mini games

All posts tagged mini games

WarioWare: Touched! – 8 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/24/2013

Posted in: DS, Nintendo. Tagged: ds, mini games, Nintendo, touched, warioware. Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Intelligent Systems

Release Date: 2/14/2005

Available Exclusively On

Wario has always been a strange character. I didn’t really understand him or Waluigi and felt they were unlikable. I still don’t like either of them, but the WarioWare games have always been fun and wacky. Touched tried to utilize the unique features of the DS such as the mic and touchscreen. I honestly feel this is the weakest WarioWare yet with mini-games that are too obscure for the one-word instructions and some even feel unresponsive. It doesn’t help that the game is so short you can beat it in one sitting. I even felt the little stories were stupid as well.

The menu consists of icons that you can touch varying from “toys” to people who feature mini-stories. The stories are lame and make no sense but in a bad way. You have to watch these stupid long unskippable cutscenes and then you are thrown a montage of mini-games. They range from slicing, tracing, pushing, pulling, spinning, poking, blowing, and various other acts with the DS hardware. Most feel appropriate for the hardware, but some are unresponsive. You will try to make an object move and feel you aren’t getting anything done in the short 3-5 seconds you get for the game. It took me 2-3 tries for each level because the one-word instruction was too obscure to follow for these zany mini-games. The games are some of the weirdest yet like a nude cherub statue urinating water on a mountain that’s on fire and other wacky stuff. Some mini-games are too simple like popping bubble wrap or spinning objects to make them match or even lighting candles. They start out super easy then get extremely tough. Like all WarioWare games, you get four lives then it’s game over. The boss stages were really tough and some were just frustrating.

Apart from that, the toys are just plain stupid. They last all of 5 seconds and you never use it again. Things like making flan jiggle, banging on a piano, or blowing a little toy windmill. Why would you put these in a game? Maybe a 2-year-old would find them interesting, but no one above that age. It’s just a waste of space in which more mini-games could have been in. There were just a lot of stupid ideas put into this game and it was rushed to show people what the DS could do. If the game were longer or had better mini-games it could have been something great.

As it is, Touched! is a decent rental for a day and that’s it. The toys are lame, the games repeat often, and they are either too easy, too easy, or unresponsive. Some are even downright lame. It’s a shame because WarioWare is one of Nintendo’s unsung heroes in their library and needs more attention. If the game wasn’t so rushed it would have been so much more.

Indigo Prophecy – 8 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/14/2013

Posted in: iOS, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 2, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox. Tagged: adventure, Fahrenheit, indigo prophecy, Microsoft, mini games, xbox. Leave a comment

Publisher: Atari

Developer: Quantic Dream

Release Date: 9/26/2005

Also Available On

Games these days lack much of a story and thankfully Indigo Prophecy takes up some of that slack. about 80% of Indigo Prophecy is just storytelling with excellent voice acting. The majority of the game has you walking around places looking for clues to solve simple puzzles. This is done with the thumbstick moving so it makes you feel like you’re “really picking objects up”. A good example is when you have to sit down: you just push the right thumbstick down (an icon will appear on the top of the screen to show what you are going to do and what moving to make). The other half of the game is made up of mini-games with the timed thumb stick moving (think of Simon Says) and L+R alternations…yeah it doesn’t sound exciting but it really works and these ideas are implemented well with the ideas attached to them.

On the story side, it’s very complex and well-executed. You play Lucas Kane who is convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. You play as the 2 cops investigating the crime as well. The whole purpose of the game is the idea of playing chess against yourself. You can decide how the game is played out and actions you make early on will affect things later on. You really notice this too because later on, you’ll say “Oh man I shouldn’t have done that earlier!” The game’s pace flows smoothly and everything eventually comes together.

