoot your way to your goals, making your character more powerful for the bigger fights. Team up with up to three other players to get the full experience.

The Score:
This game has quickly become a Reckon Crew favorite and even made it into our top five picks for 2009. Hardly a night goes by without a quick round of Borderlands being played. Cel shaded graphics bring the world of Pandora to light and some of the best voice acting in any video game to date helps to unfold the story of four adventurers who have come to this world to search for treasures beyond imagining. There’s a well told story here and it’s worth the time investment to see it to its ending. The multi-player feature of Borderlands allows for short play sessions and the controls are easy enough to learn and not forget after an absence from the game. Unfortunately, it is ultimately the length of the game and the necessity of some form of time commitment to see the game to its end that bring down the score. An utterly fantastic game, sadly Borderlands scores a Busy Gamer 3.

Body of review:
I’ve mentioned on occasion that there are games I shouldn’t be allowed to play due to their ability to make me lose track of time completely and utterly. Borderlands may very well be added to that short list of games in the very near future.

I had seen the commercials back when the game was released and I knew I was going to pick up a copy eventually. When I did, I was expecting the gorgeous cel shaded graphics and FPS controls. What I wasn’t expecting was how engrossed I would find myself with the game after only a few hours.

When beginning the game, you are offered the choice of four characters, the soldier, hunter, siren, and berserker. As we’ve come to see in games where you have to choose a class, each character has their strengths and weaknesses along with a unique special skill based on your choice. For example, the hunter, Mordecai, is primarily long ranged with the ability to summon his companion Bloodwing to help him fight for short periods of time while Brick, the berserker, is a terror in hand to hand combat and can, naturally, go berserk which allows him to heal rapidly and deal massive damage with his fists.

Our character finds themselves outside of a settlement called Fyrestone where we are brought up to speed on what our ultimate goal is and a brief tutorial which allows us the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with our character choice and then it’s straight into the action. The control scheme is easy to learn and the HUD provided is informative without being distracting. The inventory set up can be a bit daunting at first but once you’re familiar with it, you’ll breeze through it quickly enough.

As you progress through the beginning of the game, the tone is set quickly with the voice acting. Each character you interact with is voiced superbly and there is a humor to the conversations that is endearing. It quickly becomes obvious that the planet you are on is akin to the Wild West with the only law being one of might makes right… and most of the people who inhabit the backwater planet soon begin to contact you with tasks and bounties to complete as you make your way through the impressive landscape.

Where Borderlands truly excels is the multi-player experience. Setting up a game session is quick and easy and you can choose whether to allow just anyone to join or if you simply want to play with friends. The more people you have in the game (up to four) the more difficult your enemies become. At the same time, however, the more lucrative the rewards become.

The multiplayer is where Borderlands shines

The multi-player also allows for lower level characters to catch up relatively quickly to friends who may be higher level. While the lower level characters won’t be much help in the bigger fights, the experience awarded is substantial and may be the easiest way to help a friend get to the same point in the game as you.

Missions and bounties are typically fast paced though there are a few that have you wandering all over a map. Areas tend to scale to the level of your character so you don’t struggle when first entering a new map. The areas are self contained which means you can’t accidentally wander into another area without meaning to but the areas tend to repopulate fairly quickly so any place you take your time fighting into may mean you have to fight your way out again.

The weapons available in Borderlands are numerous and are pulled from “loot” tables in order to provide variance. The names of the weapons will typically indicate what traits they have while still managing to look and perform differently. There’s enough weapons to choose from that you will very rarely see the same weapon in a loot pile more than once, excluding unique weapons. And even with the unique weapons, there may be an elemental effect on yours that your friend’s doesn’t have.

Time constraints may become a factor as you start to enjoy the games. Typical multi-player sessions for the Reckon Crew often go longer than an hour as we help one another complete missions or just load up and go patrol an area and lay waste to some baddies. There’s a good sized world to be explored here and you may find one playthrough isn’t enough. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t play this game but you may want to postpone buying anything else for a while if you’re a typical Busy Gamer.

Gorgeous graphics, excellent voice acting and sound effects, beautiful scenery, and two DLCs since the launch of the game with a third on the way this month make Borderlands a solid addition to any gamer’s library, Busy or otherwise.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Bookworm for the DSi scores a Busy Gamer 5

First Glance:
PopCap’s Bookworm in a portable format. Grab the dictionary and the thesaurus… The pocket versions.

The Short Story:
PopCap has a tendency to make games that I can waste countless hours on. This isn’t a complaint. I used to spend hours expanding my vocabulary on the free web version but now I can blow that time on the DSi and the latest rendition of one of PopCap’s flagship games.

