jamesweb.org

FANTASTIC GAME, MY KIDS LOVE IT
We purchased Lego Batman for our kids as a Christmas gift and both our 5-year-old Son and 7-year-old Daughter love it. My Son loves Batman and this game certainly wasn't disappointing. There are so many boards to complete and puzzles to figure out and many different vehicles to drive. There are also unlockable characters so your kids can pick which character to be. This is a sure win with the kids. I have uploaded a few screen shots so you can see more of the game.

Great Game!
This is a great game. It is better than the other Lego games. I am the mom and I think it is a lot of fun!

Not very good compared to Lego Star Wars
Having played through all of the complete Lego Star Wars, this game was a disappointment. Costing twice as much as Lego Star Wars, it's about 1/10th the length. Being a bigger fan of Batman than Star Wars, you'd think I'd like this game better, but there's not much to like.

The characters are mostly boring, where you basically have a hero with suits, most of which do very little except to allow you to get to places you wouldn't get to otherwise, or you have boring villain characters. The only remotely fun characters in the entire game to play are Poison Ivy, Joker, and Mr. Freeze.

It also seems like there are a lot more bugs in this game compared to Lego Star Wars. I've fallen through things so much that it got really annoying. Suit upgrades that don't work any more even though they're bought (extra target upgrades for batarang and bombs). Or going through walls and falling, or the game on autosave not saving, causing us to lose about 3 hours of play time. Three hours of play time is a lot in this game, because it only took about 10 hours to get through 70% of the game.

This game is ultimately very short, doesn't have extra challenges like in Lego Star Wars (blue canisters), I still can't access the bonus stages even though we got 70%+ completed, the story is silly at best, with maybe 2-3 good story scenes in the entire game. The suit upgrades etc are also fairly pointless. Flaming boomerang that's just really there for aesthetic reasons, really weak sonic suit upgrades, etc.

With this little content and this many bugs, it should only be at most half the price of Lego Star Wars, but for some reason, it's more than twice its cost.

Our 2nd favorite game
Due to the reviews, I didn't want to buy Lego's Batman, but my son finally prevailed. I'm finding that, like most movie reviewers, I am in the minority. We love this game! We have spent so much time just laughing and doing crazy things that are not part of the mission. It's more fun than Indiana Jones or Star Wars. And, overall, it's our favorite family video game.

Good stuff,... the LEGO games are
My son and nephews cannot stop playing this game, it is almost an unhealthy addiction. :D Almost...

Super Smash Bros
This game is fun. Great when you are looking for a two player. Its nice you can battle each other or team up against others. Not bad by yourself either.

An Amazing Fighting Game with the Characters from Nintendo!
Simply amazing. I can think of no two words that describe this Gamecube title better than that. As a sequel to the N64 smash hit, Super Smash Brothers, this game improves in every way over that title. From the graphics to the sound effects, SSBM is a solid hit to purchase if you still own a Gamecube. And for those Wii owners out there, why not own this to go with Super Smash Brothers Brawl? It would compliment it nicely on your gaming shelf.

I recently acquired another Gamecube, and this was one of the first titles I sought actively for it. Although there are characters that are similar to eachother in attack moves (Pichu and Pikachu, for example), the simple diversity of being able to play one of your favorite Nintendo characters makes this title a joy to own and play over and over again. There are many things I still need to unlock in this game, and I find myself playing it every single night right before I go to bed. It's that addictive and fun.

Pros:

Simple techniques let you get into the action right away
Choose your favorite Nintendo character and have at it!
Graphics and sound are top notch. Gameplay is a breeze to learn
Many unlockable areas and characters available
Multiplayer is fast, furious, and downright enjoyable

Cons:

Single player is a weak addition to the game
Many characters are downright identical to others
Takes a long time to unlock some characters you'd like to play sooner

Overall:

This game is one you must own if you have a Gamecube, or a Wii, for that matter. The price is still on the reasonable side, and you can get it cheaper as a "Player's Choice" title. Any Gamecube owner would do well to add this title to their collection. Get it....TODAY!

Super Smash brothers
The game arrived in a timely manner and even though it didn't have the instructions my son knew how to play. It was in excellent condition.

It's freakin Super Smash Bros!
Donate hours of your life to this extremely fun game. Go for single player adventures, unlock levels with special matches, or battle with combinations of friends & computers. It's a must-have for Gamecube.

Oh, and just a note: After fighting 2995 matches, you'll get an awesome message saying something like: "You completed your 2,995th match. That means you spent a penny on each one. Was it worth it?"

this game rocks!
Before you get this game, I want you to know a few things. first, this game has really good graphics, (most backround things are paper 3D though) this game is only left, right, duck, and jumpish, so there's no moving forward or backward, (unluckily for me, I didn't know that) multi player is the main thing, so I recomend you have 4 controlers, and 1 player mode is only to unlock new players to play in multi player. multi player is Sooo fun, and you can actualy unlock some places from the nintendo 64 vershion!

