Review – Kirby’s Epic Yarn

It seems like every month I start at least one of my reviews by pointing out how the gaming industry has gone back to its roots, putting me firmly in retro heaven.

This month is no different, with yet another classic seeing a modern day revamp. This time is the turn of everyone’s favourite hungry little pink beach ball, Kirby.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn starts in Dream Land, where, as usual, Kirby is on the hunt for something to eat. He stumbles upon an odd looking tomato and, just as he is about to eat it, a strange wizard made out wool appears and sucks him into a magic sock. Fo’real.

When he wakes up, Kirby find himself in a land made entirely out of cloth, buttons and all manner of other things you would expect find in a hobby craft store. What’s more, he appears to been turned into wool himself.
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Review – Top Spin 4

Let it be known that this humble writer is no tennis aficionado.

Beyond recognising names like Federer, Nadal and Murray, and catching the occasional match while channel flicking between cartoons, my real world knowledge of tennis is little-to-none. But, without even really knowing much about the sport, Top Spin 4 just ‘feels’ right, and from the moment you play your first match, tennis fan or not, you’ll find it hard to disagree.

2K Czech’s latest tennis sim is one of those games that just seems to nail everything it needs too. It’s a tennis game that looks up to nobody, and why would it? Although it classes itself as a “simulator”, Top Spin 4 is actually an easily accessible, fantastically put together gameplay experience that expertly marries technical ability with pot luck chance.
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Review – Donkey Kong Country Returns

It seems that in the last few year a strange wave of nostalgia has washed over the games industry. Classic franchises brought back to life, old school gameplay making a comeback and on a personal level I couldn’t be happier.

You see I’m now 28 and while that is not old it does mean that, having got my first proper console at age 8, I have been gaming for more than 20 years. It also means that the current nostalgic wave is a double hit for me as many of the games making a return are the games of my childhood.

Of the studios bring it all back I think its fair to say that Nintendo have been pretty much been leading the charge. Their latest game to see itself brought out of gaming oblivion is the classic Donkey Kong Country.

Donkey Kong Country Returns sees the series returning to its familiar 2D side-scrolling format seen in the first games of the series all the way back on the Super Nintendo. Like its SNES predecessors the game’s story is…well the same as always…someone has stolen all of DK’s bananas and he wants them back. Read More

Mario Galaxy 2 (Review)

While I have made no effort to hide the fact that, in the age-old ‘Sonic or Mario’ debate, my fanboyism falls squarely in the slipstream of the speedy blue one, it doesn’t mean I would ever miss out on any of the podgy Italian plumber’s titles.
In fact, in recent years the outings of Mario have stood head and shoulders above any of the Sonic releases. Personally, his most recent peak was Super Mario Galaxy. Now I’m sure that will cause much debate amongst both readers and other T1 team members, but I just prefer it over Super Mario World.

When I first played that game I was floored. The visually stunning worlds, the awesome gameplay and brilliant level design – everything about that game was spot on. Read More

Lead the Meerkats (Review)

Thirteen1 readers will hopefully recognise that we love animals. The badger is a favourite and adopted mascot – just see the previous few editions. But even the bar-code bear of the night has its place when there are meerkats involved. And thanks to Lapland Studios, we have been blessed with an opportunity to fulfil our animal desires with the adorable WiiWare title, Lead The Meerkats. With its skillful blend of simulation and RTS gameplay, and at just 1,000 points, its ’simples’ but value for money.

The bright colours and catchy bass line seize the attention right from the intro screen. The palette of colours featured here, and throughout the game, are evocative of the sun-scorched desert, the setting for what should be a radiant simulation of humble meerkat life. Read More

FIFA 2010 World Cup: South Africa (Review)

This is it, the summer of dreams – the summer we’ll all remember. The one that we’ll be constantly waxing lyrical to our grand kids about, just like our grandads do to us with their memories of Moore, Best and Charlton lifting the cup in ‘66. It’s world cup time – c’mon you En-ger-land!

Let’s be honest, it’s easy to get sucked into the blind hope of glory as world cup fever sweeps the globe (not so blind if you’re lucky enough to be Spanish or Brazilian). It’s also way too easy to patriotically purchase every piece of clobber branded with your country’s flag. After all, this is a momentus, globe-uniting tournament that comes just once every 4 years – it’s natural for everybody to cash in however they can. Heck, even the Thirteen1 office will be littered with flags..the editor will see to that. Read More

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Score: 10/13

Written by Johnny Clapham

Lets start by being honest, Ghostbusters is not the most original game out there, nor is it the most technically polished, but one thing is guaranteed from the moment you load up the disc until the final credits roll – you will be sat there with a big grin on your face.

Put simply, while Ghostbusters probably won’t be the best game of the year, it will almost definitely be one of the most fun and hilarious titles of 2009…

Read More in Issue 16

About the game

Set two years after the second movie, Ghostbusters: The Video Game casts you as the fifth Ghostbuster – a nameless rookie hired to test some of Ray and Egon’s more dangerous new gadgets. No sooner has your first day begun than you are called into action against a whole army of ghosts both old and new, which threaten to destroy the world as we know it.

Taking the form of a third-person action game with a style reminiscent of Gears of War, the player will use a whole host of gadgets to catch ghosts and solve environmental puzzles. The majority of the films original cast return in a new story written by Ghostbusters creators Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis.

