I almost feel dirty writing this review. Pat Sajak's Lucky Letters game is basically a crossword puzzle. This particular version is all about television shows. The levels are broken into decades so, if you happen to know more about television shows from the 90s, you can choose that decade. Then you won't be bombarded with questions from shows in the 70s. If you know a bit about television, the game is extremely easy. Most of the questions are from extremely popular shows and even if you come upon a show you don't know, you can skip that one and you'll eventually solve it after answering the rest of the puzzle. The game was fun but it was all fluff. I haven't even finished the 60 minute demo and I'm already bored with it after finishing three decades. Skip this game and try for something a bit more difficult.
Knight Rider
I probably should have talked about this earlier. Last week, my husband and I watched the Knight Rider movie on NBC. I thought it was a pretty good show. Yeah, people are going to complain about something but, you know what, the thing is based on a television series that was filled with cheese and impossible stunts. You can't really expect gold to come from anything Knight Rider related. One of our friends complained about KITT's car spoilers appearing when he went into "Action" mode. (I still prefer Super Pursuit Mode!) He said that the dual spoilers weren't necessary. However, KITT was doing around 200 mph. The car would need some sort of downdraft on the rear to keep it from spinning out all the time.
Anyway, I really hope they can spin this off into a television series. I liked that the KITT's new driver is Michael Knight's son. I like Val Kilmer's voice for KITT. I like that they changed KITT from just being bulletproof to having nanotechnology that allows him to fix himself when he's damaged. More please!
Game review: Big City Adventure: Sydney, Australia
My daughter really enjoyed playing the Big City Adventure: San Francisco hidden object game with me. So I decided to give the Sydney, Australia version a try. I did play this with my daughter as well. The game takes you around the main tourist attractions of Sydney to find a variety of objects. Just before each level, there is a tidbit of information about the location so there's a bit of educational value tossed in with the entertainment. When you complete a location, you are rewarded with a token in the shape of something related to that location. For example, you might get a koala-shaped token from the zoo.
My daughter and I enjoyed this version of the game as much as the San Francisco version. Most of the words are easy enough for a young child to read them without much help and most of the objects are fairly easy to find as well. This is definitely a game that an adult could play with a child while still enjoying the game. Both will be able to participate so it won't turn into an instance where the adult does all the work and the child just watches. The game is still fun if you play it by yourself, especially if you are interested in Australian attractions.
Music review: Green Day - One For The Razorbacks
Artist: Green Day
Members: Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals), Mike Dirnt (bass), Tre Cool (drums)
Album: Kerplunk
Release date: 1/17/92
Video link: Via YouTube
Lyrics: Juliet's trying to find out what she wants, but she don't know Experience has got her down Look this direction, I know it's not perfection, it's just me... I want to bring you up again now
I'm losing what's left of my dignity A small price I'll pay to see That you're happy Forget all the disappointments you have faced Open up your worried world and let me in
Juliet's crying cause now she's realizing love can be Filled with pain and distrust I know I am crazy, and a bit lazy But I will try to bring you up again now About the song: I've always loved Green Day's older music more than their current albums. Maybe it was the "emo teenager" in me that felt a connection to songs like this. Songs about how love can suck and life isn't always roses. Now that I'm older, these songs don't cut nearly as close as they used to but they still bring me feelings of nostalgia.
Website of the Week: CD Japan
I can't believe I've completely forgotten to update the website of the week for the past two weeks! Well, here is this week's website. CD Japan is where I buy all my imported Japanese music. Every time you make a purchase, you gain points to use toward your next purchase. 100 points = 100 yen. They have great prices and shipping is really fast. There are times that I can get a CD from Japan faster than a piece of mail from the continental United States! Definitely a great resource for any fan of Japanese music.