Patrick, age 9

Raving Rabbids 2 is the one to get for parties!
Rabbids 2 is funny and it's different than the first one. We have Rabbids 1 and it's ok, but a bit difficult and not really multi-player which is why we bought it. The jokes are funny yet appropriate for kids, which is great for parties. Ok you can't throw the cow in the Rabbids 2 (ok we do miss that one) and yes you can move on to the next game even with a lame score. Big Plus+ for me!
But it's fun to dress up the rabbids in costumes, you can mix and match anything you want. Rayman has some good costumes as well. The instruments are easier to play in RR2. In Rabbids 1 you had to be a maniac to keep the beat and my wife mostly had to do it as I'm an old RPG player and no way was I going to keep up with the super fast beat.
Rabbids 2 is clearly designed with the Wii in mind, games are a bit easier to play and instead of being thrown in a cell you get a victory dance for the winner and the loser gets hit by cars or sinks in a boat etc...
For parties Rabbids 2 is lightyears ahead of Rabbids 1.
We will be buying Rabbids TV Party after the holidays.
The rabbids games are offbeat and seriously funny. Rabbids 1 is for more serious players who want more of a challenge, and I will say this the Rabbids 1 shooting games are considerably better than Rabbids 2. But that's about it. Replaying games is much easier in RR2, you can replay any game very easily, multi-player or single.
Oh and if you don't do well in the shooting game you don't get to fight the boss and if you don't do well in the games you don't get the funnier costumes. So you still have to do well! RR2 makes it harder to hit the rabbids who now actually jump out of the way of your shots.
The A button to reload is a pain since you can't use a Nyko Perfect shot.
But overall this is a fantastic party game. Our friends just love playing this game as a group.
If you want a party game this is a top notch one.

Will crack you up!
I bought Rayman RR for PS2 a long time ago and really enjoyed playing it on PS3. Those rabbids really cracked me up! I had no idea how much I'd enjoy Rayman RR2 on Wii though. The fact that you get so much more involved in game-play on the Wii makes the game 100 times better. My husband and son even play along. You really get a workout at the end of each section playing along with the Rabbids and their band, or maybe we're just too competitive. LOL This was well worth the money, and I can't wait to get the TV Party version. When we have visitors of any age at our house it's a sure way to get everyone in a good mood. Even if you're just watching it's a lot of fun.

Wacky humor, very simple arcade & multiplayer FUN
I liked the formula for this game better then the first one because ALL The games are multi player, so you are constantly in competition with 3 other AI rabbids or friends & the silliness with the Rabbids on the AI is always fun to watch. I do agree a lot of games are VERY simple & too easy & therefore too shallow. I LOVE the real video footage in the shooting games though, that alone is worth it for me. The shooting games are actually quite difficult, harder then the first one as there are many more rabbids then you can ever hit always on the screen.
In the menu, you can choose individual games, 6-7 different rabbids in costumes you choose so you don't have to keep changing them & you can customize which games in which order for a tournament or as they call it a "trip".
As usual, they use the motion controls as much as possible & they always work flawlessly & accurately.

U S A
Are we there yet? - slap rabbids in car ARCADE/MOTION
Spitter Sells - spit into coffee SKILL/MOTION
Singing in the rain - hit buttons simon says DULL
American Football - run around, slap to grab ball ARCADE/MOTION
Anesthetics - take turns slapping rabid to sleep DULL/MOTION
Spider Rabbid - run & shoot to become spiderman ARCADE/MOTION
Dial R for Rabbid - use remote like cell phone at theater w/o getting caught SIMPLE/MOTION
Usual Suspects - watch quick video, point to correct looking Rabbit in line up MEMORY/PUZZLE
SONG - Poppa's got a brand new bag - shake controllers to beat of chosen instrument SKILL/MOTION

Europe
Bike Race - steer bike & throw water ARCADE/MOTION
Ice on Ice - bring ice cream to boss walking on ice rink & don't fall in holes ARCADE
Snake Charmer - hit buttons in right combo like playing flute DULL
Little Chemist - find bottles w/right symbols on huge shelves to patient MEMORY/ARCADE
Burp - shake remote & drink to burp loudest SIMPLE/MOTION
Chess - concentrate up/down DULL/MOTION
Burgerinni - balance burgers to customer SKILL/MOTION
Photo Booth - spin chair to right spot SIMPLE
SONG - Satisfaction SKILL/MOTION

