Asphalt: Urban GT

When the Nintendo DS launched, I was really focused on one game, Super Mario 64 DS. I ended up getting the game at launch, ignoring the other games until Christmas when a friend of mine gave me his 'extra' copy of Asphalt: Urban GT. I had seen the reviews for this game, and I wasn't expecting anything special at all. Once I received the copy, it wouldn't be until a week or two later when I finally opened it for multiplayer. Trying it out for the first time, I wasn't impressed very much and it wasn't until I sat down and actually evaluated this game before I realized it was a lot of fun. Since then I've been playing it
for about an hour a day. Realizing how good this game is has ultimately taught me to never trust reviewers. I like this game a lot and I'm set out to convince you so!

Asphalt: Urban GT is a fast paced racing game which takes real cars and accurate locations. While racing through certain areas, you are often placed in light traffic with heavy competition. The levels feature enough straight paths to make efficient use of your turbo, but also put you in sharp turns. The overall racing experience is very rewarding. Asphalt: Urban GT essentially features three modes: Arcade, Evolution and Multi-Card Play. The game in general can take a couple
of races to get into, and can seem very hard to actually stay on course without hitting walls but fear not, as playing through the Arcade mode can easily orient you to the game. Within Arcade, there are 5 modes: First is Instant Play, which will throw you into a specific track with a specific car at random. Next is Road Challenge, which puts you in a race with a certain challenge. After that is Free Race, which allows you to choose your own car and level to race on. And lastly, there are Time Attack and Cop Chase (which are self-explanatory). The arcade mode is great if you just want to pick up and play, but unfortunately, most of the stuff is locked from the start of the game which will bring me to the next mode.

Evolution mode is, for the most part, the tournament aspect of the game. Everything the game has to offer is within Evolution, except for a hidden mode, which has to be unlocked via Evolution. When you start Evolution, you are forced to play some really stupid races with the only vehicles they give you. This makes the game seem very slow and boring (You have to race with a Hummer). After you clear these races, you will move onto some more exciting races and before you know it, you'll be buying and selling cars, unlocking new cars, upgrading parts and receiving new tracks. You will probably become bored into the game because of this mode.

Another thing that I must bring up about this game is the superb  car models. Not only are they crisp and textured good, but they replicate real licensed cars so you'll probably wonder at some point how GameLoft made them look so well. To surprise even more, the cars run extremely smooth ingame and there is absolutely no slowdown whatsoever. The game could be filled with traffic, crates and opponents and you would be running at a solid 60 FPS. I also want to throw in that A:UGT gives a great variety of cars. From 4x4s to Street Racing!

The only problems I had with this game seems to be speed representation. For example, if I am traveling 170 MPH, it seems like I'm going 50 MPH less. You notice this even more with slow cars like the Hummer. In addition to this, the draw distance can seem quite bad as well. Trying to speed run a course you've never played before can be extremely hard because of this, but other than that, a good game.

Gameplay: 8/10

If I didn't mention before, vehicles look beautiful. The levels look authentic and textures suit them well. The overall feel of the game is increased because of the graphics. When going extremely fast or hitting turbo, the effects are quite nice as well. I was definitely surprised by the graphical power this game shows. I only wish there were more cars and courses to show the graphical power, but considering what comes with the game, it's not bad at all.

This is possibly one of the best graphical games to date for the Nintendo DS. On par with a game like Metroid Prime: Hunters First Hunt.

Graphics: 9/10

Controls were great. Probably the first Nintendo DS game that gives me exceptionally good controls. The biggest reason why I found the controls so suitable were because they could be customized very heavily. If you didn't like something in the control scheme, it could be moved around. I simply cannot complain about Asphalt's controls.

Controls: 10/10

The sounds for the vehicles are all uniform unfortunately and can get quite tedious. If you are a big fan of cars, you'll sometimes notice that certain cars make sounds they shouldn't. This may or may not bother you. With me, it did not. The music, however, was great and had variety. You are given the option to turn down the Master Volume, the SFX Volume and the Music Volume. If you want a real treat on the quality of the sounds and the placement, use headphones for this game. It is amazing.

