I remember growing up playing A Boy and His Blob for the NES with my best friend John. We never really got very far in the game but just the fact that they made a game called “A Boy and His Blob” was reason enough to make us play it. It’s funny to see that someone has taken the initiative to make a re-make of the title. Ever since it was announced I thought it was a great idea, especially with the art direction the developers decided to take. The original NES version was not a pretty site so to make the game any bit of interesting the developers had to turn it into something worth looking at. I believe the art direction is what made the game get the attention that it did.

Even though the art direction is totally different the gameplay still holds true to the original game. As you may have heard the game does not take advantage of the Wii’s motion controls which is a good thing because that’s usually more of a gimmick than anything else. The main concept is that you feed a white blob different jelly beans to make him change in to different objects. For example a red jelly bean makes him change into a hole in the ground or a black jelly bean turns him into a ladder. There are 15 total objects the blob can transform into. Each level is preset with certain jelly beans and this forces you to think about the steps you need to take to collect the three treasure chests that are in each level. There are 10 levels in each world and there are 4 worlds. If you collect all three treasure chests for the level a bonus level is then unlocked for you to play. The concept of trying to collect the treasure chests kind of reminded me of the puzzle piece collecting in Braid.

ABAHB’s controls do take some time to get used to. Not because they are mapped poorly but because the game is kind of tedious…switch to the black jelly bean, throw the black jelly bean, climb up the ladder, switch over to the red jelly bean, call the blob, throw the red jelly bean, jump through the hole, etc. It is this reason alone that made me get a little tired of the game after playing longer sessions. The repetitive nature takes its toll after a while. Other than that minor gripe I would say A Boy and His Blob is a perfect remake of the classic NES title. It’s polished, fun, and challenging. I honestly couldn’t ask for more in a remake of this game. Hopefully ABAHB will inspire developers to remake the more unique NES titles we’ve come to know and love.

If you haven’t dusted off your Wii in a while and you are looking for a solid game to play on the system then I would highly suggest A Boy and His Blob. The game is very cute so it will definitely attract younger kids but don’t let the game fool you, it is not easy.

It’s been a while since I’ve played a “family” game, probably since LEGO Indiana Jones and I didn’t even play much of it. I personally felt the gameplay was a little bland for the LEGO games. UP on the other hand is the exact opposite. It was really fun. Besides the recently released X-Men Origins: Wolverine most video games based off of movies are pretty lame. UP in my opinion is the second game to get it right.

UP is an adventure/action type game like most movie games. You can take control of and switch between either Carl or Russell (and later Dug) but honestly this game is best played with a friend controlling the second character. I played through it with a friend. What I liked most about the game was that each character had a specific role that they did in specific spots. For example Carl was always the one who would jump up and use his cane to reach a ledge and then pull Russell up and Russell was always the one who would shimmy across ledges and pull Carl up with his rope. These actions weren’t interchangeable, they could only be done by the specific character. This made team-work crucial. I almost feel like UP did the whole co-op thing a lot better than Army of Two did.

The basic gameplay is get from point A to point B while collecting coins and smashing bugs. You also collect artifacts and mementos along the way. Being a perfectionist it was great fun smashing all of the rocks and mushrooms to collect things. I never was bored of the game, I always wanted to keep playing. This was mainly due to the fact that the environments were very diverse and looked very polished. The game is definitely a great looking game. Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that the movie scenes wouldn’t start until both characters were present, this was actually helpful because I would sometimes hang back and collect more coins than my friend would, so I didn’t have to worry about a movie scene cutting into my coin collecting.

The two things I didn’t like about the game were the dogs, these are the only real “enemies” you encounter other than spiders and wasps but they were all kind of annoying. I could never quite block their attacks at the right time. The other thing was the camera, while the camera was great most of the time it did sometimes hang back and do weird things that made it hard to play the game. Sometimes we would have to back track a little to get the camera to reset and follow us.

