September 26, 2011

Review: Nicktoons MLB (Xbox 360)

Posted by: Cybermario @ 2:35 am Share in Facebook

What could be better than baseball and Nicktoons? A baseball game with our favorite characters from Nickelodeon! 2K Play brings us a title that at first glance may look like a baseball game made for children, but is a game with relatively good gameplay and challenge that will even please grown ups who enjoy a baseball game.
Even better, if in addition to a good baseball game you’re a fan of the different Nicktoon characters, this game is worth checking out!


Sponge Bob Nicktoons MLB



Gameplay
Well GIR did a mess and now is up to… oh wait, it’s just baseball silly me. The game is simple, if you like baseball this game is a good choice from the many titles out there. Both children and grown ups will enjoy this title equally for the different options available.
Among the options you have a quick game in which you can choose from 3, 5 or 9 innings to tournaments, these modes are: Pick-Up Game, Tournament, Showdown and Distance Derby.
Rookie (easy): The ideal mode for kids or players trying to chill, a afternoon playing baseball without major hassle and without big challenges, also a good way to learn the controls.
Pro (medium): Ideal for those that do not want an easy win but not as challenging as All-Star. Faster balls making it harder to do a perfect throw and improved AI.
All-Star (hard): Now this is the choice that will give you a run for your money, much more faster balls and a more competitive and aggresive AI. If you want a challenge this is the choice.
The game features 12 different fields, although the selection is not bad it could have been more varied. Six real and six more ballparks from the Nicktoons series such as; Invader Zim, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Danny Phantom, Avatar, Fanboy and Chum Chum.


You can build a team with a mix of Nicktoon characters and real players or going all the way with just toons or real players, it really is up to you. Each of them having different stats and abilities, so when it comes to building a winning team you have to take this in mind (no Charlie Sheen tho, still you can play and be WINNING). Or just do like me and let nostalgia decide your team, i had to pick my all time favorites, Sponge Bob, Ren & Stimpy and of course the awesome Invader Zim!


Dudley Catch Nicktoons MLB



You can use a turbo as a batter or as a pitcher, as a batter this allows to do a home run if you hit the ball. As a pitcher can be a double-edged sword, you can do an amazing strike but if the batter hits it will be a sure home run. Homeruns trigger different animations in the ballparks, some are worth to see, others a bit meh.


Having GIR (Invader Zim) and Perch Perkins (Spongebob Squarepants) as announcers give the game a funny vibe, while Perch is trying to do his job narrating the game, GIR keeps yelling nonsense comments just like in the show… BURRRRIIIIIITOOOOOOS~!


Character models are not that bad, nothing spectacular but nothing you can complain about. The nicktoons have different animations and speak when it’s their turn at bat, a nice touch.
Card Gallery with 54 different cards to unlock, a nice touch but without a great importance, unless you want to of course get the achievement for unlocking all 54 cards of your favorite Nicktoons.


Nesmith Slide Nicktoons MLB



Downsides
Time to discuss what is wrong with this game. First i have to rant about the Nicktoons selection, as much as i love to see Sponge Bob, Invader Zim and Ren & Stimpy, cant denny loved characters such as Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers or The Fairy Odd Parents are a huge void in the game. At first i thought you could unlock more characters from other shows, alas was not.
Music is not bad, fast paced and catchy, but the music tracks are really scarse, listening to the same songs often gets really boring.


Lack of unlockables, as i said before with the characters you could expect characters or extra ballparks to be unlocked as you play and win games, this is not the case. (It would have been nice to have this.) It leaves a bad taste in mouth having no more incentives to win apart from getting achievements.


Nicktoon animations can also get boring with time, as each one of them has but one animation, every time it’s their turn at the bat, watching Patrick fall to the ground each time going to the plate tends to get old fast (that’s just as an example). Having 2 or 3 different animations would be more fun and would not end skiping them all.


Ren Nicktoons MLB



Extras
Sadly no avatar awards or gamer pictures at all. A pack of Topps trading cards with MLB + Nicktoon characters it’s bundled, sweet! Not sure if only the first batch of games comes with it, but a sure good way to please fans!


