I received my Nintendo Wii secondhand from Jeff as a late Christmas present. To him, the proper adornment to my new TV was a gaming console and all the games that go with it. Suddenly, I was flooded with Zelda, Guitar Hero, and Wii Sports. Over 100 titles sat in the suitcase-sized carrier he had so tenderly packed with games he thought would be of interest to me.
So what did I do?
I went and bought a new game.
I purchased the Wii Fit Plus system on January 2nd. The decision came during my normal New Years commitment to losing weight and not feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack every time I need to go to the second floor in Cooper Hall. The game was a hefty investment at 100 dollars but I was curious to try something that may actually make me want to work out. I'm that person who believes a good workout is walking 10 feet from my car to the library.
I’ve been playing the game about twice a week for twenty minutes and although I’m not the rippling demi-god I had once hoped to be by now, I feel confident enough to give you kind people a review of the game!
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Wii Fit Plus is the 2.0 version of its kind. From what I understand, the differences from the first to the second are minute. The newest version includes unlocked games from the first, a personal trainer and a Plus! mode that allows you to customize your workout.
The first time I logged into the game, it prompted me to choose one of my ‘Mii’ (Wii Avatar) characters to represent myself. I took the boring route and chose the Mii I designed to look like, well myself. Other choices would have been my french boss from The Melting Pot or Jackie Chan.
After I chose my Mii, I was urged to weigh in on the balance board. I found the scale in the game to be just as accurate as my bathroom scale, which is a plus. After keying in my age and height, the Wii calculated my Body Mass Index (or BMI) at 29, pushing me just under the ‘obese’ category. After this decision by the Nintendo Gods, my Mii promptly grew fatter in the waist, legs and face making me rounder than some beach balls. My Mii now looks less like my true self and more like Helga from The Oblongs. I’m not a twig-girl by any stretch of the imagination, but I certainly wouldn’t call myself obese. BMI has been criticized by health care professionals and athletic trainers alike for its neglect of a person’s muscle-to-fat ratio. My 160lb, 5’7” marathon running sister was considered ‘overweight’ when we did a counter test. This is a girl who lives on salads and Planet Smoothie.
Matt Casamassina had a similar opinion of Nintendo’s use of BMI in determining healthiness:
“Had Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped on the Balance Board in his prime, Plus would have very likely labeled him overweight or possibly obese based on his height and weight ratio alone. It's simply not a fair standard, and given that Plus, like Wii Fit before it, has no means of really looking at your body frame, BMI is not practical for those who desire very accurate results.”(Matt Casamassina, IGN.com)
After determining my BMI, the game led me through a series of fitness tests to determine my Wii Fit Age. These are mostly balance and posture games that test dexterity and ability to follow the directions on the screen.
I severely underestimated how much space I would need to play the game. The balance test consisted of my standing on the balance board and leaning to one side while lifting my opposing leg out. I then had to hold the position without moving for a few seconds. The amount of space I needed to complete the exercise was insane. I had positioned the board between my bed and bookshelf—around 2 feet of space in either direction. I thought this would be more than enough space until I started slamming into my bookshelf like someone in the middle of a mosh-pit at an Anti-Flag show.
After a few minutes of being (virtually) poked and prodded, the game awarded me with a Wii Fit Age of 37! A whopping 15 years my senior! I definitely felt my lack of athleticism showing despite already knowing I’m as athletic as a stalk of celery.
I finally made it through the welcome screens, and had unlocked my way into the world of Wii Fit Plus. And I was ready.
Stayed tuned…Next week I will review the games, the personal trainers, and the Plus! Mode in Wii Fit Plus.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
I'm the BEST!
I am like a crack addict when it comes to the Super Mario Bros franchise. I wait impatiently for the next game to come out, and when it takes too long, I get smashy and temperamental.
When something new happens to come out, I fly to Game Stop faster than you can say "goomba!" and spend all my cash on the latest fix.
For once, the same wasn't true of one game. For some reason, I've never been that into Mario Kart. Sure, I played at with friends late into the night, and I humored my boyfriend when it came out on the Wii two years ago. But I've never played it in the way I've played Super Mario 3 or Yoshi's Island or even the hybrid games like Mario and Sonic. I even rushed out and bought the abomination that is Paper Mario. But Mario Kart? No love lost here.
