We tried the PS3 version of this game (with a load time of nearly 10 minutes!) and found the game to deliver on the kinds of battles you’d expect to find in a Transformers game. In the story, your goal is become the ultimate weapon as a Transformers character in the final, epic war that will determine the survival of their entire race. Features include a variety of weapons, and the ability to convert from robot to vehicle at any time for air or land battles. There are different multiplayer modes and you can play through story missions, using the drop in/drop out online co-op play. Prices are $60 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and $40 for PC. There are also two versions available for the Nintendo DS — Transformers: War for Cybertron Autobots and Transformers: War for Cybertron Decepticons, rated E10+ and priced at $30 each. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Following the historical battles of the infantry division The Big Red One, you play through some of the most famous battles of World War II. The game features 72 missions in total. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
thinkSMART for the Wii and DS is a collection of exercises paired with a record keeping system. After you sign in and make an avatar, you choose from a series of mental challenges that include math, logic, memorization, language, and spatial reasoning. These are organized into free-training exercises, a daily routine, a test, and a multiplayer mode. All include the same challenges, but the free-training and multiplayer modes allow you to set your own difficulty. Created by dtp young entertainment for Mentor Interactive and Conspiracy Entertainment. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This action-arcade racing game is set within a reality TV show, in a made-for-TV city. As you race, you try to collide with other vehicles to send them off the track, in order to trigger events that change the race. The game features a variety of game modes in 2-player split screen, along with online racing for up to eight players. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
We tested the Wii version of this third-person action shooter, designed for one player. You can choose to play as either Iron Man, or War Machine, as you shoot bad guys and try to save the world from destruction. You can either run around, or fly using your jet packs, using a rather complicated menu system to track such things as damage. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Family Game Show for the Wii lets you become a contestant in the world of Family Gameshow. There are three shows – Control Freak, Brain Strain, and Puzzle Addict – each hosted by a different character, and more than 3,000 questions in total. The games can be played alone or with up to four players, and each game has three difficulties and ten levels. There is also a Kids vs. Adult Mode so the entire family can play. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Join the world’s largest soccer tournament from the comfort of your home, as you battle your way through 199 teams from around the world. The World Cup is the largest sporting event and this is the only official and exclusively licensed video game for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. You can take your home nation team from qualification through a virtual re-creation of the World Cup Final. And, for the first time, you can play out the World Cup in a full online tournament mode against fans from other countries. You will compete under the same conditions that your team will face in South Africa, from the group stage through the knockout rounds, to the chance to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Previously available as a download for Mac and Windows, this game is now available for the iPhone or iPad. Similar in design to the computer version, the game has you battling legions of zombies that are invading your yard, trying to reach your front door. To defeat them, you purchase and plant a variety of mutant flowers, vines, trees, and other foliage that have zombie combating powers (for example, cherry bombs and peashooters). These zombie battling plants can slow down, confuse, weaken and eventually destroy the vegetation zombies, before they get to your door. Your selection of plants, along with their placement, is the key to winning. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In Avatar The Game, you either fight with the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people, or against them, as a soldier of the RDA Corporation, using customizable weapons or clan-specific skills. As you unlock levels, you acquire new skills. You can also create your own character, drive the vehicles and ride the animals of Pandora. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Based on the DreamWorks Animation movie, this game lets you train dragons, explore the Island of Berk as Hiccup or Astrid in Story Mode, and battle in dragon tournaments for Viking victory in Action Mode. The “Create Your Dragon” feature allows you to customize six different types of dragons. You can also “level up” your dragon’s speed, power, fire and other abilities through training to face the Viking challenge and become the ultimate dragon trainer. You can then use your trained dragons to battle friends. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If there were such a thing as PhotoShop for your pocket, it might resemble something like the iPad version of Brushes ($10, brushesapp.com). Originally designed for iPhone and iPod Touch, Brushes iPad Edition offers a set of non-watered down menus that let you adjust brush size and texture, down to the pixel. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Named after the main character in “Alice in Wonderland”, Alice has recently been upgraded.