The Score:
This is a no brainer. My DSi is with me on every Reckon Crew outing that involves travel and hotels… Which is most of them. The DSi version of Bookworm is as good as it gets for short or long sessions. Exiting to the menu, as with most PopCap games of late, saves your progress and lets you pick up where you left off. Ease of play, quick loads, and stat tracking earns Bookworm a bilio-tastic Busy Gamer 5.

Body of Review:
It’s safe to say I’m a puzzle fiend. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll keep saying it till someone tells me to shut up. That’s not an invitation… So take a puzzle game and let me flaunt my somewhat impressive vocabulary or at least my encyclopedic knowledge of word structures and I’ll bite every time. That’s why I was so pleased to see the Bookworm title make it onto my lastest favorite portable gaming device, my Nintendo DSi.

Curious about how many three letter words you've used? There's a stat for that...

If you’ve played any rendition of the Bookworm franchise, the controls are easy to pick up when the game starts… Touch the letter where you want to begin and then add on to it until you’re satisfied with your choice. As you use letter tiles, they are removed from the game board and new tiles fall in at the top of the screen. The surprisingly comprehensive in game dictionary tracks whether you’ve entered a valid word and then awards points based on the length of the word and any bonus tiles you might use. You can also shoot for the bonus words as you go to crank up your score.

As you score points, you are awarded levels and titles. With each new level comes the increased chance of a flaming word tile dropping onto the game board. Flaming tiles burn down through other letter tiles when they aren’t used and if they reach the bottom of the board, your game is over. This can add a bit of a panic when they drop into a section with no vowels but there is a scramble button you can use to help out a bit. Unfortunately, using the scramble button can produce more flaming tiles.

Rank up, show your friends you could have finished first in that 2nd grade spelling bee.

Scoring a particularly good word will result in the addition of bonus tiles, letters that can be used to increase the point value of any given word. You’ll be awarded a green, gold, or diamond tile based on the score of the previous word. Use them at any time, they don’t go away unless a flaming tile burns through them.

The only drawback of Bookworm for the DSi is that there is only one play mode. The mode available is untimed, scoring strictly on the words you spell. This can be dangerous as you can lose track of time if you get caught up in trying to spell out twelve letter words…

Bookworm tracks your stats so you can see what your longest or highest scoring word was or you can see how many three letter words you’ve created versus longer words. This allows you to mock your friends who play when you point out you actually were able to make a twelve letter word and they just burned through their entire repertoire of three letter words in the English language. And we all know I wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to mock my friends…

Overall, the game is a great buy for only 500 points through the DSi’s online game store which also conveniently downloads and plays immediately on your device. The purchase was painless (aside from having to use the whole points thing, ugh) and once the download was done, I was playing in a matter of moments.

It’s a great value for the price, a great game to play when you have a few minutes, and it won’t ask you what “extraneous” means… HA!

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Polar Panic : Busy Gamer Rating 5

First Glance:
Cartoon-y, winter-y, arcade style puzzler. Kind of like trying to solve a puzzle while playing Pac Man.

The Short Story:
Polar Panic has you playing as a polar bear, trying to navigate through a world filled with ice block puzzles and the goons of an evil corporation on a quest to save your bear-napped family. Choose from Story Mode, Puzzle Mode, or Survivor Mode (which can be single or multi player)- whichever way you go, its going to involve sliding and smashing blocks of ice, smashing blocks of snow, and with the exception of puzzles mode, smashing goons. FYI- Those trappers might look kinda like Santa, but they’re only jolly after they bash your skull in.

The Score:
The phrase “it is what it is??? comes to mind… Polar Panic is an arcade-style game, so it should be judged as such. But its not an arcade game so phenomenal that it would tempt hardcore gamers to get caught up in it. It fails to transcend its’ genre. That said, its not an absolutely awful game. I won’t pretend that I didn’t start to enjoy watching the swell of blood as I smashed an enemy with a block of ice.. but I didn’t start to enjoy the game until about an hour in. Up until then, the negative aspects of the game were more apparent to me. I give Polar Panic a Busy Gamer score of 5, with the caveat that you probably won’t want to play it for more than an hour a day anyway.

Body of Review:
I get excited about a game when I hear someone say “I usually don’t play (game genre here), but I really loved (game name here). Now I admit, I am not a huge fan of arcade games aside from those that trigger my nostalgia, and I tend to view puzzles more as an obstacle I have to get across to get to the next part of my game than the fun of the game. But I went at Polar Panic with an open mind, hoping I would find myself surprised at how addictive it was. It fell a bit short. When I brought in a second player (one who is more fond of puzzles than I) to help me test the multi player, his most memorable quote was actually, “Well, looks like that’s about it. Can we stop playing now????