Between each scene in the game you can choose which character you’ll play next and this also determines the outcome. Some parts are also timed so you have a certain amount of time to hide, collect and hide evidence. If you miss one piece of evidence and someone comes to ask you questions they’ll see it and get suspicious. This, in turn, raises their suspicion meter and you must make the right choices so you don’t get busted. You also have a mental health gauge that lets you know how your character is feeling. Your choices will determine whether or not they become happier or more and more depressed leaning toward suicide. You can do things from going to the bathroom, to drinking something, to even just making the right choice in a conversation to raise or lower this gauge. This plays a key part in certain scenes because some choices will completely drain your meter so you end up turning yourself in. The game is constantly changing from Lucas’ childhood flashbacks, and the 3 separate characters keep things interesting.

Thankfully you can beat the game in about 6-8 hours so you won’t get too bored with these concepts. For the short time, they work well and will keep you hooked until the very end. The great storytelling and excellent voice acting keep you hooked. Now a huge downside is the game is hideous. The animations are stiff and the textures are flat, dull, muddy, and just downright ugly. The game looks like a PS2 launch title that’s how bad it looks. I played the PS2 version back when it came out and that version had some slowdown, but the Xbox version is just as ugly. There are some extras here such as making videos, galleries, and a soundtrack (which is really good). You can unlock these by finding bonus cards in the game, but don’t worry one playthrough and you’ll get more points than you need to unlock everything. I highly suggest IP if you really want a good story. I also suggest picking this up at a game store because you can get it for less than $10 now!!! Xbox Originals charges you $15 so be warned!!

Nintendo Land

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/23/2013

Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, Wii U. Tagged: mini games, multiplayer, nintendo land, wii u. Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Release Date: 11/18/2012

Available Exclusively On

Everyone knows that Nintendo usually offers some sort of software to get you used to and familiar with their new console. The Wii had Wii Sports, the DS has Brain Training, and the Wii U has the very beefy Nintendo Land. This is a game that features a hub that interacts with the Miiverse and has doors to mini-games. Like Mario Party, this game is best played by other people. The AI is pretty dumb and unfair and is just completely boring by yourself.

nintendo land the legend of zelda battle quest image

There are mini-games that feature pretty much every Nintendo franchise. One is an Animal Crossing game that is very competitive and fun. One person controls two dogs on the gamepad while the other players run around using Wiimotes collecting candy. If you play with one other person they must put 15 pieces in dishes, if it’s two or more other people they must collectively get candy and keep it with them. They have to work together because the more you have and slower you run. This game seems unfair at first for the gamepad player because you run slower and your tackles don’t go very far. It takes practice and skill to tactically corner the Wiimote players and get them. Some of these mini-games have a face cam feature because you can’t look up at the TV, it’s cheating. When you look up the Wiimote players will know and can pummel you accordingly.

The best mini-game is the Zelda Battle Quest. This one is the biggest and has ten full levels. The gamepad player is an archer and the Wiimote players are swordsmen. You must get through the on-rails levels without dying, but you all share a pool of health. It’s really fun and the Wii Motion Plus makes Link’s sword motion 1:1 so it feels responsive and fluid. Another mini-game, probably the second biggest, is the Metroid one. The gamepad player is a spaceship while the Wiimote players are Samus. It’s pretty much a deathmatch game and is really fun. The controls are great and it can get really intense.

There are a lot of unbalanced and unfair mini-games here…too many. The Luigi’s Mansion one has the gamepad player as a ghost and the Wiimote players as the catchers. The problem is that the levels are way too small. There’s not enough room to run around in and can be unfair to too many people. My least favorite is the Mario Chase. The gamepad player is way too fast, it’s nearly impossible to catch them, it’s also really boring with uninspired and lame levels. The second most unfair is the Pikmin game. The arenas are way too small and the gamepad player has an unfair advantage by being able to throw their Pikmin at the Wiimote player, so the Wiimote player has no distance attacks.

