Wii Fit Plus has been out for over a month. The game serves as more of an expansion, or update, rather than a sequel, offering 15 new mini games in the Training Plus section of the game that will give you quite a workout. In addition to training plus, extra exercises have been added to other sections of the game.

If you played Wii Fit, it will recognize your data and carry over into Wii Fit Plus.  This is great because you don’t have to worry about setting up new accounts and unlocking all of the workouts again, which can take a serious amount of time and dedication.

New Stuff!

Along with some new exercises and mini games, Wii Fit Plus comes with some other great new features that can help your weight, or shape, goals. The new calorie counter keeps track of how many calories you burn per workout and overall, allowing you to set up calorie burning goals.

You can play with friends now, but Nintendo has yet again denied access to the Internet. I would love this game if it allowed me to compare my goals online with other people. Leader boards would be great to see who could run the furthest in a week, or the most calories burned in a month.

You will also find routines that allow you tow work on specific areas of your body, or just improve yourself overall. This feature also allows you to create custom workouts. I enjoyed the custom workouts the most because it enabled me to set up multiple workouts, such as a 10, 15, 30, and 60 minute workout, which I can work into my schedule on a daily basis.

The Same Old Stuff!

Unfortunately, Wii Fit Plus is still using their version of a BMI meter, which is an extremely inaccurate way of telling people they are overweight. It is based on height and weight and takes in no consideration of what your muscle to fat ratio is. This means that a 6-foot, 200lb couch potato and a 6-foot, 200lb body-builder are going to get the same BMI result.

Overall, this is pretty much the same game as Wii Fit with some added features. This is in no way a new game, just an upgrade to the original Wii Fit. The new features are great, but the new mini games and workouts are the typical run in place or move from side to side with the occasional step off the board.

Overall

If you already have Wii Fit, the disc will only cost you $20, but if you don’t, the disc and board will cost you $100, which is $10 over the original Wii Fit.

If you have a Wii Fit, it is worth the $20. If you do not have a Wii Fit, and have been waiting for this new game to break ground and enhance the Wii Fit experience that you played at your friend’s house, you will be disappointed. Overall, it is fun and will give you a descent workout if you stick to it, just lacking a few additional features that could take it over the top.

Fans have been patiently awaiting the arrival of a new Mario game for two years. Personally, as someone who prides myself on a record of completing Super Mario 3 in 16 and a half minutes, I was really excited. If that wasn’t enough pressure, the new platformer has 20 years of great games to live up to. Placing classic gameplay style and memorable elements into a new game is a big risk in itself, opening Nintendo up to a ton of criticism and complaints from gamers who grew up playing Mario games.

Thankfully, this isn’t the case. The New Super Mario Bros. Wii offers players a fresh new experience of a beautiful classic. This new Mario game features gameplay on a 2D plain, with graphics rendered in a 3D engine, making the graphics and gameplay rather exceptional. This style of gameplay shines in the game, reintroducing the 2D platformer to a new generation of gamers and pay tribute to the veterans of the original Mario classics.

The big edition to this game is the ability to have up to 4 people playing simultaneously through each world and for players to join a game on-the-fly. This extremely chaotic gameplay becomes more difficult with each person you add into the game. After Mario and Luigi are in the game, the next two players will join in as toads. Some of the chaotic gameplay is reduced with the ability to spread out really far, due to an in-game camera that zooms out pretty far. No matter how spread out you are, it’s inevitable that teammates will eventually leave you behind or jump off your head at the wrong time causing you to fall down a pit. However you die end up being killed by your teammates, it’s all in good fun and you’ll have a blast.

The game itself is much more difficult than most other Mario games. You will definitely come across some hard obstacles that will take several tries to complete. It is much easier in single player mode, when you don’t have to worry about anyone getting in your way, but what’s the fun in playing alone?

The only real negative that I have for this game is the lack of online multiplayer. If you are going to expand a classic like Mario to a multiplayer, I say do it correctly the first time and give people the ability to play online. Nintendo is still lacking the true online multiplayer they need to continue their large market share in the gaming industry, and I think this game would have been a perfect place to start.

You’ll find a lot of hidden passages, new items, and elements added to the game. All of these things are great additions to the game and really add to the overall experience.

So, if you are new to this style of gameplay, or have been playing Mario games since the first arcade game released in 1983, there’s no doubt that you will find yourself glued to your screen. This game is truly incredible and deserves a spot on your game shelf right next to your NES classics, so buy it!

“Who ya gonna call?”

I hope everyone has their PKE meters and Proton Packs, cause were talking Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Let’s just get one thing straight. When it comes to Ghostbusters, I am a CRAZY fan. I say CRAZY very loosely. It’s more of a PSYHCO fan kind of thing. I sat down in front of the TV each and every day and watched movies over and over again. Ghostbusters were those two films. But enough about me, we’re here to talk about Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Just to cut to the chase, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is one of the best video games I have played all year. The game was written and Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis and holds true to the originals. The game is set in the year 1991, which is two years after the second Ghostbusters film. This game is meant to be the third film of the franchise. All the original actors are back to voice their characters, and they do such a good job! (Sorry, geeking out) The Ghostbusters, with their heavy banter and tech savvy dialogue, return to game consoles around the world. And let me tell you people, they do a damn good job.

You join the gang as an experimental weapons technician, and you are only there to test Egon’s new proton pack. Well as always, things tend to go wrong and they get a phone call about some paranormal activity at the Museum. Mind you, this Museum is holding some heavy Gozer materials for an exhibit. Things get out of hand in the museum and all hell breaks loose and spreads across New York City. You become the new “rookie” of the group and you’re off to save the day. They keep your character quiet and nameless throughout the game. The reason for the “Rookie” part is so the other four don’t get attached to you in case something happens throughout the course of the night. (Which is completely understandable)

The Proton Pack has four different firing modes. First, there is the Classic Proton Pack from he movies, but also packs a Boson Dart as a secondary fire. (Which is a condensed ball of energy that explodes on impact) Then you have your dark matter functions, which is a dark blue Shock Blast (like a shotgun) and a Stasis Stream, which makes enemies slow down so they can be blasted. Then there is the Meson Collider, which tags an enemy with a tracker, then quickly fires particles at the target. The last one is the Slime Blower. The Slime Blower is most commonly used to coat enemies and objects in positively charged goo like matter. The secondary fire is the Slime Tether that brings two objects together.

If you are a fan or not, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is fun, witty, and contains hours of game play. Not to mention the online play which features games like Containment, and Slime Dunk.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This is a fun game from beginning to end. Not the hardest game to beat, but fun none the less. If you are a die-hard fan boy, then you’ll absolutely love the witty banter from all the original characters and all the original game play. This game does in fact feel like the third movie in the franchise, although, I am VERY happy that they are making another film. I’ll be there, 12:00am opening night, wearing my jumpsuit and my home made Proton Pack (which is AWESOME BTW!). I recommend this game to anyone who likes humor in video games as well as people who appreciate original game play.