ASIA
Baseball - run fast & the hit rabbid for home run ARCADE/MOTION
Laundry - shake/clean & check if right amount clean ARCADE/MOTION
Plumber - unclog toilet DULL/MOTION
Office - goof off only when boss gone DULL/MOTION
Rabbid School - throw paper at teacher & snitch on others ARCADE/MOTION
Shopping Cart - steer cart away from obstacles ARCADE/MOTION
Spicy Chicken - use correct peppers to cook chicken SIMPLE/MOTION
China House - balance plates on pole SIMPLE/MOTION
SONG - Smoke on the water SKILL/MOTION

SOUTH AMERICA
Rodeo - follow ways to move remote to move rabid ARCADE/SIMPLE/MOTION
Timber - be first to saw tree branch SIMPLE/MOTION
Bumper Cars - bumper cars on skyscraper ARCADE/MOTION
Rolling Stone - run very fast SIMPLE/MOTION
Burgeritos - balance food to customer ARCADE//MOTION
O.K. Corral - DRAW/SHOOT SKILL/MOTION
Butterflies - eat butterflies, slap others ARCADE/MOTION
Fart Wars - steer in air, avoid obstacles ARCADE/MOTION
SONG - Celebration SKILL/MOTION

TROPICS
Snail Race - shake remote to cheer snail DULL/MOTION
Hot Cakes - like football game-don't want cake-slap ARCADE/MOTION
Voodoo Rabbids - dig deepest hole SIMPLE/MOTION
Beach Volleyball - volleyball to 15 pts. ARCADE/MOTION
TNT - blow up last hundredth of a second SIMPLE/MOTION
Trash Race - like potato sack race SIMPLE/MOTION
Swimsuit Edition - swim by copying changing type gesture ARCADE/MOTION
Dizzy Race - steer left/right to keep balance to finish line SIMPLE/MOTION
SONG - Teenager in love SKILL/MOTION

SHOOTING GAMES
REAL video of locations. Many more rabbids then you could ever hit like 20 on screen at once or more, which makes it much harder to hit the ones before hit you instead of trying to hit all of them. Much harder then first RRR. Real actors reacting to Rabbids, great humor on Terminator, Beatles, etc.
Big City Fights - NYC streets
Year of the Rabbid - Asian temple/restaurant
Paris, Pour Toujors - France
Paris, Pour Amore - France
Greatest Hits - Asian temple, NYC river harbor/bridge

Check gamespot, ign, gametrailers & youtube for many clips of gameplay

Excelent Party Game
I just had a big party last night and this game was a huge hit. People were fighting to be able to play it. The only issue with this game is that it is really short. I had all 50 games unlocked in 2 hours. I highly recommend this game for people that like demented games like Wario Ware Smooth Moves.

Chaotic Fun! - Recommended!
The fun never stops with "Rayman Raving Rabbids 2"! Party all day with over 50 mini games that use the Wii Remote for everything from a guitar to a bicycle.

You control somewhat spastic (and customizable) rabbids and Rayman (a bizzar character, but not really sure *WHAT* he is), through a series of challanges in several locations (including America, Europe, and Asia).

The graphics are fairly good and the soundtrack always gets your "blood pumping". This has a very upbeat theme.

The game play is very fun and varries greatly from mini game to mini game. The controls do take some practice, but can be mastered fairly quickly.

We have played this game for hours on end and often choose it as a "party" game.

Recommended!

Don't be fooled by the bad reviews!
This game is excellent to say the least. One of the best shooters I have played in a while, as well as awesome graphics to go along with it. All of these bad reviews on it being laggy and glitchy and such have been fixed for the most part, and the rest they havent fixed will be fixed very shortly. Even with minor lag in the game (which will be fixed in an upcoming patch) this game is A+ for your console. If you're on the edge of getting this game or not, definitely get it and you won't be dissapointed.

Not What I Was Expecting
I was disappointed in the fact that it is an online game. You can create a group if you have enough people with the game. If you don't, you join groups already established. That can be an awkward experience considering the rude and crude language of the players. Now remember, the online content is not rated by the ESRB, but you have to play online. So if you were considering buying this game keep that in mind.

A Tactical Shooter That Fails...
Ok, let me start of by saying: I have played dozens of tactical shooters in my life, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield would have to be the best shooter I've played (online & single player). So I understand how they work...but this game just utterly fails as a tactical-shooter from the start.

INSTALLATION:

How you ask? Well, for one - once you open the game and pop the disc in, it automatically starts. So what you say? Not when a message tells you, you need to QUIT THE GAME and install it from your XMB...why would they make a game, once you start up you have to quit and install it separately? I mean I don't mind installs, BUT why couldn't they have just made the install while in the game? Doesn't make sense if you ask me, especially since the install is 2 GBs long! But that's nothing too bad, unless you need conserve space. So after that you need to install the patch, which is where the extra 1GB comes from (3GB are needed for the game)...all in all it took about an hour or so and it was 1:00 AM when I finished all that...now comes even more failure...