There are also some single-player mini-games but one person can assist with the Wiimote making things easier. My favorite is the DK Crash Course. You look at the gamepad and have to tilt your car through an obstacle course. the Wiimote player can press A and a bubble will form around you slowing you down. Another one is the Fruit Cart game. You must draw a line on your gamepad to the fruit that appears on the screen. The Wiimote player can get one fruit for you automatically.

As you can see there’s a lot here, but there really aren’t any rewards. You get coins that are used on a Plinko-type mini-game that spits out prizes, but these just clutter your theme park and are pointless. My favorite feature of all is the train. It’s basically a championship mode that gives everyone a try at the gamepad and that user can challenge other Wiimote players, or the gamepad gets passed around. It’s really fun and exciting and brings everyone together. I just wish these games could be played online. Why Nintendo, are you so stuck in the past? The Wii U has online capabilities, and yet its games aren’t online, except for the Miiverse.

The game looks really good, but overall it’s lacking online play and rewards. There are too many unfair and unbalanced mini-games that just aren’t any fun. For a packed-in game with the Wii U, it’s pretty beefy and very fun, but I wouldn’t go out and throw $60 down on this game.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/12/2010

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Xbox 360. Tagged: babes, beach, bikini, dead or alive, Microsoft, mini games, sexy, team ninja, tecmo, xbox, Xbox 360, xtreme 2. 1 Comment

Publisher: Tecmo

Developer: Team Ninja

Release Date: 11/13/2006

Available Exclusively On

I don’t mind sexually driven games, but I like them to be good and done right. Xtreme 2 is the sequel to Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the original Xbox. Everything is intact, with a few additions. The consists of 6 mini-games, and 5 casino games, but that’s not enough to save this simple-minded game.

The whole point of the game is to play mini-games with other DoA ladies and earn their trust and friendship and this is harder than it seems. The game plays similar to a Japanese dating sim game, and it can take forever to buy a lot of the items, and learn how to become friends with these lovely ladies. You have to figure out what each lady likes, loves, and hates and send them gifts accordingly. All you get is a visual guide for each lady with pictures of what they like, but this doesn’t help much. After you spend a whole two weeks at New Zack Island you pretty much give up trying to gain trust and friendship since it’s so hard to figure out without some in-depth guide. After a try, you end up just playing the mini-games and ogling the scantily clad women lying around, and even dancing.

The mini-games are the most fun of the game with pool hopping, flag running, beach volleyball, jet skiing, and water sliding. Pool hopping consists of pressing the buttons according to what is shown on the floaties. This game tends to be very hard since it requires precise timing. Flag running is pretty simple, but the best game is probably volleyball. It has tight mechanics and controls and can be a blast to play. Jet skiing is very mundane since it’s the same track over and over again, however, the water effects are nice, and doing tricks on the ski can be fun. Water sliding is the hardest game of them all since it’s so hard to stay on the slide and after you fall off you don’t get another try. After you earn enough money from playing mini-games you can purchase a camera and take sexy photos of the ladies, and view them later in your album.

The casino is the second major part of the game that lets you really earn some bucks. All the games are pretty self-explanatory, roulette tends to be the most intense, but you can lose all your money in one go if you’re not careful so watch how you spend your money. The casino is all in 3D so it’s nice to view, but I wish you could walk around in it and see all your DOA lady friends playing in there as well. When you earn enough money you can go buy stuff at the store to give your lady friends or yourself.

The game really has no purpose except to ogle your favorite DoA girls and try to buy the skimpiest bikini for them. The graphics are great and everything jiggles in all the right places. The audio is pretty mundane with Japanese audio tracks to cover the horrible English voice actresses. The game isn’t serious, but it could be so much more, and I just hope DoA Xtreme 3 becomes more deep and involved. I just wish there would have been more interaction, and all the load times don’t help either. The game is just too hard to figure out with the whole dating sim thing going on so just sit back and enjoy the women and mini-games. The game will make you choke your chicken for sure, so DoA fanboys (girls?) should pick this game up and enjoy its simplicity.

