Video Game Review: Rock Band Beatles
We were invited over to the Sharps this evening for a delicious Sunday dinner. I brought along our recently acquired copy of Rock Band Beatles and all of our Rock Band equipment. The gameplay is nearly identical to that of Rock Band 2 with just a couple of exceptions: 1) the game is much more "family friendly", and 2) it is geared more toward the social Rock Band gamer than the serious Rock Band expert. These are both tremendous improvements over Rock Band 2... especially for our family. Oh... and the Beatles music kicks arse!!!

With regards to how family friendly the game is, take a look at the list of Beatles songs included in the game. You'll find nice kid friendly songs like "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Can't Buy Me Love", etc. Practically all of the songs included I would let me kids listen to and perform. Conversely, there are only 2 or 3 songs in Rock Band 2 that are appropriate for the ages of our kids... and I can only listen to "Eye of the Tiger" so many times before I can't take it any more(!).

The game also appears to be geared toward more of the "social" Rock Band gamer than the serious expert. For example, before each song starts there is a single button option to turn on (or off) the "No Fail" mode. In Rock Band 2 it is buried in the gameplay Options menu. Since we don't play Rock Band but whenever we have friends over (e.g. socially), this is very convenient.

Double thumbs up... go buy Beatles Rock Band!

Video Game Review: Uncharted
A few weeks ago, I had lunch with my friends Dave and Carl. After we ate, Carl unexpectedly gave me his (gently used) copy of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Many (many) months ago I had downloaded and played the short Uncharted demo and spoke highly of it to Carl. Carl bought the game and played it and said he enjoyed it thoroughly. I have been playing the game off and on for the past few days, and I have to agree... it is a very good game. It has a good mix of combat, problem solving, and "platforming" (where the main character must use rock climbing skills to advance to the next section). Combat is fought either hand-to-hand or with weapons while on foot, while driving a boat, or while driving a car. The entire game is presented in the third person, which is my preferred POV for console gaming (FPS games are intolerable on console platforms IHMO).

The game's main character is an Indiana Jones rough-and-tumble treasure seeker named Nathan Drake, a long lost relative of Sir Francis Drake. He has followed the trail of the El Dorado (using an old journal of Sir Francis Drake) to a small tropical island where the ensuing firefight with pirates and mercenaries takes place. The plot is decent enough to move the game along from battle to battle. The background environments look great and the character animation is well done. Highly recommended. Probably the best game I've played on the PS3 so far (but I haven't played too many).

Video Game Review: Rock Band 2
Kristy and I were first exposed to the Rock Band video game family while visiting Kristy's friend Kathy (see here). We played more recently last month at a party hosted by some friends and (I'm sorry to say) we stayed at their home until quite late (like 11:30pm) playing Rock Band. (Yikes!) Well, Kristy had mentioned that she would like to borrow the game (from our friends) for her upcoming family reunion this summer that we are hosting at our house. But why borrow when you can buy... right?! So I bought the Rock Band 2 box set for the PS3 today at Fry's as well as a second guitar. I'm calling it Kristy's Mother's Day present.

Kristy and I set up the wireless Rock Band controllers (both of the guitars and the drums) in front of the TV in the attic (oh, and the mircophone too) and then took turns playing the instruments. We played for a couple of hours after the kids went to bed. And I should note that this is the only time I've ever played a video game with my wife. We both are terrible, but it was still loads of fun. Highly recommended.

Video Game Review: Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds
Berkeley and I have been playing the demo of Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds for quite a few months now (the game came out about 8 or 9 (or 10?) months ago). I bought the full version (used on eBay) the other week. Berkeley and I have been playing it on Saturdays (when we can) ever since. The game is very simple to play, has interactive scenery (there is a train running along the tracks adjacent to the holes on one course), and the characters kind of have that Japanese anime-style similar to those found in a cartoon like Pokémon. This makes the game feel much more kids-oriented than the "sports-themed" titles put out by EA Games, etc. Eliana likes to play this game too since there are female characters and you can pick the outfit for the character to play with. (It's the little things.) Both Berkeley and Eliana have all of the golf lingo down now such as "eagle", "birdie", "par", "bogey", "double bogey", and the dreaded "triple bogey". It's a fun game to play with the kids.