SERVERS:

The servers would have to be one of the worst. They tried to make the server lobbies like other PC games, but the thing is this is PS3, you cannot mix PC with PS3. It takes a while to join a game, and at times you can't join a channel - it would tell you that it failed to join and you need to join foreign channels (Japan etc)...you think that's bad? Not even close.

GAMEPLAY:

The game play is not the worst I have encountered but it is BAD. It is it too slow. Most tactical-shooters are somewhat what you would call slow, but the game play in this is TOO SLOW. There are too many button configurations to do one simple thing. Aiming is a pain, there are 3 types of zoom, but it doesn't work - it's pointless. To switch weapons is also annoying, you can only switch 2 weapons ON-OFF with the L1 button, but to switch to grenades or your secondary weapon you have to hold O move with the D-Pad on what you want, and release O while holding the D-Pad button. What a great concept, especially when you run out of out of ammo and switch and your grenades come up instead of your handgun (while getting shot at) [/sarcasm] - that just takes up too much time! Grenade tossing is a joke, it's like I said, SLOW and the blast is so weak, hardly anyone would die with the grenades you throw at them...The reticule is also a disappointment; when you start shooting your crosshairs jumps all over the place, you cannot really get a steady aim - not even when you are still. And not just that but the 3rd person view just gets in the way...the camera is too close to your character and when you have your crosshairs to the left-right your guy will get in the way the person you are shooting and can't see where he is at; this mostly happens when he is close to you. What a joke! You can also peek left/right by moving the SIXAXIS, but what's the point? It doesn't work with 3rd person shooters like this. Not to mention the response is slow, turning around is a pain since most of the time when I die I get shot from behind and to turn around takes forever, by the time I do I'm already dead. Not to mention there too many glitches in this game, there is lag but nothing too bad just getting in the game sucks. Although the game play is bad, I ended up getting used to it and it was somewhat "fun" playing at first, then I got disconnected after an hour playing because of "server-maintenance" -- what a crock. Then there are the maps:

The maps are too big for the style of the game, too little people hiding and too much time is wasted looking for someone. The spawn points are also ridiculous, you can easily get spawn raped. Not to mention the maps are terribly designed, which moves onto the next flaw.

GRAPHICS/TEXTURES:

Ok, I usually don't care for graphics in a game, to me it's all about gameplay / story - but since the game play wasn't anywhere near good. I have to look at graphics, which aren't that great either. In fact, SOCOM looks like a beefed up PS2 game. Heck, a majority of PS2 games look much better than this. The texture for the maps were bad, looked really crummy and there was so little detail in the game...I don't know what the real resolution of the game was but I was running it in 1080p and the game still looked choppy.

BLUETOOTH HEADSET:

You probably already know the game comes with a bluetooth headset, which is awesome at first but somewhat pointless. No one in the game really uses it except clans. I only used it once, and that was in another game. But other than that, it's good to have so you can use on your cell phone - which is exactly how I am going to use mine. The headset is a very sleek design, very cool and not bulky or ugly like other headsets.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, SOCOM: Confrontation is not the worst game for PS3; with it's outdated, confusing, slow gameplay and choppy graphics...it is pretty bad. Let's just put it this way, Ghost Recon 2 for PS3 was far more worse than this.

The game fails to interest, there is nothing new at all. And like I said, it's bad gameplay would probably make you want turn the game off. The sad thing about this is that this was Christmas gift from my brother in which I told him the game was decent the first day I played it, and it was true it WAS decent at first, and within a period of 3 days I have come to dislike the game but NOT hate it...I would probably not pick up and play the game again anytime soon.

I would not really recommend this game for a friend or as a gift to someone, it's a game you should RENT before thinking of buying it. In the end, this game fails as a tactical-shooter...they wanted a PC-like-game for the PS3 but it didn't succeed, this is another fail on SONY's part.

I can't believe they released this unfinished version!!!
the game might be good if they finished it
it says it has trophies,which it doesn't yet
i have never seen a game as problematic as this one
everything from demo plant not registering to bomb not being left at site when planted to game lockups to whole textures changing/coming and going randomly to no world models for weapons and that's not even a dent in all the problems

online only - lag varies but can be noticed
I've played this game for a long time now it seems. But I've stopped. It is very laggy at most times it seems, making gameplay agrivating and difficult. The lag makes you freeze and move and many times it gets you killed.

There have also been issues with getting booted out completely and it tells you it can't connect to the network for about 1-3 minutes, then finally lets you back in. Most other PS3 games have no lag if any at all, this is the first one I have seen such horrible lagging and problems maintaining a connection to the game servers. Navigating to different rooms and servers is laggy too and is not user friendly. Very slow getting in to a game.

I bought the Bluetooth bundle, and the bluetooth is decent, but doesn't always last long and the range isn't too good. The interface to chat with others, sometimes you hear the sound when you push the button to talk other times it doesn't, seems to be caused from the lag.