Sound: 8/10

Aside from Controls, Replay Value is the best thing about this game. I've touched briefly on the modes it has to offer and I found all of them worth while. The Evolution Mode really makes this game seem long and non repetitive. As I said before, I've been playing this game nonstop and it's put all my other games to shame in game time.

If that's not enough for, try the multiplayer. If you have a friend that owns this game, you'll have some serious fun on that! The multiplayer is a bit rushed I will admit, as it doesn't let you race against computers and it doesn't feature music or "break bonus". As well as this, if a friend picks a better car than you (example: faster car), chances are he/she will win. I was nearly lapped in one race where we chose different cars (I obviously chose the slower car), but when we had the same car, I beat him barely. Obvious evidence that there is absolutely no balance, which is realistic but strange in a racing game. Either pick the fast car, the same car as your opponent or lose. Importantly noted, this mode does not support Single-Game Multiplayer either so if you want to play against up to 3 players, they will have to have the game as well.

Replay Value: 8/10

For the Nintendo DS, this game does not show off anything spectacular and I'm sure that eventually a racing game will come along and top this (although Ridge Racer DS does NOT). This game hardly uses the touchscreen (menu navigation features only), but I feel thats for the better as touch steering is weak. The Nintendo DS' stereo sound shows off well and the wireless multiplayer option is just as good.

Innovation/Use for Nintendo DS: 4/10

For a Nintendo DS launch title, Asphalt: Urban GT is top in it's lineup. It is overlooked by many but after close evaluation, you'll discover that it has much more depth and gameplay than most would believe. Following launch, Asphalt is the strongest racing title on the Nintendo DS right now. Many complaints on this game are that it has weak use of the Nintendo DS' touchscreen, but other racing games have shown that steering with the touchscreen isn't exactly the best use either. This game does what it should and has great graphics, control and sound to go with it. To top it off, it has a killermultiplayer to play with your friends or opponents. Replay value is outstanding and should really help pass the time by. Definately check this game out!

Overall Rating 8.5/10

Pros
-Many modes, many options
-Multiplayer
-Real cars
-Runs very well
-Using headphones never sounded so good!

Cons
-Speed representation seems questionable
-Multi-Card Multiplayer


-Video GamerJ

Marilyn Manson Posters Marilyn ic Poster - 3 x 4 in. Usually ships in 4 to Cart.

Retro Atari

Genre: Action

Publisher: Atari

# of players: 4

Release Date: 03/22/2005

ESRB Rating:
Everyone

Atari has another Atari Classic game coming out but this time it's for the DS and they're putting a little spin on it. It's called Retro Atari and even though it's kind of similar to other Atari Classic games that have been released on the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and just about any other system that you think of. Retro Atari changes the look of the games by going out to some of today's most popular graffiti artists like REAS, Delta, and Shepard Fairey.

In Retro Atari their will be two different type of game modes, the first game mode will be the classic Atari games, it's played out just as any other classic Atari game, now the other game mode is the "tagged" mode. This is basically the retro part of the game, again it is played out the same way but has a different look, a lot more colorful and makes the whole game look pretty cool. Their are 10 games featured on Retro Atari including Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Tempest, Warlords, Gravitar, Lunar Lander and Sprint. The games should be easy to understand from going up and down to hit a ball across the screen to controlling how much fuel is used to go across the surface of some planet. Retro Atari will also feature 4 player wireless multiplayer, though no word on which games will feature the wireless play.

The game will use both screens on the DS and most of the focus will be on the top screen, though their are some games where the action takes place on both screens, for the controls you may use either the D-pad and button layout or the touch screen during game play. Of course all the action will be 2-D but there is obviously nothing wrong with that. The colors on the tagged mode really stick out, they make the game a whole lot better like on Missile Command the colors are just so eye catching, but on others their is not much to look at.

 Though Retro Atari doesn't really use the Nintendo DS's capabilities it is a great game for passing time on a 10 to 15 minute trip. But if you always get addicted to these type of classic games, like me, then you'll be playing this for quite a while, Pong alone usually keeps you interested for some time. Though on some games it looks as though it lacked the uniqueness I was expecting from the Tagged Mode. But overall this game looks pretty good and seems that it will have potential.