Overall
At the end we can say that Nicktoons MLB is not spectacular but not a bad option if you want a baseball game without complications. For children, a good game if they like the Nicktoons. And of course for a grown up who wants a trip to memory lane with their favorite Nickelodeon characters.
If you do not like baseball or Nickelodeon characters, probably a title you should avoid, otherwise try it and perhaps have a little fun, PLAYBALL!


We give the game a 7 out of 10




~Mario




Play-Asia.com - Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions


December 22, 2010

A World of Keflings XBLA Review

Posted by: Cybermario @ 1:27 am Share in Facebook

It was a pleasure to kick keflings in the first title and ninjabee games spoil us, giving us an amazing sequel to keep kicking keflings to our wits end, A World of Keflings has arrived and the improvements in this title are remarkable. I downloaded the game and could not stop playing until 2am, the storyline and gameplay are just great.



Storyline
Yes we got one! Compared to the first title, now there is a nice and fun storyline. You are frozen and theories such as an abandoned alien experiment or leaving your fridge door open may be the reason to why you ended up there. As you break free from your frozen prison you meet Bob and the Kefkimos. As you advance in the game you rescue Doug from the ice, and he is so impressed that he ask you to let them become your lackeys to help you build the kingdom, and to learn some of your awesomeness.


Here you meet a lost Kefling Princess and learn there are gates to travel between kingdoms. This is when your adventures begin as you must help her return to her kingdom. There are a total of 3 kingdoms for your exploring pleasure. The kingdoms consist of; the Ice Kingdom, the Forest Kingdom, and the Desert Kingdom.


Escaping from the ice, how you ended there anyway?


Improvements
The amount of improvements in this game are noticeable and welcomed. Having three different regions to travel through as the story and quests advance, give the game a great diversity and breaks the monotony from the first title after long gaming sessions.


Having quests integrated in the storyline and not as one exclamation mark over the mayor makes the game much more enjoyable compared to the first title. This time though, it’s not just the mayor, but many of the different keflings you meet asking you favors and offering rewards by completing the quests. Completing the quests are entertainment and they dont feel like a chore for the player.


build cannons, make keflings fly and compose music!


Buildings and backgrounds have a new and stunning look, and the music is both catchy and relaxing. The same relaxing pace from the first title can be found in A World of Keflings, thus making it a winner.


Unlike before, now keflings level up and don’t need a building to improve their abilities. You are also given the chance to name the keflings. This time you improve your abilities by using magic potions and not by finding stuff around the maps. You can’t get every magic potion so you need to be careful selecting your new abilities.


One of the new improvements are the Nursery and the Sculptor. In the first title these were not very useful unless you wanted to decorate or add random stuff to your towns. These 2 buildings have a major role in the game as sculptures and trees are required to build houses and many other buildings (even the castle.) This in itself was a smart move, kudos Ninja Bee!


Lackeys make building much faster as Bob and Doug (among others) help you carry pieces to site faster and even help you finish some of them. This saves time and makes it less of a chore to make long trips to different workshops.


Autosave is a hell of a feature in a game like this, in the first game you could forget to save, build a lot and a shortage take it away in a blink (yeah happened to me) this is a more than a welcome feature in this sequel and a good asset that saves time and headaches.


The Desert Kingdom, one of three zones to explore!


Gameplay
Just like A Kingdom for Keflings, the game has the relaxing gameplay we love and the way quests and storyline advance keep it interesting. You don’t feel bored to play it for long periods of time. Just like before the achievements are there from start to finish. Once more, the game is a great stress reliever and entertainment title for the player.


The way the game works make me think future DLC could be delivered as new kingdoms with new quests and storyline, and why not, more achievements.


This is a title you cant missout on if you like City-building games. Happy kicking… err… I mean gaming!




~Mario
Follow me on Twitter!




Play-Asia.com - Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions


December 21, 2010

A Kingdom for Keflings XBLA Review

Posted by: Cybermario @ 12:32 am Share in Facebook

Few games give you a chance to use your avatar and the pleasure to kick your resource gathering workers to your wits, is there something better than that? (probably orange mocha frappuccino) that game is A Kingdom for Keflings released Wednesday 19 November 2008 for Xbox Live Arcade.