Another thing I dislike is the fact that it is online only, and the biggest game play issue I have is that you cannot find your friend in a list (quickly either) and join the game right from there. You have to PM them through your PSN friends list and find out what server and what channel he is in. Socom 3 is much easier and friendly.

When you do get in a good game it came be fun, graphics are not bad at all, and sounds are good. But SlantSix has soo much work they need to almost redo the entire interface and many other things. I think Zipper should have done most if not all the work and keep it similar to Socom 3 and CA. Its soo agrivating playing that you end up either giving up or get sick of it that you stop playing for a long time. I think this is going to hurt the Socom series to be honest.

Decide for yourself. To buy or not to buy. Good luck! :)

What a let down!
Purchased this game when it was on sale for . There were tons of reviews all over the internet saying what a great game this is and how it lived up to the hype that it had built.

After playing this game, I have come to the conclusion that there is no point in playing the game! Once you start playing, you'll eventually have to shoot somebody. Once you shoot one person, the entire country has it out for you and you end up just killing EVERYBODY. That would be fun if that is what this game was designed for, but it's not...

The story line is very basic. There is a evil war lord that needs to be shot. Do it. ...Yeah, that's it. You feel like there is no reason to play the game. You never really get engaged.

Oh, and they give you malaria just to piss you off in middle of fire fights...

Horrible story line, average graphics (IMO) and frustrating amounts of 'back-and-forth'.

Btw: The daylight engine is fricken sweet! Doesn't make up for the game though...

Like Playing the Movie Blood Diamond
To start, this is not a direct sequel to the original game. It has some similar mechanics, but beyond that, it is its own game.

You pick a mercenary and enter a world beyond the law, where EVERYONE who moves is fair game to be killed. Rarely does one have to practice target identification. To be short, it's a fun game with fun weapons, really cool fps animations, interesting characters and beautiful Africa as a setting.

Two bad things:

The game crashes after 30-45 min of play. I have 32 bit Vista and apparently this is a memory dump issue that may or may not be patched in the future. Until then, save often and make multiple saves, but be careful, this game also has a nasty habit of corrupting save games. This is frustrating, but hopefully patchable.

Some of the audio seems rushed and unnatural. Pretty annoying when the antagonist is speaking a million words a minute. Not very awesome...

Securom is a non-issue in my book, but to each his own.

Recommended, but admittedly, I got this game on Black Friday when it was .95, so buy it when the price drops and another patch comes out.

Cheers!

Great FPS; almost TOO open ended though
After thoroughly enjoying the original ground-breaking Far Cry, I figured I was in for even more of a treat with FC2. I was almost right. The game is amazing in it's technical aspects; graphics and sound push the envelope as do most games from Ubisoft.

The game-play is great and the storyline unique. For me though, the only downside is the lack of a scripted plot. Usually I'd say that's a plus since scripting in most games leads to a dead-end where the game eventually loses all sense of replayability. The original Far Cry had an 'open environment' but all action and plot triggers were within a carefully crafted script. Sure you could take that boat and explore islands anywhere or roam the countryside to your hearts content but when it came to progressing within the game world you basically had to follow the goals outlined within the story.

Not so in FC2. The storyline is loosely contained within a series of player-initiated missions more akin to an action/adventure game than your typical FPS. While this may sound great on the surface (and surely it is to some), for me it just means the game doesn't grab me by the throat and keep my attention for hours on end. I can pick it up where I left off and play a few hours but at the end I'm not always sure I've progressed toward capturing and/or killing the Jackal (that name I also found that a bit cliche).

So while I am amazed at the graphics engine and in awe of the lifelike African panoramas, I have not found myself coming back for more day after day like I did with the original Far Cry.

A very good (but not excellent) follow on to the original Far Cry
If you read many of the other reviews, you will see a lot of complaints about this game. Mostly, I agree with the negative statements - and yet - the more I played this game the more compelling I found it.

To begin with, let me admit I am a big FPS fan especially when a sandbox design is involved, and I still consider the original Far Cry to be the best game ever made (I have played it through many times). Having played this through twice, the second time on "hardcore" and focusing on the side missions, I count this as second in line, with Crysis in third place.

The environment is drop dead stunning, and increasingly awesome as you wander all over the place and take in the almost endless diverse details. (Reviewers talk about Fallout 3 as realistic - not even close to this). I am only disappointed that you are often prevented from climbing to a position of advantage in places where you should be able to. In the original Far Cry I delighted in finding a "seam" where I could very slowly climb to a cliff top and fire down on the unsuspecting mercs. Not in this game, unfortunately, but there are still many, many approaches to dealing with a mission that make it continually interesting.

