This year, Majesco Entertainment was one of the few appointments I had which was jam packed with offerings for Nintendo platforms. There was also more than just another Mama game, but something for everyone inside.
Usually when I visit the guys at the Majesco booth, I’m expecting some form of a Mama game, whether it be a sequel or otherwise along with a game for the casuals. This year I was pleasantly surprised to see the variety that was present. And even with Mama showing up again, the games I saw were amusing and entertaining.
Babysitting Mama
At first when they showed me the plush baby that will come packaged with the game, I couldn’t help but snicker inwardly slightly. It seemed to be a gimmick designed to throw Mama into another genre to sell a mini-game package. When I was told about the effort involved and the fact they were working with Nintendo to ensure proper handling of the babies as a good example, it changed my mind.
The idea behind Babysitting Mama is that you’re in charge of your own baby, which means carrying for him or her. So to handle the baby, you’ll need to put the Wii Remote in a pouch in the back of the plush and use the Nunchuk to do most of the work while holding it in your free arm. If you’re a parent and worried about how your children may treat the baby, rest assured they’re working hard to ensure that shaking the baby and similar behavior will not be encouraged or rewarded.
As for the game itself, there are a variety of activities to do with your baby. There are silly races that pit your baby against others as well as mini-games you’d think would be a game such as this like washing baby. Power ups are available and are timed so that if you stumble over an obstacle depending on the game, time will keep ticking.
I can see this being interesting for a small child, if only to see how they do handling their own baby. I’m personally tempted to pick it up to see if they deliver on the shaking discouragement out of morbid curiosity.
Crafting Mama
Now Mama moves onto the crafting world with Crafting Mama. Similar to her other ventures in the cooking world, Crafting Mama has you performing tasks to create various items. My first piece was an apron and to make it, I had to do mini-games for each step of the way. First came laying out the pattern and marking the points as a guide, however the way it played was more like a random connect the dots session which kept me on my toes. Then it was time to cut the fabric, though it wasn’t as simple as running your stylus in the direction you want. To cut, I first had to position the scissors in the correct direction, then cut otherwise it led to fiery eyes Mama. This was as much as I tried out of the apron since I wanted to get a full taste of the game with the time I had, so I switched to making a mug.
Creating a mug is as close to Cooking Mama as Crafting Mama got, at least in preparation anyway. I had to prepare the clay by rolling it out then folding it, which reminded me of kneading bread. Then shaping it, but also adding water on occasion so it wouldn’t dry out. There were also a ton more steps ahead to complete this project I was told and time was limited so I moved on.
Crafting Mama has the same formula that made the other Mama games work, just with a different spin. Be aware if you’re into crafts, you’ll be sucked into this as I was so easily.
Monster Tale
From the folks who developed Henry Hatsworth comes another game that combines two genres into one ball of goodness. Monster Tale combines platforming adventure action with a sort of Pokemon style raise your pet motif. The main action with our main heorine, Ellie, takes place up top. Much like Hatsworth, Ellie has abilities she can learn to help her on her journey. However in this game, combos I’m told aren’t quite as important as they once were, so those who aren’t able to do combos shouldn’t have much to fear. Ellie battles through levels and gains power ups for Chomp, who lives on the touch screen. Once an enemy is defeated, it has the chance to drop an item for Chomp to be able to enjoy. Each item that drops can raise Chomp’s stats in a different way such as stamina, speed, or defense and more.
Chomp isn’t just a floating blob on the bottom screen though. He can evolve and has approximately 30 unique forms to take on. He’ll also come to assist Ellie when you beckon him to the top screen. To control this power up, a gauge is put in place when Chomp is on the top screen. When it reaches zero, Chomp will pass out and return to the bottom screen knocked out. It will take considerable time to wait for him to revive. When playing through what little I managed, I noticed the difficulty was just about the same as Hatsworth, which is to say, difficult but challenging.
The art style is also different and resembles a Japanese animation. Ellie has big eyes, full of wonder while Chomp is an adorable little monster. It’s an effective art style that looks decent on the DS. I also was able to somewhat hear the music and it was whimsical and fitting for the situations I encountered.
Bottom line, if you enjoyed Henry Hatsworth, it’s hard to say you wouldn’t enjoy this title. It’s got a brand new take on the genre-mashing and is heavily addicting. Easily one of my favorite DS games at E3.
Zumba Fitness®
It seems everyone is trying to cash in on dancing games with the success of Just Dance, though Zumba Fitness is different. Instead of a game being made into a workout, Zumba Fitness is already a workout that has been translated into a game. The version of the game I saw was for Microsoft Kinect, however it’ll be available for Wii (MotionPlus) and PlayStation 3 (Move) and both versions will come with a belt to hold the controllers. Due to it being early in the morning and having the rest of the day ahead of me, I opted not to try it out for myself. Since I was able to sit back and watch, I was treated visually to interactive backgrounds that went with whatever the performer was doing at the time. In the final game there will be 30 tracks, though that doesn’t seem like too many, I was assured that it was plenty with the workouts one receives. In case you’re not familiar with how Zumba Fitness works, there’s a tutorial mode that shows you the ropes. I wasn’t blown away with what I saw, but for a bit of variety in a workout I could see this being a great distraction.
Greg Hastings Paintball 2
As far as shooters go, Greg Hastings Paintball 2 is unique in the fact that it’s the only one in the genre to have an E10+ rating. On hand was Greg Hastings himself to show off this title. While I didn’t get any hands on time and my time was limited to a few minutes, what I saw seemed basic but effective. Graphically, there wasn’t much to write home about this and I mistook the build that I was watching for the Wii, when in reality it was the Xbox 360 one in action. Aside from the visuals, it looked smooth, but generic for an FPS type game. Contained in the game are actual product demo videos that show you various types of real paintball guns. Honestly, the only positive this game has going for it is the rating as far as I saw, however I did not get my hands on the game and am going by what my eyes saw.
Swords
Swords is a game that you can tell straight off doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game is practically Punch-Out!! with swords instead of boxing gloves and uses the same play mechanic, that is, avoid the enemy hits by learning the pattern and counter attack. To use your weapon more accurately, Wii MotionPlus has been employed for the task and handles quite nicely after a calibration. As I watched the demonstrator dispatch a foe with ease, I decided it was my turn for the glory and skipped straight to the last boss. As expected, the person previously playing was questioning my judgment, but I had enough of being bombarded with easy levels during my gameplay at E3 and wanted a challenge. A challenge I received as I was pummeled easily by the boss standing tall. Desperately I made blocking motions, but his attacks were too much for a novice player such as myself. A small victory was had when I sliced when he was about to lunge at me once more. The victory was short-lived as I was dispatched soon after my feeble attack. I had no one to blame but myself since the controls worked as a sword should, nor can I blame the sword selection either as it was the best.
To heal my battered ego, I was shown one of the mini-games that Swords has to offer which is a dojo filled with mindless zombies bent on attack. There’s only one real goal here and that’s to dispatch the zombies as they come up to you. I felt a bit better, but soon the swarm of zombies was too much even for my wild swings and I was overcome. Afterwords I was told that there is no “winning” that and they simply keep coming after you.
I think the game is a decent de-stresser and a fun Punch-Out!! (with swords) clone to boot. If you’re looking to put that Wii MotionPlus to good use, this may be a decent option to check out in the future.