Dead or Alive Paradise

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/12/2010

Posted in: PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: babes, beach, bikini, dead or alive, mini games, paradise, playstation, psp, sexy, Sony, team ninja, tecmo. Leave a comment

Publisher: Tecmo

Developer: Team Ninja

Release Date: 3/18/2010

Available Exclusively On

I don’t mind sexually driven games, but I like them to be good and done right. Dead or Alive Paradise is a direct port of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 that was an Xbox 360 exclusive. Everything is intact, with a few additions. One new character is added, Rio, and as you would guess the graphics are dumbed down as well as the gambling for some odd reason. No longer are you in a 3D casino, but you get to choose from a list of a few games such as BlackJack, slot machines, and poker, but Roulette is now missing.

The mini-games are the most fun of the game with pool hopping, flag running, and beach volleyball except jet skiing and the water slide were scrapped from the game, and that’s not a good thing. Pool hopping consists of pressing the buttons according to what is shown on the floaties. This game tends to be very hard since it requires precise timing. Flag running is pretty simple, but the best game is probably volleyball. It has tight mechanics and controls and can be a blast to play. After you earn enough money from playing mini-games you can purchase a camera and take sexy photos of the ladies, and view them later in your album.

The casino is the second major part of the game that lets you really earn some bucks. All the games are pretty self-explanatory, but BlackJack is interesting since Rio is dressed in a sexy dealer outfit and spews cute sayings at you with some cute animations. Like I mentioned earlier Roulette is missing and this was the most intense casino game in the original game, so I have no idea why it was scrapped.

The game really has no purpose except to ogle your favorite DoA girls and try to buy the skimpiest bikini for them. The graphics are pretty good for the PSP and resemble the first DoA Xtreme game for the Xbox. If you are lucky enough to have a hacked PSP with custom firmware you can use a program called CWCheat and use the “nude” code for the game. Don’t get too excited since the girls have Barbie doll-esque bodies, and the really naughty bits aren’t shown, but it does make the game that much more interesting for those lucky enough to figure this out. The audio is pretty mundane with Japanese audio tracks to cover the horrible English voice actresses. The game isn’t serious, but it could be so much more, and I just hope DoA Xtreme 3 becomes more deep and involved. The game will make you choke your chicken, so DoA fanboys (girls?) should pick this game up and enjoy its simplicity.

Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/22/2009

Posted in: DS, Nintendo, Nintendo Consoles, PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony, Wii. Tagged: cooking jam, mini, mini games, playstation, psn, psp, Sony, yummy. Leave a comment

Publisher: Virtual Toys

Developer: Virtual Toys

Release Date: 10/8/2009

Also Available On

Cooking Jam is one of those little games that you wish were just a tad more fun. In Cooking Jam you can make four different kinds of dishes: Hot dogs, burgers, pizza, and tacos. You have four seats in front of you and when customers come in you hand out menus and wait for their orders to pop up beside them. For example, if you’re cooking hot dogs, you have to stick the buns on a bun warmer, hot dogs on a dog warmer, and then put either ketchup, mustard, or onions on them depending on the order. You can adjust the heat on the warmers, but if you wait too long they will burn to a crisp. You can still serve this, but you will get a smaller tip.

Sometimes customers want a soda or even fries. While this sounds simple that’s really all there is to it. Nothing ever gets hectic since you only have up to four people at a time. Sometimes they will order more than once and that can throw you off at first, but everything is always manageable.

The goal is to fill your money meter to make the quota for the day, but this is always too easy even when making food takes money away. If your customers get impatient you can use a “secret ingredient” depending on what type of people they are.

Speaking of that the graphics are really simple and so is the sound. The graphics are bright and colorful, but they are repetitive and nothing really interesting. The same song loops in the background over and over, and the grunts and various sounds are all repeated constantly and it just gets old really fast.

The bottom line is after you try each dish once you will get tired of the game, and I doubt you will play through all 48 stages. I just wish this game had more variety because it has a lot of potential.