WeSing

Score: 10/13

Written by Drunken Gamer (and wife)

The first thing that’s different is the game boasts the capability for up to four singers at the same time. While only two microphones are provided with the pack, they are standard Logitech USB microphones, so finding an extra two shouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, the USB microphone bundled with Rock Band worked perfectly.
As a result of this feature the game itself is strongly built around multiplayer. There are several gameplay modes to choose, from the co-op Pass the Mic &We Sing modes, to competitive Versus, Group Battle & First to 5000 modes.
In Pass the Mic, players take it in turn to sing a section of a song. Once their section is up they literally pass the mic on to the next player, with all the sections eventually added together to decide the outcome for the group. We Sing sees everyone singing at the same time, with all the points scored grouped up at the end. Versus battles are simply what you would expect, with players singing off against each other, in song, to score the most points. Group battles are similar and split the players into groups, either 2v2 or 3v1, most points wins (this is the mode we will be using to take on Mrs DrunkenGamer, who can actually sing). Finally, First to 5000 is as simple as the title suggests – players sing off against each other to score 5000 points, with the song ending the moment a singer does. If the song finishes first, the person with the highest points wins.
Alongside these is a simple karaoke mode that can be played single or multiplayer, no scoring involved, just enjoyable singing.
The singing itself follows a very similar mould to most karaoke games. The words of the song are displayed at the bottom of the screen, and if there are more players the top as well, with a timing bar showing you where in the lyrics you are. This is matched by pitch bars in the centre of the screen, that fill if you sing in a similar pitch to the original tune of the song. The closer you are, the more points you score.
To help you improve as you practice the songs, the game draws a line above or below the normal pitch bar when you miss, to show you how you have to tweak what your singing. This is great on long bars, but in some of the songs the bars are quite short, making it hard to see the guide.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

Karaoke. Lord only knows why people enjoy it, but they do. On a regular basis people crowd around a microphone and absolutely butcher any song they happen to like. Ever heard your dad sing Queen’s “We Will Rock You”? I have..*shudders*
Even I’m not immune to it. One of the pubs the T1 team are known to frequent on a Friday has added a karaoke device. Once a few beers have been enjoyed, something in my brain wants me to join in, and sure enough, up I get. Strangely, that is about the same time most people leave the bar….they couldn’t be leaving because of my awesome singing, could they?…naa, must be a coincidence!
For the terminally tone-deaf, the last few years has seen an effort made to bring them out of the public view and into their homes, with a small selection of Karaoke games for the major consoles.
Disney’s Sing it range, The Singstar series, Lips and even Rock Band & Guitar Hero added microphones in recent incarnations. However, over the years the variations of these games for the Wii have always been somewhat lacklustre, something Nordic Games is looking to change with their latest title – We Sing.
So what makes We Sing stand out from the crowd?

NHL 2K10

Score: 8/13

Written by Johnny Clapham

NHL 2K10 is certainly not a bad game, but it’s a style-over-substance title that may disappoint die-hard ice hockey fans.
More time seems to have been spent making this game a ‘social’ experience than trying to bring some new innovations to the series, and has parts that both suffer and prosper from this focus shift. For once, the Wii seems to get the best version of the game, while the other consoles get, mildly, shafted.

Lets start with the best improvement to the multiplayer and online modes – setting up games has been made a lot easier. Firstly, you can invite friends into any game mode you want. If you’re playing through franchise mode, it’s pretty easy to allow friends to play with or against you. The same goes for the other modes, such as exhibition and pond hockey. This easy to use system is a big improvement over previous editions, and something we welcome with open arms. The lack of the MyPlayer feature, which is available in most other 2K Sports games, is rather strange, though you can still compare stats and standings, and even your whole team, with other players.
The Reelmaker, which is used to make your own personal highlight reel to post online, is not the most in-depth, but still a good feature to have.
Online works fine, even with a full team; there is the odd moment of lag, but nothing that spoils the game.

The downside to this new ‘social’ experience is that the developer has taken it to mean ‘dumbing down’, and created a simplified experience as a result.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

The latest instalment of 2k Sports’ NHL franchise offers a whole host of features that have not been available in previous games in the series. These include new online features where the player can create new teams, and the addition of more defensive moves in order to create a better-balanced game.
Whether you’re a die-hard NHL fan or a casual player, NHL 2K10’s pick-up-and-shoot controls, true-to-life authenticity and variety of on-and-off-line multiplayer modes promise hours of entertainment. Focus during development seems to have been on the Wii version rather than the PS3 and Xbox versions. Does this fact harm the hockey experience on the other consoles? Let’s find out.

Squeeballs Party (Review)

Written by TurkeySaladBoy

Format: PC

Genre: Party Game

3.. 2.. 1.. Every day is play-time in the Squeeballs factory of fun

Like the annual camping trip, Squeeballs Party will keep the whole family occupied for hours, in what is by far one of the best value-priced party games on the Wii.

The premise is simple: Squeeballs are a new range of toys being prepared in a secret factory on an island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Your role is effectively a Quality Assurance product tester, testing the toys before they can be cuddled and petted by appreciative children. You have to test the Squeeballs through a series of mini-games using just the Wii-mote, performing a range of sweat inducing motions to push the toys to their limit. The Squeeballs all have individual personalities, which tug on the heart-strings and make you feel remorse for inflicting so much harm and punishment (they love it really, those kinky Squeeballs).

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