Yes, the main story is weak and the re-spawning and repetition can be annoying. That's why, in my second time around, I stayed away from the main plot as much as allowed, and simply revelled in the side plots, while getting access to even the most difficult diamonds, and trying different approaches to the most difficult missions (for example, can you pull off an assassination with just one silent shot and get out with no one the wiser).

I also tried my hand at the level designer they include. I replicated a level from Far Cry, just for kicks, with pretty good results. Very powerful and relatively easy to use. I only wish they provided a way for you to place scripted NPCs (I'm not much of a multiplayer fan, which is what this is really for - hence no NPCs).

In any case, I highly recommend this game despite its flaws.

I like it
I usually don't write too many reviews but I do like this game and feel it's better than Far Cry in every way, I like the daytime passing and all the graphic improvements and although the missions get a little tedious I find the open ended game play makes the game as interesting as you are @ being creative. The AI have certain behavior that is predictable but they actual look for cover and move around so they can be a challenge to hit.

There are actually 2 separate world maps that are huge and are a work of art in themselves. Just make sure you have a top shelf video card otherwise it will probably play like Cyrsis did when it came out.

I have all the options maxed and only get about 40-60 FPS w/ 2 9800's in sli. So the game is a bit of a beast- hardware wise.

I only played the multiplayer on LAN and although quite different then the single player maps it was fun , plus my FPS shot up well over 100 FPS.
My son made a couple of great maps in a couple of hours and a few not so good ones but I was impressed with the editor that comes with the game.

I bought COD World @ War also and find this game to be so much better as the sound actually is descent and compared to the scripted linear single player game in World @ War it's a better game. Make sure you put on the 1.2 patch that enables 5.1 sound which actually works. In W@W I was so disappointed by the lack of 3d sound and any patches or support even 2 months after it's release that I quit playing it even though I bought it just for the multiplayer- too many bugs and no patches...

If you want a game you can play for a while,not finish in a day, don't mind driving around during & between missions and have the video power, you'll probably like the game.

I really like driving the boats on the extensive river system. The whole game to me is next gen and fresh.

Like Brain Age Better
This game is somewhat hard to understand and hard to follow. I much prefer the brain age games to this one.

Brain Age
I LOVE the oriduct. I gree it CAN get boring. It is funny and really makes you think. think there should be a little bit more instructions. I think it helps you remember things and analyze objects closer.

Great Brain Building Fun - Recommended!
My 12 year old son found "Big Brain Academy" to be a very fun and engaging collection of puzzles and challenges aimed at building up your reasoning ability. He makes the following observations:

Graphics: Great, they really enhance the game play
Controls: Easy to master, mostly with the stylus
Playability: Great
Re-Playability: Great

Recommended!

Fun game, a nice companion to Brain Age 2.
I'm not much of a gamer but enjoy playing the word games and "brain" games on the DS. I bought this game as a gift for my 10 year old but I find I play with it more often than she does. She prefers games like Guitar Hero DS and Pokemon Diamond to this game.

This game makes a great companion to the Brain Age 2 game. Brain Age 2 gives you certain activities like unscrambling words, guess the right mathematical sign, counting change, memory sprint, play a song on keyboard etc. which are designed to activate different areas of your brain. Some are more challenging than others and you unlock more activities as you go further in your training. I would not recommend that game for children under 9 years old as some activities will be too hard. The instructor in the game, who is too chatty for my liking, also says things like "This activity will activate the pre-frontal cortex of your brain" which is geared towards 10+ ages.

Brain Academy on the other hand has a slightly easier format and most can be played by ages 6-adult. There are 15 activities (or mini games) divided in 5 groups - Think, Compute, Analyze, Memory, Logic. There are 3 activities in each group in which you can choose the level Easy, Medium or Hard. You begin by practicing each activity and your performance is measured in "brain weight". You get awarded bronze, silver or gold medals for your efforts, a brain of 250g or more gets you the gold medal. As you go on, the game fills in your Brain Pentagon graph (for the 5 areas) to tell you where you may need more practice. When you feel ready you can take the test after which the game will tell you your grade. I prefer the Brain Academy method of scoring which takes your strongest score on each activity. In BA2 your score for each activity gets recorded only once a day and if you do that activity again on the same day with better results it does not register the results.

On Brain Academy you can also organize play offs with your friends who have a DS using only one game. My 5th grader can beat me on this one more easily than she can on Brain Age 2 as the activities are not too hard, you just need to pick up speed by practicing them regularly.

I think my kid summarized it correctly and I am paraphrasing for her here.
"Both Brain Age and Big Brain Academy have too few games. Once you know them all it can get boring. However, Big Brain Academy has more games than Brain Age 2 and when you play it you feel like you're having fun while learning. Brain Age 2 has the strict teacher who makes you feel like you're just learning."
Although I like both games I sort of agree with her opinion.