This is one city-building game, the story is simple, as a giant you have to help the Keflings build a kingdom and that’s it but the charm of this game dont come from the lack of storyline but the very special and relaxing pace the game has to offer.


You can pick a giant or your xbl avatar, personally i love to use my avatar and i think it was one of the main attractives when the game was out back in the day, nothing like a storm trooper kicking keflings uh? this is a little something the pc version lacks but do not make the game less fun to play.


The keflings gather resources for you, rock, wood, cloth and crystals, hese are the raw materials to start building the kingdom, you can grab a keflings and assign them task very easy, many times you will find yourself kicking them as they tend to go harvest a different area of the map and not that one you need to clean.
as they harvest, items for your giant will be discovered, these will aid you to walk faster and carry more materials.


assigning task to the keflings is easy



Relaxing Pace?
As stated before the game have a charming and relaxing pace you cant but love, specially after a long day at work or after a gaming session with 12 year old kids yelling at you in Halo, a kingdom for keflings scenery, music and gameplay offers this unique experience to the players.


Up to 4 players can join in multiplayer



Rewards
the stress relief is nice but the game also offer a nice bunch of achievements that can be unlocked up to advanced stages of the game, keeping the player interested for a time, this include 2 multiplayer achievements and must say i am impressed how after 2 years people still host games and join games making it easier to complete the achievements, kudos for that.


There are 2 map packs in the marketplace, dont have these myself so that will be a different review ;)


Kicking Keflings becomes a habit :)



Downsides
the same relaxing gameplay people love is also what make people feel the game is boring and this stack with the lack of a storyline, quests are nice but not enough to keep people interested.


Do not recommend to play the game for long periods of time (like playing it for 2-3 hours in a row) as monotony will be obvious and the charm will go away.


and unless you care much for the layout and how the kingdom looks (like me) the game may be boring after you complete the game.


Overall A Kingdom for Keflings is a nice title, if you like games like Sim City, Civilization, etc, im sure you will like it, if blowing up stuff is your thing the title may not be so attractive for you, still.. who knows you may like it and get addicted to kick keflings.




~Mario
Follow me on twitter!




Play-Asia.com - Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions


March 30, 2010

Free Xbox 360 Avatar Items

Posted by: Cybermario @ 3:01 pm Share in Facebook

Hello gaming lovers, usually i’d say there’s nothing better than a whopper with fries and a vanilla milkshake.. but there is and it’s called free stuff, there’s a couple avatar props you can get for free and we decided to share the information with you so get them while they are hot!


The first 3 codes courtesy of Game Room’s Block Party




Grill Party Prop: 9XBX9-9RCD9-9BCK9-9PRTY-9RCKZ
Male Bing Shirt: PHT9P-KXR4Y-BB6BY-VFMPD-THT4T
Female Bing Shirt: VFH6P-9FJKK-KKP9G-H4DRH-WTCFM




not sure how long these will be around so claim these props while you can, now on a side note i really love what they did to promote Bing with this.
When you go to Bing and type in the search “xbox avatar bing shirt” the first result are the codes for the free items, this was original and hopefully will not be the last time they do something like this.


The last code it’s from Metro 2033 (offer expired) and let you unlock a mask from the game, dont be confused as this is not the one you can unlock by pre ordering the game (that one is a gas mask) for this to work you DONT need to buy the game.





1) go to http://www.thq.com/ and register a new account (if you have not one yet) it is free, with that done we can continue.
2) Click on register game (again, you dont need to buy it)
3) Select Xbox360 from the drop down menu and then pick Metro 2033
5) It will then ask for rtail code but you dont need to type one, just click NEXT
6) in the next page you will obtain a code to reedem the avatar item, enjoy!


i heard there’s a limit of 20,000 codes but i cant be sure of this so get yours while you can, hope this little post was usefull for you, please share with us in the comments if you get any of the props an your thoughts of the same, keep dreaming!




~Mario




Play-Asia.com - Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions


counter customisable