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So what was so unremarkable about the game? The controls largely consist of directionals and XXX..X..X…XXXXXXXXX… and the game itself is overly repetitive. The level of difficulty also seems arbitrary- some levels are so easy you think you’re playing a game for toddlers, but they may be preceded by a level that is so frustrating it really is “mind-numbing???, to quote the game’s own copy. The story is extremely childlike but not in an endearing way, and is more of an encumbrance to the game than anything. In puzzle mode, every puzzle you solve unlocks- surprise- another puzzle, which isn’t problematic in and of itself, but they could have thrown in some different sorts of rewards or different ways to unlock the rest of the puzzles to make it a bit more interesting. In story mode, the save system is such that one small mistake can set you back to repeat quite a bit of game play, and if you quit before you beat every level in the chapter, you have to start back at the chapter’s beginning. Which wouldn’t be so bad if the game weren’t already repetitive. Also, it seems as if the darts fired by the hunters behave a bit inconsistently, sometimes killing you when you think they are too far out and sometimes letting you escape by a very narrow margin.

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QUAKE LIVE: Busy Gamer Rating 4

First Glance: The reincarnated spirit of Quake III, but downloaded and launched through a browser plug in- and totally free to play.

Short Story: Shoot, blast, explode, or gauntlet your friends, automated opponents, or complete strangers! Fast FPS action with five main types of matches, around forty maps, a skill matching system, and a social networking style system of profiles and friends lists.

The Score: While I could definitely craft an argument for rating Quake Live a 5, I’m going to go with a 4. It is definitely possible to log on and play just one match per day, but I don’t think many gamers will actually play the game in such a manner. One of the best uses of Quake Live is playing with friends, and limiting such play to only an hour at a time would deny the tangled web of matches, vengeance and grudge matches which naturally should result from fragging your friends. You also will most likely not go to the top of the leaderboards putting in an hour or two a day, but most busy gamers will not need that kind of validation to enjoy the gameplay. Being free also gives Quake Live major points- you have to spend exactly zero hours at work to afford it!

The skill matching system means that you can enjoy yourself without getting pwned too hard, even if you are on the wrong end of the learning curve. Its not impossible to stay alive long enough to improve your skills when you are playing matches at your level. It is also perfectly possible to pick the game back up after a long absence. Even if you do get a bit rusty, you’ll still be able to enjoy the game.

Quake Live is perhaps best as a binge game- its best played in segments of more than an hour, but you don’t need to play everyday. (Barring any addiction you may develop, anyway.) It’s great for lan parties and tournaments as well.

Quake Live boasts 5 types of matches and 40 maps! Plus it's free to play!

Body of Review: All you need to do to get started playing Quake Live is to take a little stroll to www.quakelive.com. Create a free account, and quickly download the plug in. Then you play a match against Crash, who also shows you around the game a little. The rest of the files you need to play are downloading as you play this match, and this match also places you in the skill ranking system. Once your account is created, you can log in and play from any computer with only minimal time spent downloading content.

Once in the game, you can choose to practice against computer opponents or you can select a match. Types of matches include Capture the Flag, Clan Arena, Free For All, Duel, and Team Deathmatch. You can filter matches based on type, or with criteria such as players on your friends list or maps. Matches appropriate for your skill level are automatically suggested, but you can also choose to play matches at a higher level if you wish. The player base is very good as well, no long waits for matches to fill. You can log in and get to shooting pretty much immediately.

Gameplay is much as you would expect- fast and violent. You pick up weapons such as rocket launchers, lightning guns, grenade launchers, and chain guns, and various armors and power ups. Then you take your new arsenal and try to reach out and touch someone. Techniques such as rocket jumping and strafe jumping will greatly improve both your deadliness and your lifespan, and there are tutorials on both if you need a little help.

Check out more of Rika's Reviews! Photo by Jim Brown.

Quake Live also has a built in system of friends lists, and player profiles somewhat similar to a social networking site. Each player profile lets you see a pretty intense amount of information on that player, such as a detailed match history, stats like accuracy and favorite weapons, arena, ect., and players they have recently competed against. Public records keep smack-talking players honest. There is also a built in chat window where you can converse with players on your friends list. Also in social networking fashion, you can use your email contact list to find people you know who play.

The only word of warning for busy gamers is that it is of course not in your best interest to go afk during a match, and any matches you leave without completing do go on your record, so you need to know for certain that you have time to complete a match once you join. Regardless, Quake Live is still one of the best suited online games for those of us with jobs/lives/other games to see to. And did I mention that it’s FREE?