Appeal rating 7.7/10

-ElMariachi

. dentist, laser teeth whitening London, zoom whitening.

Dead Pixel

Dead pixels have been a concern for DS and PSP buyers since the problem was first announced. I myself was once afraid of the dreaded dead pixel, and I even believe I suggested to anyone who gets a DS with a dead pixel to return it on the spot. Dead pixels are far less common than many of us are lead to believe. I know many people who have bought a DS and only one of them has gotten a dead pixel thus far, me. When I first opened up my DS I was ecstatic and I played it for three days straight. After the third day it was almost like an episode of Seinfeld, ‘what’s this dot?’. After many hours with my DS I noticed a tiny blue dot that was in the top right corner of my touch screen. The dot took awhile to notice since I was playing games with bright images of mainly green and blue. The dot was really only noticeable against a black background. This dead pixel required many hours of concentration on the subject of returning my new DS. If the dead pixel actually was really distracting or in the middle of the screen I would have returned it on the spot, but it was off to the corner and only noticed from time to time. In March (for the PSP launch) there are many rumors of new DS models, and new colours, many of these rumors are probably not true. But if there is a new model of the DS to come out, I don’t want to have to buy another one. So instead of returning my DS I decided to buy the two-year warranty on my DS and wait to see if any new DS’s will come out since this way I have a free return. Even if no new DS or DS colours come out, I still plan to return my DS, eventually. I want a long lasting DS, so since the dead pixel isn’t that noticeable I plan to return it a few days before the warranty runs out and get a brand new DS then. Either way I win, but for those of you who want to know just how noticeable a dead pixel is I made a short video of it which you can download. The pixel is in blue and if your finding it hard to see then that helps to show how noticeable it is.

You can see the video of my dead pixel under the videos button on the sidebar or you can click HERE.

-Ultimate Zelda Guru

WarioWare Touched!

Genre:
???

Publisher:
Nintendo

# of Players:
1

Release Date:
Feb 14th, 2005

ESRB Rating:
Everyone


WarioWare is one of those weird Japanese games that you rarely see over here. WarioWare is a new franchise for Nintendo that seems to be growing ever more popular. The WarioWare series is bright, vibrant, and very abstract. The series has now been featured on the GBA, Gamecube, and soon the DS. The DS has opened up many new possibilities for the WarioWare series with its new innovations.

WarioWare’s game modes are very simple... Mini games... and well... more mini games. In the game you slowly progress your way up through a building by completing mini games. The mini games are quick and you have to think fast to complete them. The games just pop up, one after another and you have approximately 5 seconds to complete most of them. The mini-games are abstract at best and include everything from petting a dog, to tickling a person’s nose hair. The mini games are so small they are called micro games in WarioWare because they are so short and small. There are 180 different micro games to play and they are all (for the most part) new. The game will bring back characters from other versions of the game, but it will have all new ‘micro games’.

This game features use of both screens quite well, and is mainly focused on the touch screen. Almost all the micro games use the touch screen, which would be a good reason why the game is called WarioWare Touched! The game’s top screen is not used overly much and is more just for watching results of your micro games and less fully game incorporated. The graphics in the game are mainly 2-D with a splash of 3D, real life photos, and short videos. The graphics in the game are well done with mainly colors that captivate the eye and will help keep you interested in the game. The graphics in the game suit it well and help the game bring across just how wacky it is. This game is not set to have a muti-player mode.

WarioWare is one of those games that you can just pick up and play in 5-10 minute bursts, but don’t expect a lot of story or strategy to this game. The game is wacky and is the type of game you love to see in the in-store demos. Its the kind of game that will be perfect for wasting time and helping those long car rides seem easier. If you have played the other WarioWare games then you know what to expect, except using the DS’s innovation this time around. WarioWare Touched! seems to be a big hit in Japan, and hopefully we’ll see what all the buzz is about soon. If your lucky, you can get this game for a Valentine's Day present this year...

Total Appeal Score: 7/10

-Ultimate Zelda Guru