This year Disney has variety they didn’t quite have last year. The games range from tween hits to family entertainment. If you have kids who love Disney products, this might be worth your read. To everyone else, there are a few games in here to give a legitimate chance before simply writing them off.
It’s good to see DIS branching out a bit in the latest version of Sing It. Instead of just Disney artists filling the track lists, there will be others. This time they’ve also seemingly improved the vocal exercises which will test for accuracy. The emphasis in the practice area seemed to be to learn to sing better though which is a plus for all those out there who are just as vocally challenged as I am.
If you’re wanting hear how well you did, there’s an encore mode which allows for this. So if you’re being distracted by the actual music videos shown while it’s your turn to sing, you can relive it. In multiplayer mode you can bid against other opponents, so distractions may be apart of a some people’s strategy, especially siblings I can imagine.
I’d say the improvements to the game from the previous version are worth at least watching Pop Hits if you bought the last game.
Not that I have been paying much attention to movies, but I hadn’t heard of G-Force prior to the booth visit. It will be Jerry Bruckheimer’s first 3-D film and is about a covert government program that trains animals as spys. The main force of this operation are guinea pigs one of whom is the leader, Darwin, which you’ll be controlling in the game. You’ll also be able to buzz around as Mooch, a housefly.
The game is an action orientated platformer with puzzle elements. To solve a few of these puzzles you’ll have to switch been Darwin and Mooch, depending on what the situation calls for. In your way of getting through the puzzles are evil household appliances like waffle irons and toasters.
When I got a brief chance to try out the game, Darwin was fun to control. I was able to fly briefly with the jetpack (with A as I recall) he had equipped and shoot my gun at approaching enemies using B on the Wii Remote. Navigation was done using the Nunchuk. It seemed all pretty straight forward.
Graphically the game looks fine, with nothing too glaringly hideous or spectacular. I should note that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will include glasses. This is so you can play the game in 3-D as the movie will be seen in select theaters.
I was told that the game will have 15 hours of game play and will launch with the movie. Not a bad movie game so far, especially if it builds on the movie experience with the game-only enemies, weapons, and locations.
I haven’t been to a Disney park since I was young, but it’s no surprise that the company is always adding and changing the rides. One such addition is Toy Story Mania! which has been met with praise. Now a game with the same name hopes to capitalize on that, all while being Wii exclusive.
The game includes the games that are available to play on the ride, but also features a few that aren’t. Playing is fairly simple and is done with a Wii Remote pointing at the screen. If you’re expecting some sort of help with the aim, don’t be. When I first started playing I commented on the fact there was no targeting retical. This is because the ride offers no such aiming device and they want this to be as authentic as possible. It wasn’t hard to adjust for this however and ring tossing at planets was a breeze. Your goal is to amass as many points as you can muster with all objects being worth a set number of points. If you target certain areas of a stage, you can trigger Easter eggs that will reveal even higher point objects.
One game I was able to sample that isn’t in the original ride was Ski-ball. You simply fling your Wii Remote at the screen to make the ball go down the ramp. It’s actually important to watch how hard you swing because you can end up flying over the hole you’re wanting to get points in. Aiming is possible as well and allowed me to score some quick points over the demonstrator, much to his disappointment.
Something I was unable to see was the 3-D levels for which the game will ship with special glasses so you can see the effect. Other portions I didn’t get to see in detail, but are in the game are the unlockables which are the way to reveal the 3-D levels.
I had a blast kicking the demonstrator’s butt on this title. It’ll be fun to also play the full version of the game when it comes out in the fall.
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (DS)
If your little girl enjoyed the last Tinker Bell game, I’m sure she’ll be ready for the next iteration. The popular fairies are back in Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure and they’ll be following the story of the movie.
What’s back is the simplicity for kids. You use the stylus to move your fairy around. It’s still just as easy to navigate by simply using the touch screen. Many new features have been implemented that build on the last game.
The ability to make and play with your own fairy will keep children busy for quite awhile since there are a few options to play with. Also new is uploading your fairy to pixyhallow.com to display to the world your own creation. Both these options are done in Fairy Mode which is separate from the main story mode.
I think this is a step up from the last game which seemed pretty basic, even for the DS. DGamer support is in this just like the last, but unfortunately drops the multiplayer that the last game had. Little girls won’t be able to share amongst themselves, but I’m sure they’ll be bugging each other regardless if they pick this up.
This is a newer original series by Disney and stars the Jonas brothers who portray the Lucas brothers in JONAS. A bit confusing perhaps, but it seems to work with the franchise. The game itself is a bit of a Hannah Montana knock off of sorts, except the target demographic isn’t purely females in this case. To play you need to strum the strings on the touch screen while pressing the buttons to generate the chords. I tried to tackle a few songs and was completely horrible at it, but I still had fun. The other portion of the game I wasn’t able to try because I was too busy trying to strum to a few of the catchy tunes. It however features navigating the brothers around and getting outfits so they can sneak in places undetected by the mobs of fans.
I didn’t think going into this game that the music would be my thing. I’ll say that I’m still not sure if it’s my type of music or not, but it’s got some gameplay that can be quite difficult if you’re not finger coordinated.
Here’s another original Disney show being turned into a videogame. With Wizards of Waverly Place, you’re playing as Alex Russo, one of three siblings of a magic family. Although I say magic family, this doesn’t include the father who gave up his powers to marry his wife, a mortal. The siblings are allowed to use their power under supervision, but as kids usually tend to get into trouble, so does Alex and her brothers Justin and Max. So they use magic whenever it seems convenient for them. This is the premise of the show, but I didn’t see much of that while playing a bit of the game.
With the game you’re training and trying to learn magic to perform tasks for you. For instance, there are objects that are high up that you can’t reach, with a simple spell you’re able to lower them to the ground and pick them up. This becomes necessary because many of the objects are Trinkets, which are used to buy outfits and other objects. Magic is performed by drawing gestures on the screen and works fairly well.
The game includes trivia about the characters and supports DGamer. So for those who watch the show, this might be a good supplement to that, otherwise I can’t honestly see a reason to get into this franchise since it somewhat involves knowing the characters to get any real enjoyment out of it as jokes may be missed.
The classic Charles Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol, retold countless times on the silver screen, is once again headed for it this holiday season. Along with it Disney will be releasing a DS game by the same name. In this puzzle adventure game, you’ll be helping guide Scrooge through his transformation of character by manipulating his environments. You’ll be looking for clues by tapping to reveal them to advance. While you’re poking around you’ll notice you’ll be able to interact with small ports of the background. It’s engaging for the target market Disney is going after for this game in the 6-11 year old bracket. As the game goes on, you’ll notice the colors start to becoming more vibrant as Scrooge slowly changes.
I was told that there are 15 levels planned in the game, so that should keep the young ones busy for awhile. If that doesn’t hold them over, there’s always the full novel included as well with full bookmark functionality. The text is even easy on the eyes, but it’s in a somewhat fancy font that’s not for everyone. If that isn’t enough, there’s also a real-time advent calendar that unlocks surprises leading up to Christmas. Also, another DS title means DGamer support. For this game it means you’ll be able to create a Scrooge avatar.
I’d say that this game is looking to have quite the effort behind it. It doesn’t seem like a quick movie cash in to me, especially with the novel being included with the game. I’m now wanting to snag this, if only to have a digital copy of A Christmas Carol lying around the house.