Game review: Go-Go Gourmet
Go-Go Gourmet is a restaurant-themed time management game. Well, it's sort of restaurant-themed anyway. You play Ginger, a woman trying to obtain master chef status so she can take over her grandfather's restaurant. Unlike normal restaurant-themed time management games, you don't deal with the customers at all. The only "interaction" you have with them is their face appears on their order slip. You start out with a small repertoire of dishes. In order to make the dish, you must find the necessary ingredients in the kitchen and prepare them in proper order. As you get farther in the game, you learn how to make more dishes and the kitchen fills up with various ingredients and cooking utensils.
Basically, this game is mixing a hidden object game with a time management game. You have to kick out the orders quickly and you have to search for the ingredients, which aren't always in the same spot they were before. I really enjoyed playing the game. Even when things started to get crazy, it was still really fun. The only down part of the game is that some of the meat ingredients look alike. It's a little difficult to tell the ground beef from the sausage. Other than that, it's a very fun game.
Game review: The Nightshift Code
My daughter really enjoys playing hidden object games with me. So I loaded up The Nightshift Code for us to try out. Of course, I always start off by telling her that the game may be too difficult for her and to let me know if it is. For the most part, Nightshift is a typical hidden object game. However, in the higher levels, the game tries to up the difficulty level by giving you a list of objects that can be found in multiple rooms. You have to click between different locations just to finish one list. The problem there is that the list doesn't tell you which room it goes to. So you end up spending a lot of time looking for objects that may not be in the room you are in! I didn't find it particularly difficult but it was very annoying.
I did enjoy some of the mini-games. One, for example, had a puzzle where an object would represent a word in a sentence. The game gives you multiple sentences and you have to figure out which object goes with each word. It was slightly difficult but just enough to make it fun instead of aggravating. I wish that there were more of these types of puzzle games available.
Music review: Hyde - unexpected (English version)
Artist: Hyde
Album: roentgen.ENGLISH
Release date: 10/14/04
Video link: via YouTube (this is not the original version of the song, this is a remixed version that was re-relased as the B-side of the Season's Call single)
Lyrics: Unexpected Promises woven
Unexpected Through space and time the path unwinds Leading me straight to you Unexpected Reaching across a moonlit square We found each other's hands Unexpected Under the blessing of the stars The life poured into us To meet is so unexpected About the song: The original version of Unexpected is so laid-back that unless you are trying to fall asleep, it is very difficult to listen to. However the remixed version is very good. Despite the difficulty of understanding Hyde's English, the fullness of the instruments pushes the song from a mellow, laid-back tune to a decent rock ballad. The only real downfall of either version is the approximately two minutes of the song spent singing "Unexpected, promises woven." Since that compromises about half of the entire song, it makes it difficult to not push the fast forward or next song button on your player.
Game review: Dress Shop Hop
Another game from the creators of Diner Dash and Wedding Dash, Dress Shop Hop is a fashion-based time management game. Flo (from Diner Dash) and Quinn (from Wedding Dash) tell Bobbi (Dress Shop Hop) to open her own clothes shop. Of course, the heroine of this games listens to her predecessors. They have rather successful businesses themselves after all. Ohhhh....I really wanted to like this game and I did in the beginning but then it goes to hell. Much like other time management games, you move the customer to their "table." In this cast, the "table" is a machine that helps the customer decide what clothes they want. Then you have to go to the fabric machine to get their color fabric and take that to the sewing machine that makes the clothes. The problem with all of this? The machines take forever to do anything and the customers get impatient quickly. So by the time you reach the second chapter of the story, it's difficult to complete each level. If the machines moved a little faster or if the customers were a little more patient, the game would have been a lot better. As it is, it's frustrating to have to play the same level multiple times and still not be able to complete it.
Game review: Polly Pride: Pet Detective
The hidden obeject game Polly Pride: Pet Detective tells the story of Polly, the owner of a pet shelter who also does a bit of detective work on the side. If you have lost your pet, Polly will find it for you! I thought that this "pet detective" twist to the hidden object genre was interesting. In each level, you have the opportunity to find a lost pet from one of the previous storylines. While it doesn't change the actual gameplay any, it does give the game a little bit more of a emotional tie. People don't like losing their beloved pets so it feels good to help someone, even a person in a video game, find their animals.