O-Games was highlighting their upcoming line of budget titles at their booth this year. Whether it’s mini game collections or photo hunt adventures, they just might have something on the horizon for you.
The Treasures of Montezuma (DS)
The first game I took a look at was Treasures of Montezuma, starring the “lovely and clever Dr. Emily Jones”. In the game, you join Dr. Jones as she looks for the lost treasures of Montezuma. Unlike most archaeologists whose main goal is preservation, or like tomb raiders whose goal is getting rich from the treasure, Dr. Jones’ main goal seems to be finding the treasure for the sole purpose of destroying all the jewels.
That’s right, this is a game where you try to destroy gems by creating rows of three of more like-colored gems. You have a screen full of gems and as you destroy them more gems will fall from the top of the screen. Multiplier points are gained by chaining rows together, rewarding players who are adept at setting up chain-reactions.
As with most game of its ilk, you are allowed to swap any gem with an adjacent gem, provided the swap creates a row of like-colored gems. There are also seven different power totems which trigger effects such as destroying all the gems of a certain color on the screen.
All told it’s pretty fun, and should be enjoyable for those who have had their fill of other games such as Bejeweled. With 41 level in the main game, as well as 8 bonus levels, I’d say there’s definitely enough content here to justify the game’s $19.99 price point.
Mystery Tales: Time Travel (DS)
I also had a chance to mess around with Mystery Tales: Time Travel. You follow a young woman as she explores her new home only to discover the secret of time travel. Not only is she extremely lucky, but she’s pretty forgetful as well. Luckily you’re always handy to help her find the things she’s misplaced.
There’s really not a ton here to differentiate it from your average photo hunt game. You’re provided a list of items to find, and there are also a number of bonus items in each level. Along the way you can unlock “spells” that will aid you in one way or another, such as making items stand out more strongly against the background.
The entire game is also touch-controlled, thanks to the ability to swap the top and bottom screens at will. Since you’ll be using the stylus a lot anyway, it’s nice to see that they allow you to do everything with it. Over the course of the game you’ll visit places like Rome, France, and China, helping this hopeless woman keep track of her things.
While it’s not substantially different from other photo hunt games, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It does the genre pretty well, so people who like photo hunt games will probably enjoy it. I’d love to say more, but I seem to have lost my mouse, ethernet cable, water glass, and seat cushion.
Get Up Games: Family Sports (Wii)
Contributing to the rising trend of making you get up and actually do something while playing video games is Family Sports. Don’t worry about the title though, you won’t be doing family sports but you will be doing legitimate sports.
Get Up Games: Family Sports is the first in a series of games from O-Games that are focused on fitness, and getting you active. It is essentially a collection of mini games similar to those offered in the summer version of Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. The mini games I got to go hands-on with were: parallel bars, long jump, and hundred meter dash.
The hundred meter dash utilized both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and required you to shake them up and down alternately as fast as you could for about ten seconds. Performance in this game is based solely on how fast you can shake the remote. The long jump required this as well, though once I had reached the correct speed I was able to lock in at that speed, which freed me up to hit A as I approached the line. The goal, of course, is to run as fast as possible, then time the jump perfectly.
The parallel bars were a little different, though. Using only the Wii Remote, I had to input buttons as they popped up on the screen, similar to a game like DDR or Rock Band in idea, though not in interface.
Watching other people playing different games, I noticed that many of the games seem to be variations on these basic concepts, either the button matching or the remote shaking, which has me concerned about the variety of actions that will be required in the full game. As it stands now this looks like a decent title for fans of sports mini games, though given what I’ve seen so far I’d recommend Mario and Sonic over this.