A challenge for your mind!
Over all this is a wonderful game. It gets a little tedious at times and from a psychological stand point it is only good until you learn the game. By this I mean, once you are oriented and able to do the games at an A or B rating you should put it to the side for a while. To keep your brain active and functioning into old age it is best to try novel tasks, so obviously putting it to the side for a few weeks every now and then will help your brain functioning. If that is what you bought it for in the first place.

I still stand by it as a great game, best for the mind in sporadic doses!

A Good Review
I got the game very quickly and am really pleased with the shipper. I'm not a big fan of the game, but that is not the shipper's fault.

Interesting and fun
Though parts of it are cliche` and parts are just amazing- The story is very cool. I really enjoyed this game. At first I thought I hated it. But then I got to figure out the glave- Once I had that down some of the tougher spots became really easy! Id recommend the game as fun and visually excellent!

Short, fun, no replay value
Dark Sector's mediocre graphics and paltry story can be overlooked for its concise, linear gameplay, and engaging combat. While the game can be completed in under 8 hours, you'll find yourself eagerly awaiting each new ability, and enjoying using those abilities in combat.

There is little to no replay value in this game however, so it's a good thing that the price point has fallen so low.

Definitely worth one play-through though, in my opinion.

the most unappreciated xbox360 game!!!!
non-stop action!!!........the graphics are great!!!.....framerate is like butter!!!!......lots of blood!!!!

PEOPLE NEED TO STOP REVIEWING GAMES LIKE HOLLYWOOD MOVIES......WHO CARES ABOUT THE STORY IF THE GAME IS AMAZING....BESIDES ITS NOT BAD AT ALL!!!!!

Rent First
Dark Sector is a horror / combat game featuring dark, moody scenery, people being tortured, and a hero who wields a glaive - the spinning, razor-sharped boomerang a la Krull.

The music is loud and spooky, always making you think that horribly painful death is lurking right around the corner. Most of the time it is, in the shape of enemies who have little knowledge of tactics but do have the numerical advantage.

Graphics are all right - a study in black, white and grey sometimes, but a touch more realism might have been nice to draw you more into the story. The rag doll physics are a bit creepy, as bodies fall in extremely unnatural positions and then tumble around inappropriately.

There are fighting sections, stealth sections, puzzle sections, a collection of enemy types, new weapons to find, new upgrades for your spinny death-blade.

Really, though, the main issue here is that the game begins to feel tedious after a while. The enemies are just a little too much of the same mindset so once you figure them out, you have figured them all out. The bosses are like puzzles, but poorly designed puzzles that give you little feedback.

There are ten chapters which is relatively short for a game - and with their save system it seems that you always have to start a load game from the beginning of a chapter. That can get to be a royal pain if you are almost done with a level and need to turn off the system for some reason.

How about the storyline? You begin as a reluctant soldier, almost trying to retreat from the assigned mission - but it's too late to go back. As you're in doing your deed, you get infected with a disease. This leads to your connection with the spinning blade of multiple powers.

In general, while we've had this game for several months now, we rarely put it in. There are always other games we'd rather play. I would definitely suggest you rent this first, play it for a weekend, see how it appeals to you. Who knows, you might finish the game over the weekend and be all set. If you really do enjoy the game style you can always buy it at that point and go forward.

Our Boys Still Love it!
They still play this from time to time, even though we have a Wii. Great lasting / replay value.

An Awesome Game
I originally rented this game several years ago, bored from the various other games I owned. I was impressed by Paper Mario for Nintendo 64, and thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay, the graphics, the cute storyline/characters, and the rpg style. I was readily prepared for Paper Mario - The Thousand Year Door to be the same way. I now own it.
From a personal standpoint, I find myself straying from games such as Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, as I often get so engrossed in the games that they stress me out too much. However, I enjoy action and an involved storyline (not just random levels, easy goals, etc...). I found this game to be perfect! To be sure, it is not a regular Super Mario game, as you can't just get by enemies by jumping on them once. You have to use knowledge you've learned while playing to attack and defeat enemies. This game involves a lot more strategy, and is more mentally complex.
As in almost every Mario game invented, the main point is to save the princess. But, Bowser is not to blame this time, instead a new enemy is at large. All new sidekicks emerge, new moves come into play, and there is always steady stream of excitement and adventure involved. The controls are easy, like the Nintendo 64 version, but you can manipulate them to your advantage. Cute scenery and great play-time make this game a fantastic choice for Gamecube owners, from kids to older adults!
Although I will always hold a special place in my heart for Super Mario 64 (less of a spot for Super Mario Sunshine), this game will definately please avid Mario fans, and keep rpg'ers happy as well. The storyline is great, there is a lot of character development and plot growth, and is not repetitive or boring (it is if you get bored with the little consistent battles with small enemies, but I didn't find that a problem). The use of not just Mario but Princess Peach and Bowser gives it a great added boost and element of surprise.
I can't complain when it comes to this game. It surprised me how it didn't get old, and how the new places were just that...NEW! Nintendo did involve a little too much modern usage in the speech, but that didn't even alter my opinion. This is a great game, that I recommend to everyone who enjoys a good Mario game.