Video Game Review: Lego Star Wars
It has been exactly one month since Berkeley paid 130 Tokens to purchase Lego Star Wars. We have been playing it on most Saturdays since... including today. It's a simple little game with a linear storyline that closely follows the narratives of the Star Wars movies. Both Berkeley and Eliana like to play. Some of the levels that require lots of jumping from ledge to ledge are difficult for Berkeley and far beyond the fine motor skill level of Eliana. But they still have a lot of fun playing the easier levels on "free play" where they get to decide what characters to use. Eliana always picks one of the female characters (e.g. Padme Amidala), and Berkeley usually picks Darth Maul (because Maul wields two light sabers).

Berkeley and I have played through the first two episodes of the six available. We were playing the first or second stage of the third episode today and came to a part where we became stuck. After trying a few different things (at my direction and suggestion) we remained stuck. Berkeley then suddenly had an idea ("I know, let's use one of our friends! R2D2!"), which worked, and we were able to progress. It was kind of funny really... he showed me up - bigtime. He thought nothing of it; it was "just a good idea [he] had".

Summary: Very fun game for the kids and to play with the kids.

Video Game Review: Super Rub a Dub
The game Super Rub a Dub consists of levels where you must guide a rubber duck around a tub of water to free up rubber ducklings encased in bubbles. The goal is to get all of the little rubber ducklings back to the safety of the tub drain. The "tub" can be tilted and controlled on the X and Y planes by tilting the PS3 controller in kind. It's pretty intuitive, but the tilting requires a certain level of sensitivity and fine motor skills that Berkeley and Eliana struggle with just yet. On some levels, you must also jump the duck from one tub to the next. In order to cause the duck to jump, the controller must be moved quickly upward (along the Z axis) while tilting the controller in the direction of the jump. As you guide the ducklings back to the drain, you must do so while avoiding any obstacles such as toy sharks and barrier-less tub edges (where your duck and ducklings can fall into the abyss).

Like Monsters, Super Rub a Dub is a Sony Playstation store-only download for the PS3 system. It is a game that is definitely geared toward a younger audience. The game is cheap too, I paid the nominal fee ($5.99) to download the full game.

Summary: Intuitive, simple, fun game for the kids.

Video Game Review: PixelJunk Monsters
I found the demo for PixelJunk's Monsters at the Sony PlayStation on-line store (accessible from the PS3 console). Since the kids and I enjoyed playing the demo so much (mainly using the 2-player co-op mode), I decided to spend the 8 bucks ($7.99) and buy the full-fledged game. It's a great game for the kids and the price is hard to beat. Furthermore, the production value of the graphics in the game is very high.

Monsters is a game that is loosely based on the popular Internet flash game "Tower Defense". The goal is to build up tower defenses such one can repel the waves of ground- and air-based monsters that slowly make their way toward the babies located at your home base. Some tower types can only fire at walking monsters, others can only fire at flying monsters, and some can fire at both. Towers must be purchased with coins that the monsters leave behind when they are destroyed. Towers can be upgraded by "dancing" on them or by purchasing the upgrade with blue gems (the gems are also left behind by destroyed monsters). Tower upgrades include increases in range, firepower, and speed.

It is a simple concept really, but the implementation is really a lot of fun and the gameplay is very engaging and entertaining. The kids (Berkeley and Eliana) love to play it together and cooperate to get past each level (and Olivia likes to sit still(!) and watch them play). The game includes about 20-some-odd levels, of which they have cleared about 6 or 7 now (the "easy" levels). When Eliana isn't interested in spending a token to play, then Berkeley and I will play together.

Summary: Fun and simple for the kids. Especially nice to see them play cooperatively together.