Trine: Busygamer Rating 5 of 5

First Glance:
Platform your way through a pretty, 2D classic fantasy world, solving puzzles and alternating between three characters at will as you go. Find shiny green experience vials, fight undead, and conjure objects.

The Short Story:
The Trine is a mysterious artifact that has bound together the souls of three characters- a wizard, a thief, and a knight. The game follows the three on their quest to be free of the Trine and each other. Each character has unique abilities, and you can switch between them anytime you want. Puzzles that can be solved multiple ways make the game more creative, and the system of checkpoints and levels means that their isn’t a lot of redundant playing when you die, and its easy to play in short sessions. Gameplay is reminiscent of Tomb Raider at times, especially when playing as the thief, and sometimes echoes Prince of Persia, but with a fantasy flavoring to the world.

The Score:
The game play is fun, and since there isn’t a single “right way??? to solve each puzzle, the game doesn’t get repetitive as puzzles sometimes can. It’s easy on the eyes, and the music and sound is also pleasant. The game is split into levels, and within each level are several checkpoints, which resurrect any dead characters and are the restart points in case you get your entire party killed. This keeps boring repeat play to a minimum – you don’t have to replay through a lot when you die, and what you do repeat, you don’t have to play exactly the same. The game is saved every time you complete a level, so you can easily play one level at a time if you wish. You can easily put it down for a week and pick it right back up – the nature of the game allows you to continue to enjoy it even if you do totally forget about one of your abilities. Trine scores a 5 on the Busy Gamer scale because it is certainly possible to enjoy and progress through at less than an hour spent each day. However, it is certainly enjoyable enough to play in longer sessions as well.

Trine Review by Rika Stead - Photo Jim Brown

Body of Review:
Progressing through Trine is dependent on the use of the three unique characters. You can switch between the three at will, and the feel of the game will depend on how you use these characters.

The wizard can conjure items such as boxes and planks- which follow the laws of gravity thanks to the life-like physics of the game. He can also magically move those objects around. He has no combat abilities, but in a pinch he can levitate an object and drop it on enemies.

The thief has a bow for combat and a grappling hook for climbing. She eventually gains abilities such as shooting multiple arrows and fire arrow, which can be sued both in combat and to light torches in certain levels. Her arrows can be aimed in any direction and fall when they reach the limits of their momentum.

The knight’s contribution is pretty much limited to combat. He can hack at enemies, throw items about, and block with his shield. His block is also occasionally useful for getting past swinging spike balls. He also contributes the occasional not-so-bright remark.

You navigate through the game using any combination of the character abilities you can think up. Many of the puzzles can be solved different ways, and you have the choice between overcoming a certain obstacle solely with a single player, or having them work together. For example, you can have the wizard conjure boxes and impale them on the spikes lining the walls of a chamber and then switch to the thief, who will climb up the boxes until she can reach a platform with her grappling hook and leap free.

One of the best features of Trine is the use of physics. Everything in the game will behave very much like a real object as it is moved around, hit, or thrown through the air. Also, any object you can interact with can be interacted with in any way. So instead of having a platform that drops when weight is put on it, or spikes that cause damage, you have a moving platform that can be propped up by the wizard’s conjured box and then have a plank rested on top of it and spikes that you can impale crates on and then safely climb on. But be careful- if you climb on your tower of plank on platform on box and you step off center, it may unbalance and topple the whole thing.

Trine for PC by Southpeak Interactive

There is no “linear frustration??? with Trine- that irritating feeling when you know you need the key to open the gate, but you just can’t find the key. If the obvious plan doesn’t work for some reason, like if the character best suited to the puzzle is dead, you just find a different solution.

Experience is gained by finding green vials that are sometimes easily accessible freebies, and sometimes totally hidden from view. Some enemies also release experience upon death. Health and energy vials are also placed through out, although I found the energy vials to be more or less useless, as my characters were very rarely out of energy.

The characters improve through a skill point system as well as through abilities that can be found in chests. The skill point system is a bit lack luster, there really aren’t too many earth shattering decisions to make, its’ more of a system for doling out advancements at a restrained pace. The so-so skill system really affects the game so little though that it seems almost a waste of resources to have put it in. Finding the prizes in the chests is much more captivating than assigning skill points with few choices.

The strength of Trine is that its just easy to enjoy. Its a fun game, and it doesn’t put too many pains in the butt in the way of your enjoying it. It really has no nagging annoyances. The game play is entertaining and neither too easy or too hard, the graphics are pretty, and its not exactly like anything else you’ve played. Its a good game to get some gaming in in between work, obligations, and taking care of the kids if you’re the sort of gamer who likes to play but doesn’t have much time, but its also a good game to play to break up the seriousness of long MMO sessions and competitive gaming if you’re that kind of gamer as well.