With that being said, I had some time to kill last weekend. I've hit a snag on the newest Mario Bros on the Wii and decided to give my DS a little love.
Kirby? Nah, I beat it. Pokemon? Ew, no thanks. Peggle? Ughhhh, if I have to shoot the silver ball at the orange pegs one more time, I may shoot myself. I ended up settling on Mario Kart DS since it had creeped its way into my canon when the boyfriend merged our collection of games last month.
After playing for a little while, and running it through the usual tests for quality in my head, I decided to review it for all you happy people.
I know, I know, you're thrilled, you're jumping for joy.
Well...HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Mario Kart DS features 12 of your favorite Mario Bros characters to drive your kart. You can choose anyone from Mario to Toad to the Princesses Peach and Daisy, right down to Bowser and that pesky little guy from the fort levels, Dry Bones. If the player is alone, they can play against 7 CPU's in Grand Prix mode. In GPM, the player can choose their level of difficulty (50cc to 150cc), their player (I always choose Dry Bones), and the kind of kart they want to race in (everything from the N64 model to a tank!).
Next the player is prompted to choose their cup. There are 8 total, featuring 4 tracks per cup. The first 4 cups are the NitroGrand Prix and feature all new levels and challenges. Cups 5 through 8 are the Retro Grand Prix which feature tracks from the previous games on N64 and Gameboy Advanced.
Once on the track of choosing, a starting gun goes off and it's every man, woman, and creature for himself! The tracks are a standard figure-8 with 3 laps to win. There are transparent cube-shaped item boxes at certain locales in each track, where players and CPU alike can gain advantages in the race.
A few of my favorite items include:
The blue shell- This blue shell has wings and automatically seeks out the lead car, flips it over, giving the other drivers a 1-2 second advantage to pass.
The bullet- Turns the kart, literally, into a speeding bullet that races you past at least the 2 players closest to you.
The golden 'shroom- Continuously activate for up to 10 seconds of speed boosts. Useful when the driver is trapped between other drivers and needs an edge to get past
A few of my least favorite (or as I call them, garbage items) include:
The banana peel(s)- This ridiculous item appears as 1 or 3 banana peels designed to slip and slide anyone unfortunate (and stupid) enough to drive over them. They are supremely easy to avoid and are essentially useless.
The standard mushroom- Like the golden mushroom, it gives the driver a slight speed advantage. Unlike the golden mushroom, the speed boost is a mere 1-2 seconds and can only be activated once.
There are a few ways to win each race:
1) Starting on time. If you activates you car too soon, the car spins out, allowing the other drivers a several second lead while you sit dazed.
2) Crash into your opponents. The best method I have found for getting ahead is to drive my car like a crazy person. I slam into other karts and knock them off the road, a lot. According to my sister this makes me a "dirty player" but I call it the name of the game.
3) Draw energy from the other karts. If you drive closely behind the other karts, you will notice blue sparks coming from the back. If you get close enough, those blue sparks will propel you forward, past the driver you're macking on. Don't forget to crash into them when you're done!
4) Optimize your item usage. This means activating speed boosts when you're approaching ramps and speed strips, and sending out bananas, shells, and faux cubes when around other players.
5) Master the "tokyo drift." This is the one feature I could not do. It's ridiculous. When turning corners, the driver is supposed to press both the right trigger and the left or right button depending on the direction they want to go. This will cause the car to drift around corners faster than it would take to just drive through them. Ultimately, I ended up botching it and losing my place in the race because my car spins out and I get mad and throw my DS.
At the end of the 3 laps, the drivers are ranked 1st through 8th and awarded points based on this. At the end of the Cup, the points are tallied and the winner announced. I won 1st place maybe 10 out of 20 games I played.
Overall, Mario Kart DS was O.K. There is a multi-player mode I haven't been able to try out, since you need people with DS's to link in. There are some crappy mission levels where you have to try and pop the other driver's balloons or reach a coin in time, but they are mostly garbage.