Great!
My son likes this game alot. Seller was fast and would buy from them again. No problems!

One of the greatest games ever!!!!!!!
Wow, just wow. This game blew me away. Get it, I don't have enough room to right great it is. Best Mario game... so far!

what a bad game
i hate this game it was fun at first but now it sucks i hate the rpg battles and way to much talking

fun
The kids, 11 and 13, both LOVE this game. I will say that it needs to be updated online via Wii and that is a pain because until that happens it sometimes causes an error message and the need to reset the Wii.

The most addicting
I have been owning a Wii for over a year now and my 10yo son says Thrillville is the best Wii game ever. He loves making his own rollercoasters and then riding them. He says his other games get boring, but this one NEVER does because there is so much to do.

Thrillville kind of.
well i guess i'm the only one that was excited about this game. but do have to agree that some of the games on here are little hard to play and get through. but the rollercoaster is awesome watch from all the different angles , but a bit of a learning curve so it's not everyone's favorite in this household.

Great game the entire family plays.
This game is terrific. First my daughters (5 & 7) played it, then the hubby picked it up, then me. Now we have to set the timer because everyone wants to play it and its easy to lose track of time.
I have always enjoyed Sims games but they start to feel like work and can be stressful. This is similar to a Sims game but the work is fun and doesnt feel like work at all. For example, you need to train an entertainer for the park, you teach her to dance by doing some DDR type moves with the wiimote and nunchuck. Same with the park cleaner, you get to run around like a ghostbuster and vacuume up vomit and trash. Ok, sounds gross I admit, but totally fun.
The parks are huge and the pre-built coasters, carnival games, booths, etc are awesome. Its fun to put down a hat and balloon booth then see a few minutes later the customers wearing/holding them. The bumper cars are a blast and so are most of the other mini games.
This is a must have for any Wii owner in my opinion!!

Best Game
This game is very fun and allows creativity. I bought this for my kids and they love it and spend hours having fun.

MSFS2004, The Simpit Heart
Having been in Naval aviation for 21 years as an structural mechanic, and now retired, I wanted to keep my hand in the game so to speak. I started to build a generic simpit starting with a dedicated tower, powerful enough to run all the graphics of these new programs. In researching the Micro Soft programs for flight simulators, each review suggested MSFS2004 was the best, even better than the new FSX. I am still tweeking the simpit to become what I want, but the MSFS2004 has already proved to be an outstanding program.
Using an Acer 19" LCD monitor, coupled with a Fresnel lens (from 3DLens in China, lens F550) I have an outstanding visual for the flight. There is a real 3D look to the clouds and ground. I can take off from my home town municipal airport and pratice "Touch and Go's" or nip on down to Las Vegas. While the specifics of each town are not exact, the ability to suspend disbelife is very easy. The instamentation, I use a second screen to display cockpit instraments, makes it a lot of fun to pratice IFR approaches.
All in all this is an outstanding program, either to just "play" with or to run the heart of your simpit.

No simulator better than FS-9
I belong to VATSIM and have been for more than 4 years, and even living in Monterrey Mexico there is the VATMEX club (Mexico's branch for VATSIM as there is for almost all countries) we fly almost every day (I'm pensiones and retired) and every Wedenesday we have a Regio flight with Tower Control, wel almost avery day we have air traffic control.
But Flight Simultor is our best choise as FSX is stil under constant upgrades.
I highly recomend Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 a Century of flight.

MS Flight Simulator 2004 is perfect for older PCs
I deliberately purchased FS 2004 instead of the newer version, Flight Simulator X. Why on earth would I buy an old version? Because I didn't want to have to replace my 4 year old computer with a "gaming machine". I downloaded the demo version of FS X and was very disappointed with its slow graphics and overall sluggishness, even with the refresh rate turned down. But FS 2004 works great on the PC I already have. Graphics are snappy, and I can even keep a bunch of browser sessions running in the background (helpful for looking up AirNav information).

Nice Sim and loads of fun to play !
I had bought this as an upgrade to an earlier version. It is fun to play with, though quite basic compared to what is available nowadays. It does not require too much of system resources and provides hours of entertainment and some flight learning.

fly high
The flight simulator is a flexible product. It allows the use of keyboard flying, if you really want a challenge, or accessory flying with a joy stick or any of the many products on the market today. It is expandable by adding new aircraft. I find it to be a wonderful opportunity to take some time flying and get away from the every day office routine. Microsoft has done a wonderful job with the scenery and many other functions while flying the airplane.