Like MIT’s Scratch and Alan Kay’s Squeak, Alice is a free programming language for children that can be downloaded and installed on a Macintosh, Windows or Linux computer. It is designed to turn programming into a drag-and-drop process. Alice was funded by Electronic Arts, Sun Microsystems, DARPA, Intel, Microsoft, NSF, and ONR. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Not shown in the video, besides the selection of tasty food in the cafeteria, was a walking tour through some of the cubicles, where I met some Steve Grove’s news team (with a mascot beagle). At one point I asked that question about “famous people who have visited YouTube” and I was told the story of a not-to-be-named Presidential Candidate who famously asked “where do you guys make all the videos?”
Want to go for a walk? This low impact walking simulator turns your Wii into an endless treadmill, complete with scenery, record keeping and a virtual coach. Your walking motion is captured with either the Wii Remote, the Wii Balance Board, or a vinyl dance pad; none of which are included in the $30 price. Because there are one or two player options, we were able to dig up two mats previously used with Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), plug them in, and start striding. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In the story, a boy washes up on the island of Crete and doesn’t remember how he got there or who he is. He discovers that he is immortal, and so are the friends he meets. In the game, you will travel from Crete to Athens to Mount Olympus, fighting against Minotars, Harpies, and Hydra while trying to earn your place among the immortals of ancient Greece. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
DJ Hero Renegade Edition Turntable
This game expands on the gameplay mechanics of Guitar Hero but instead of pressing buttons, you use a turntable controller which, at times, has you bending streams of notes to earn a higher score. There are 100 songs highlighted in 93 mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock and electronica.
The turntable controller allows you to use and master various DJ techniques including scratching, crossfading and sampling. So you can learn some real DJ techniques. The game features five levels of play: beginner, easy, medium, hard and expert. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Athlete View
Vancouver 2010 contains 14 Winter Olympic events including ski jumping, short track speed skating, snowboard cross and more. You can compete with up to three other players in your sport to try and earn a gold medal for your country. You can toggle between third person or a first person “Athlete View” that allows you to feel the speed. The game also features new single player challenge modes including Outrun the Avalanche and Beat the Blizzard. We tried the XBox 360 version. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A procedure in progress
MEET Ellen, a 59 year-old woman with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, waiting for you at http://www.edheads.org/activities/brain_stimulation/. She’s the patient, you’re the surgeon. During a 20 minute or so procedure, your mouse becomes a shaver, scalpel, drill and swab, as you work through each step of Ellen’s brain surgery. At the end, you can get a happy patient and a deeper understanding for what a real neurosurgeon does.
This construction game for Windows, Mac and Wii lets you drag-and-drop sticky blobs to construct structures that look a bit like carbon molecules. You quickly learn which structures work best to solve a particular problem. On one puzzle, you must construct the highest tower using the fewest possible parts. Another presents you with a spinning set of teeth that requires a curved structure.
There’s a lot of different ways to solve the same problem, making this game addicting. Content includes 15 different varieties of blobs, each with different properties; enough to keep things interesting. Note that a Wii-Ware version is available, as a download. This is a fun way to introduce building dynamics to young science students. Created by 2D Boy (www.2dboy.com) for Brighter Minds Media. Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. Teaches: science, creativity, building, physics, forces, potential energy. Brighter Minds Media, Inc. www.brightermindsmedia.com, $20. Best for ages 7-up.
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Blackjack
This party style board game includes 17 virtual casinos and 15 gambling mini-games. The games are adaptations of real casino games that vary in quality. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Wii version of Twilight Scene It? turns your TV screen into a trivia game show for up to four players. The content includes 500 questions, which are answered using the Wii remote. Your score can be increased not only by answering correctly, but also by being the first to buzz in. Games include Alice’s Vision (identify the location as it is slowly sketched), Movie Clip (watch a clip, and then correctly answer a question about it), Sequentials (put the scenes in order), and Upon Reflection (identify the character hidden behind the shimmering stars). There are both single and multi-player modes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
After you choose your NBA team, you can tweak the roster, or just jump into the tip off. The teams are based on the current rosters, which are checked online. While there are thousands of details, it is still possible to pick up and play the game, and a novice player can have fun with basic passing and shooting. A Dynasty Mode lets you control your favorite team throughout the season. There are 24 teams who can compete in an international tournament. There’s no shortage of sponsored content, including ads for Sprite (the soft drink). Prices are $60 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, and $40 for the PSP. Note that the purchase includes a password good for one year of a service called “Dynamic DNA” and “Dynamic Season.” Both download the latest stats for your players and teams. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.