I'm still not in love with this game, but I have to say that playing it in hand held mode was much better than playing on the consoles. I love the new levels--Cheep, Cheep Beach is my favorite. Each of the new tracks contains several different challenges whether it's a track that loopty-loops with no guardrails, or ghosts that chase you through mud and steal your items.
I enjoyed the dual screen capacity which allowed me to see the rankings of the other drivers as well as what items that held while still seeing the classic Mario graphics and my driver on the top screen.
I also enjoyed all the catchphrases of the different drivers. For example, throughout a game you will here Mario say, "here we go!", Toad say, "I'm the winner!", you'll hear Dry Bones clack-clack-clack, and Wario shout that “he's the winner”. It's mildly amusing.
I think that sums the game up overall, actually. Mario Kart DS is a mildly amusing way to kill a few hours and spend time with some old cyber friends.
GRADE: B-
When something new happens to come out, I fly to Game Stop faster than you can say "goomba!" and spend all my cash on the latest fix.
For once, the same wasn't true of one game. For some reason, I've never been that into Mario Kart. Sure, I played at with friends late into the night, and I humored my boyfriend when it came out on the Wii two years ago. But I've never played it in the way I've played Super Mario 3 or Yoshi's Island or even the hybrid games like Mario and Sonic. I even rushed out and bought the abomination that is Paper Mario. But Mario Kart? No love lost here.
With that being said, I had some time to kill last weekend. I've hit a snag on the newest Mario Bros on the Wii and decided to give my DS a little love.
Kirby? Nah, I beat it. Pokemon? Ew, no thanks. Peggle? Ughhhh, if I have to shoot the silver ball at the orange pegs one more time, I may shoot myself. I ended up settling on Mario Kart DS since it had creeped its way into my canon when the boyfriend merged our collection of games last month.
After playing for a little while, and running it through the usual tests for quality in my head, I decided to review it for all you happy people.
I know, I know, you're thrilled, you're jumping for joy.
Well...HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOO!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario Kart DS features 12 of your favorite Mario Bros characters to drive your kart. You can choose anyone from Mario to Toad to the Princesses Peach and Daisy, right down to Bowser and that pesky little guy from the fort levels, Dry Bones. If the player is alone, they can play against 7 CPU's in Grand Prix mode. In GPM, the player can choose their level of difficulty (50cc to 150cc), their player (I always choose Dry Bones), and the kind of kart they want to race in (everything from the N64 model to a tank!).
Next the player is prompted to choose their cup. There are 8 total, featuring 4 tracks per cup. The first 4 cups are the NitroGrand Prix and feature all new levels and challenges. Cups 5 through 8 are the Retro Grand Prix which feature tracks from the previous games on N64 and Gameboy Advanced.
Once on the track of choosing, a starting gun goes off and it's every man, woman, and creature for himself! The tracks are a standard figure-8 with 3 laps to win. There are transparent cube-shaped item boxes at certain locales in each track, where players and CPU alike can gain advantages in the race.
A few of my favorite items include:
The blue shell- This blue shell has wings and automatically seeks out the lead car, flips it over, giving the other drivers a 1-2 second advantage to pass.
The bullet- Turns the kart, literally, into a speeding bullet that races you past at least the 2 players closest to you.
The golden 'shroom- Continuously activate for up to 10 seconds of speed boosts. Useful when the driver is trapped between other drivers and needs an edge to get past
A few of my least favorite (or as I call them, garbage items) include:
The banana peel(s)- This ridiculous item appears as 1 or 3 banana peels designed to slip and slide anyone unfortunate (and stupid) enough to drive over them. They are supremely easy to avoid and are essentially useless.
The standard mushroom- Like the golden mushroom, it gives the driver a slight speed advantage. Unlike the golden mushroom, the speed boost is a mere 1-2 seconds and can only be activated once.
There are a few ways to win each race:
1) Starting on time. If you activates you car too soon, the car spins out, allowing the other drivers a several second lead while you sit dazed.
2) Crash into your opponents. The best method I have found for getting ahead is to drive my car like a crazy person. I slam into other karts and knock them off the road, a lot. According to my sister this makes me a "dirty player" but I call it the name of the game.