There are 11 levels total in the game and the game is disappointingly very short. We finished it in about 3-4 hours. This is my only major complaint. The $40 price tag for the Xbox 360 version (which I played for review) is great but might be a little too expensive for the length of the campaign. There are 3 multiplayer modes however. All of them consist of flying a plane but they are all pretty fun. The first mode is “Attack” which is the basic shoot your friends down mode, the next is “Pop” where you are to be the first to shoot and pop 100 balloons, and the last mode is Team where you are to shoot the vital parts of the other teams “drigible” to destroy it. There are 7 maps that you can play these modes on.

Overall UP was a lot of fun. Even though we breezed through it I enjoyed it very much and would love to play it again just to collect all of the mementos and artifacts. I do recommend picking this one up if you have a second person to play it with. While the campaign is short the multiplayer modes are enough to keep you busy for a little longer.

The story of the game revolves around many Japanese folk tales and Shinto mythology. You play as the titular character, Okami Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun who inhabits the form of a white wolf. As you begin the story you will battle the forces of Orochi, an 8-headed serpent demon who’s annual ritual involves devouring a young maiden from the village of Kamiki. The story starts out simple enough but gradually unfolds into an epic tale that spans the expansive world of Nippon and beyond. The dialogue is excellently written and often very humorous, especially the lines delivered by your bug-sized traveling companion Issun, who speaks for the silent Amaterasu, whom he affectionately refers to as Ammy. The game is heavily story driven, and weighs in around 30-40 hours depending on skill level, and can take much longer if all the side quests are attempted.

The methods Ammy uses to do to battle with the forces of evil are as unique as the rest of the game’s experience. From the beginning of the game you will carry a divine instrument on your back. You use these weapons much in the same way of a standard sword weapon such as Link or any other Adventure/RPG might wield. There are 3 basic types of divine instruments: Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives. The controls for using these weapons are much more unique on Wii than the previous PS2 version. However, they are not as simple, as the “waggle” controls you may have in mind. The reflectors are most like a standard melee weapon and attack at short range. You use the reflector by swinging the Wii remote, but not simply wildly around, you must time each swing carefully and precisely and the learning curve for doing so is actually fairly challenging. Using a Rosary will cast out a string of beads like a whip, and the Glaives resemble swords and are the most powerful in terms of raw offense. Each of these weapon types have totally different control schemes and are very creative. Ammy can keep two divine instruments actively equipped. The primary weapon is the one used for melee attacks and are employed using the aforementioned motion controls. Each weapon can also be equipped as in the secondary slot, which will use them for a totally different purpose using the Z and C buttons on the Nunchuck controller. For instance the reflector becomes a shield, the rosary beads are fired in rapid machine-gun like succession over a distance, and the glaives become a lunging charge or a powerful single charged strike.

However, Ammy’s most unique method of attack isn’t her divine weapons but her Celestial Brush. This is where the Wii’s controls really shine. Pressing and holding the B button will freeze the world around Ammy as a giant brush is superimposed across the now scroll like scene. Use the Wii remote to draw certain symbols to utilize Ammy’s divine powers. These powers are used both in combat and in solving puzzles in the story, for purposes as common as restoring an old woman’s clothes line, to calling lightning from the heavens to decimate your foes. There are many different brush strokes to be collected by the end of the game, and each is unique and feels very powerful when used against your foes.

Arguably the most unique aspect of Okami is its visual style. Okami uses cel-shading and watercolor graphics to give the impression of an ancient Japanese painting. The world is colorful, and each environment is unique from the beautiful Kamiki village where cherry blossoms gently waft through the air to the majestic Agata Forrest where tall trees tower high above the landscape. As you play the game you get the distinct impression that you are playing a painting.

In conclusion this game is an experience; like a great work of art and is a delight to the senses, with its beautiful graphics and epic musical score, combined with truly unique game-play. If you own a Wii, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this game. I can’t say if the game surpasses the Legend of Zelda series or not, but the fact that such a comparison is even merited should give you a clue of the magnitude of this game’s quality.

Lost Winds really sets a good pace for WiiWare. It also gives me a great idea of the potential that WiiWare has. I have no problem spitting up $10 for a game that is better than most of the $50 Wii games out there. If developers will sit down and take the time to utilize the Wii controls and create games that are up to speed with Lost Winds then WiiWare could over shine PSN and XBLA in the near future.

Lost Winds is a must-download if you have a Wii. If you already have the game…do you agree?