3) Draw energy from the other karts. If you drive closely behind the other karts, you will notice blue sparks coming from the back. If you get close enough, those blue sparks will propel you forward, past the driver you're macking on. Don't forget to crash into them when you're done!
4) Optimize your item usage. This means activating speed boosts when you're approaching ramps and speed strips, and sending out bananas, shells, and faux cubes when around other players.
5) Master the "tokyo drift." This is the one feature I could not do. It's ridiculous. When turning corners, the driver is supposed to press both the right trigger and the left or right button depending on the direction they want to go. This will cause the car to drift around corners faster than it would take to just drive through them. Ultimately, I ended up botching it and losing my place in the race because my car spins out and I get mad and throw my DS.
At the end of the 3 laps, the drivers are ranked 1st through 8th and awarded points based on this. At the end of the Cup, the points are tallied and the winner announced. I won 1st place maybe 10 out of 20 games I played.
Overall, Mario Kart DS was O.K. There is a multi-player mode I haven't been able to try out, since you need people with DS's to link in. There are some crappy mission levels where you have to try and pop the other driver's balloons or reach a coin in time, but they are mostly garbage.
I'm still not in love with this game, but I have to say that playing it in hand held mode was much better than playing on the consoles. I love the new levels--Cheep, Cheep Beach is my favorite. Each of the new tracks contains several different challenges whether it's a track that loopty-loops with no guardrails, or ghosts that chase you through mud and steal your items.
I enjoyed the dual screen capacity which allowed me to see the rankings of the other drivers as well as what items that held while still seeing the classic Mario graphics and my driver on the top screen.
I also enjoyed all the catchphrases of the different drivers. For example, throughout a game you will here Mario say, "here we go!", Toad say, "I'm the winner!", you'll hear Dry Bones clack-clack-clack, and Wario shout that “he's the winner”. It's mildly amusing.
I think that sums the game up overall, actually. Mario Kart DS is a mildly amusing way to kill a few hours and spend time with some old cyber friends.
GRADE: B-
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Blog Prospectus
For my blog project this semester, I plan to write about the magical world of video games. Video games are a safe way to escape the everyday world and explore areas of life one may never have the chance to encounter. For example, in the 17 years I’ve been a “gamer”, I have (almost) knocked out Mike Tyson, been a professional race car driver, fought in WW2, and taken magic mushrooms to save the princess.
This hobby has an insanely large internet community ranging from the casual DS players to the die-hard XBOX loyalists. Video game blogs are unique in that they very quickly spread insider information. A major blog review of a game can quickly make or break the success of that game or franchise, create controversy and spark a wealth of debate. Website forums like Kotaku and Joystiq present a whole culture of video game journalism: they present reviews, news and information about video games and consoles, as well as allow user comments to further the conversation and create unique arguments. Quite possibly the loudest, most outspoken voices on the Net are those of the video game enthusiasts, creating quite a bit of relevant meta-criticism for my project.
My contribution to this community will be that of an enthusiastic but casual gamer who integrates gaming as a relaxation tool to counteract the craziness of everyday life. My perspective of video games is not as technical as others. I prefer video games that are easy to follow, challenging but not impossible, with beautiful graphics and a somewhat interesting storyline. Although women are quickly becoming a worthy ally to the traditional boy-nerd gamer, my blog will be from a unique female perspective similar to that of Hawty McBloggy (although she pretty much only plays HALO). Because there is such a wealth of content out there available to play, I will more than likely narrow my game play to the Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo D.S. with the occasional Play Station 3 review, should it strike my fancy.
I plan to use an A through F grading scale to judge each game I play on a number of criteria. A few categories I’m considering are: 1) level of difficulty, 2) graphics/aesthetics and 3) fun-factor. Also, because a lot of the games I play are with my sister, boyfriend, and friends, I will occasionally include a category regarding 4) ease of multi-player. To me, a casual gamer, these are the absolute most important angles of game play. This in itself will inform the meta-criticism requirement, as so many gamers today take playing so seriously, almost like a job. A few titles I know I want to review up front are: 1) The New Super Mario Bros. (Wii), 2) Scribblenauts (DS), 3) Little Big Planet (PS3), and probably the new Capcom/Marvel fighting game that comes out this week.
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